Love Monkey is one of the worst names for a good show in the history of television.

Canadian Tom Cavanagh does not resemble a love monkey in any literal sense during the hour-long debut episode, which airs tonight on Global (10 p.m.) and tomorrow on CBS (also 10 p.m.).

At one point Cavanagh's character is described as someone who is swinging from branch to branch with his romantic relationships, and if he doesn't pick a branch soon he's going to be one lonely monkey, or some such nonsense, yada yada yada. It's a tenuous link at best.

But despite the title, Love Monkey actually has some potential in the romantic-comedy genre.

Cavanagh plays Tom Farrell, an A & R (artists and repertoire) man in the music business in New York. So what does an A & R man do?

"Well, I fight crime," Tom says in a voice-over sequence. "Crime being, in this case, really bad music. Because for every bad band you hear on the radio, there are a million worse bands trying to get on the radio. So it's my job to listen to this crap so that you don't have to."

Sadly accurate.

There's another amusing line when Tom is talking about how he and his girlfriend-of-the-moment have different tastes.

"She listens to Jewel and weeps, while I prefer music," he says.

Tom has a golden ear for finding new acts. The latest object of his musical desire is an acoustic-guitar-toting kid named Wayne, who frankly might freak you out a little because he looks so much like 1970s teen-idol Robby Benson.

Anyway, despite that golden ear, Tom loses both his job and his girlfriend almost simultaneously. His friends (including fellow Canuck Jason Priestley) marvel that Tom still has the strength to go out drinking, but hey, it's the most logical thing anyone could do in those circumstances.

Unfortunately, that's the point when Love Monkey gets infested with parasites.

The music-industry insights and angles are sharp, well-written and unique. But when Love Monkey focuses on romantic relationships, it reeks of a thousand other shows, with attractive young adults whining about how they can't find the right woman, and/or man, and/or both.

Tom has a platonic friendship with an attractive blonde named Bran (played by Judy Greer). After only one episode of Love Monkey it will be completely obvious to you that Tom and Bran are perfect for each other.

However, the writers may choose to draw out that clumsy sexual tension over the entire run of the series, however long that may be.

Overall, Love Monkey is pretty likeable.

But as the show develops, we urge the creators to heed this free advice:

Less love, more monkey.