Angel From Hell

Angel from Hell succeeds principally because of the great energy between Lynch and Lawson. Their banter is smart, funny, and well-timed. It's not essential viewing, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Angel from Hell, originally penciled into the CBS fall schedule and postponed for reasons too secret to disclose but probably having to do with something one of the network's crack programming experts saw in the entrails of a chicken, also has an emotional core surrounded by multiple layers of beguiling loopiness.

Angel From Hell mostly succeeds due to two huge factors, neither of which have anything to do with wings or halos. The first is the not-insignificant personality force of Jane Lynch as Amy.... AFH’s second success factor: There’s bright, quippy dialogue here that transcends this standard sitcom.

The fun is trying to figure out if Lynch’s character is delusional or really an angel.

What remains is a watchable and weird story (thanks mainly to Lynch, whose gifts for line-delivery verge on the divine) about an intuitive new friend showing up just when she’s most needed.

The cast is terrific and there’s enough humor to spirit away 23 minutes, but it hardly seems, in this early going, purposeful or magnetic.

Mr. Quill is trying for something that’s funny in the Bill Lawrence adult-suburban-hipster mode (he and Mr. Lawrence worked together on “Scrubs” and “Spin City”) and also heartfelt, with a message about self-actualization and taking control of your life. Ms. Lynch negotiates this divide effortlessly--she’s often hilarious and always engaging--but the show around her occasionally bogs down in its own mushiness.

All-in-all, while it’ll rustle neither a tear nor make you roll on the floor, Angel From Hell has some seriously impressive chops in transitioning between sentimental and goofy, especially for a series this nascent.