A bachelor’s world shifts in ‘Kevin Hill’

A new show tonight defines the term “life-altering experience.”

In “Kevin Hill,” debuting at 9 on UPN, the titular character, an entertainment lawyer, is living large. The hunky Kevin (played by Taye Diggs) is popular with the ladies and hits clubs nightly with his horndog buddies.

Then his cousin, to whom Kevin owes a major debt, dies, and Kevin finds himself with custody of the cousin’s 10-month-old daughter.

To say that Kevin has to make some adjustments is a major understatement. His bachelor pad soon is buried in baby supplies, he’s getting no sleep and his firm’s partners aren’t understanding about child-care issues. The gay nanny he finds (Patrick Breen) won’t work many nights, so fatherhood is a tremendous crimp in his social life, much to the dismay of his friends (notably Jon Seda in a rare nonthug role). It’s kind of like “How Fella Lost His Groove.”

Kevin quits his high-powered job, and finds a position with a small firm headed by a knockout single mom (Michael Michelle, “ER”). Leaving the locker-room atmosphere of his old firm, he has to figure out his role as the firm’s token male, especially when one of the lawyers there is a former one-night stand of his.

Diggs is convincing as Kevin, who finds his confidence shaken when he’s thrust into unfamiliar realms and he struggles to put someone else first in his life. “Kevin Hill” turns the idea of “superwoman” on its head, to see if a single man singularly unequipped for fatherhood can succeed. Given the time, it promises to be an intriguing metamorphosis.

Also premiering tonight, but not reviewed, is the self-explanatory reality series “Wife Swap,” at 10 on ABC.

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.