Finally reaching beyond bottom-rung reality programming, gay cable network Logo debuts a scripted live-action show this week, but there's not much to celebrate about "Sordid Lives: The Series" (10 p.m. Wednesday).

Written and directed by Del Shores ("Queer as Folk," "Dharma & Greg") as a prequel to his 2000 movie -- which was based on his 1996 stage play -- "Sordid Lives" begins in April 1998 on the day country singer Tammy Wynette died. This is terrible news for Brother Boy (Leslie Jordan, "Will & Grace"), who worshiped Wynette and is now trapped in a mental institution where a doctor aims to "de-homosexualize" him.

In Winters, Texas, his trailer park-dwelling sisters have their own struggles, including Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia), who can't locate her mother (Rue McClanahan). Sissy (Beth Grant) chain smokes while watching TV all day, and LaVonda (Ann Walker) dispenses advice to her nephew, Ty (Jason Dottley), an actor in Los Angeles who isn't sure he's gay even though his therapist (guest star Margaret Cho) is sure he is.

The show feels hugely over-populated for a half-hour series that's just getting started, and the characters come off as types rather than believable people.

"If I can de-homosexualize this freak, I can de-homosexualize anybody," crows Dr. Eve (Rosemary Alexander) like a cartoon villain. "Then my theory will be proven, and I'll be rich and famous and get on 'Oprah.' "

Although occasionally amusing, "Sordid Lives" never becomes truly funny in the first two of its 12 episodes. It's neither sordid nor life-like enough to make much of an impression.