WB’s ‘Brutally Normal’ consistently funny

Finally! The wait is over! The WB has unveiled a consistently funny sitcom!

That show is “Brutally Normal,” which debuts as a special one-hour episode at 9 tonight. (It will air normally 9-9:30 p.m. Mondays.)

Like virtually every other show on the network, the new comedy’s protagonists are young, but not as pretty as the WB norm.

“Brutally Normal” focuses on four sophomore friends at Normal High. Robert “Pooh” Cutler (Mike Damus) is a well-meaning, neurotic 16-year-old who fumbles his way through life. His best friends are Russell Wise (Eddie Kaye Thomas), a handsome teen with more insecurities than his stud-about-campus image reveals; Anna Pricova (Lea Moreno), a wise, pretty 16-year-old who emigrated from Moscow; and Dru Pope (Tangie Ambrose), who is the intellectual of the group. Also featured is Joanna Pacula (“Gorky Park”) as Anna’s happily single mother.

Punctuated with full-blown fantasy vignettes, the show follows the quartet as they navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence, where their anxieties blow up the slightest incidents into unspeakable catastrophes. The gentle comedy scores points for not treating the adults in the cast uniformly as dolts, unlike most youth comedies.

The young, unknown cast is uniformly good. The standout would be Moreno (“Legacy”) as the soulful Anna, the voice of reason when dealing with her hormonely challenged friends, Pooh and Russell.

As conceived by co-creators Tommy Swerdlow and Michael Goldberg (“Cool Runnings”), “Normally Brutal” uses comedy to tackle serious issues, such as teen sex in the era of AIDS, freedom of expression, and gender relationships, without being overly heavy-handed. No very special episodes like those on many shows; just a light dose of reality every week.