Darren Star seems to be savoring the taste of respectability.

The veteran producer has always been able to supply good ratings as the creator and producer of nighttime soap operas “Melrose Place” and “Beverly Hills 90210.” But now he’s become a critical darling thanks to the Emmy-nominated HBO comedy “Sex and the City.”

So Star has decided to revisit, somewhat successfully, the genre in which he made his reputation, as the parody “Grosse Pointe” debuts at 8:30 p.m. tonight on WB.

In the show, he takes viewers behind the scenes at the primetime high school soap opera “Grosse Pointe.” The comical off-camera back stabbing that takes place even overshadows the deviousness on the soap opera itself.

“Grosse Pointe” (the satire, not the fictional soap opera) covers most of the soap stereotypes: the territorial star; the dim, womanizing male lead; the ‘serious’ actress slumming on TV; the insecure actress with self-esteem issues; and the 30-ish male lead with the receding hairline and accompanying hairpiece.

In fact, “Grosse Pointe” takes on a roman-a-clef quality, as viewers try to guess which actors that Star has worked with in the past these characters are supposed to represent. With the revolving-door casts on “Melrose” and “90210,” that’s a game that could last for days.

But Star forgot one important rule about nighttime soaps. With outrageous characters and their outlandish behavior, the night soaps are by their very nature self-parodying and campy. Even Star’s one notable failure, “Central Park West,” was funnier than “Grosse Pointe.” Caricatures are funny; caricatures playing caricatures are less so.

Also, even though “Grosse Pointe” is character-driven, it probably won’t connect with a general public that generally doesn’t embrace shows based in the entertainment industry. The viewing audience doesn’t want to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. One example was the yawning indifference from the heartland that greeted the brilliant Fox show “Action” last season.

Good parody has to be over-the-top – check out anything by Mel Brooks or the team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker. Based on his past record, Star should be a natural at this genre. But “Grosse Pointe” proves disappointingly tame. Perhaps it will liven up in future episodes, now that the characters have been introduced. But whether WB execs, still searching for the network’s first funny comedy, will give it time to hit its stride is the question.