Patti Dinkle always got what she wanted.

At some point she wanted a new name, and so now she is Pepper Dennis, the star reporter for Chicago's WEIE News. The new show starring Rebecca Romijn is making a splash this spring. It is an appealing combination of light romantic comedy and slapstick, even though in this writer's humble opinion the slapstick needs some work: after four episodes it still feels a little kooky. Last night the screenplay called for Pepper to drag herself into an ode to Roxette by singing "Listen to Your Heart" to a bolting bride that would have been less painful had it consisted of a capella fingernails on a juicy blackboard.

But Pepper Dennis's primary comedic material is the news business, and in this area she has serious potential. Last night the serious journalist had to suck it up and cover Chicago's wedding of the year, between her activist friend, Callie Merrill, and a banking family's heir apparent named Connor Blanchard. When Pepper screened her profile of Callie for them, dwelling on her Peace Corps work and left-wing protests, both of them were equally horrified. But it was left to Connor to deliver one of the most amusing lines that has come out of the idiot box this week:

"Our families have been in the public eye since the city was founded. Why? Because we represent the life others dream about. Wealth, glamour, let's give them the fairy tale. No one wants to see the Third World--everything's covered in dirt."