Grand Hotel (2019)

Even when the characters feel flimsy — an inevitability with a show boasting such a long cast list — there’s enough zip in the story to keep “Grand Hotel” moving along at a clip that should make it an easy, breezy summer watch.

It’s all fluffy, sexy, mindless fun, the TV equivalent of a summer beach read.

Grand Hotel is the TV version of a juicy beach read or summer blockbuster. You might not be thinking about it five minutes after the episode airs but you will enjoy your stay.

Basically, Grand Hotel plays like a more straightforward, dumbed-down version of the hotel shenanigans in "Jane the Virgin," the truly grand CW dramedy that's heading into its final flurry of episodes. Or think of it as "Downton Abbey," with its upstairs/downstairs component involving the hotel staff and the family in charge, only if they fabricated excuses for both to be undressed as much as ABC standards allow whenever possible.

Neither slop, nor the obverse (a masterpiece), "Grand Hotel" resides squarely and benignly in the middle: A pleasant summer diversion with a good and absurdly telegenic cast .

As it progresses, Grand Hotel seems confident to check a whole bunch of boxes — thriller, family drama, crime story, and workplace dramedy — yet eventually, the hodgepodge of styles gets distracting and the story overly melodramatic.

ABC is traditionally the network of camp, which is why it's so disappointing that Grand Hotel proffers even its goofiest storylines with earnest, priggish timidity.