Picks and Pans Review: 'The Will'

CBS (Saturdays, 8 p.m. ET)

Throughout this series’ 90-minute premiere (airing Jan. 8), I waited for the wink, some sign that it could be a Joe Schmo-style put-on. But no, it’s just really bad.

Land developer Bill Long holds a contest to decide which of 10 would-be beneficiaries will inherit his vast Kansas ranch. This might be watchable if Long were a colorful Big Daddy type. Instead he’s a mush-mouthed septuagenarian with even less charisma than plastic host Tony Noakes. The requisite villain is Long’s fourth wife, Penny, self-described as “extremely competitive and vindictive.” She and the other potential heirs undergo such grueling challenges as keeping one hand on a safe while clutching a piggy bank with the other. The show ain’t worth a plugged nickel.

DRAMA