Spelling shoots rare dud in latest nighttime soap

The name of Aaron Spelling has long been synonymous with the so-campy-they’re-cool nighttime soap operas. The producer was behind such standouts in the field as “Dynasty,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place.”

But every now and then Spelling misfires. Does anyone remember the nursing-students-in-nighties effort “Nightingales”? Now add “Titans,” debuting tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC, to the list of Spelling’s rare misses.

The “Titans’ lead family, the Williams’, is a collection of soap stereotypes. There’s the chiseled, ex-fighter pilot older brother; the jealous, scheming, alcoholic younger brother; a weak, alcoholic sister (points lost for repeating a condition); a manipulative older sister; and the maid’s daughter, all grown up and still pining for the older brother. These roles are filled by little-known eye candy.

Playing the parents of this brood are Perry King (pick any melodramatic miniseries from the last two decades) and Victoria Principal, gone from “Dallas” ingenue to long-suffering ex-wife and mom. In the role of the money-grubbing evil vixen about to wed dear ol’ dad is Yasmine Bleeth, a graduate of the “Baywatch” school of acting.

Soaps work best when they’re truly outlandish, and, other than Bleeth’s Heather, most of the “Titans” are too bland to really offend. There’s far too much doe-eyed introspection and drunken mutterings and not enough evil-minded treachery.

Maybe, now that the characters have been introduced, the fireworks will start on “Titans.” But with today’s network execs quickly to cancel, the soap may never get a chance to erupt. So, early on, this series is far from titanic.