'Lone Star' a bright new light on Fox lineup

LOS ANGELES  – The writer-producer duo of Amy Lippman and Christopher Keyser have a knack for turning unknown actors into stars, as they've demonstrated with Matthew Fox ("Party of Five") and Jennifer Garner ("Significant Others"). They'll likely add to that list James Wolk, the standout lead of their promising new Fox series "Lone Star."

In less capable hands, the series' premise would be preposterous: a troubled con man who's only fooling himself if he thinks can stay with two different women, both of whom he loves. And yet Wolk pulls off a tricky role with the help of some strong writing, providing some emotional grounding for this enigmatic character.

To his girlfriend, Lindsay (Eloise Mumford), in Midland, Texas, he's Robert Allen, a traveling salesman passing on bogus investment opportunities to her parents. She doesn't know about his double life in Houston, where he's known as Bob to his wife, Cat (Adrianne Palicki). Her oil baron father (Jon Voight) has just tapped Bob for a top post at his company, where he's set to pull off a con worth millions.

And neither woman knows his father, John Allen (David Keith), who's been grooming his son since childhood for the life of a grifter. But Robert/Bob is starting to crack up under John's influence, as evidenced by his desire to stay with both women and turn his Houston job into a legit gig.

Robert/Bob is a damaged soul, which makes him a sympathetic character even as he deceives those he professes to love. He's an anti-hero of sorts who we'll root for as he moves from ruse to ruse, even as he we hope for his ultimate redemption. Wolk plays this all with an earthy charm that makes a viewer believe his conning skills. He offers an endless series of eye twinkles and dimpled smiles that look great on Fox marketing materials, too.

What also works for "Star" is the way it blends the gloss of a primetime soap with the grit of down-to-earth drama. The protagonist shuttles back and forth between different lives that feel like the abandoned sets of two other Texas-set series, "Dallas" and "Friday Night Lights," and there's nothing jarring about the contrast.

The pilot was directed by "500 Days of Summer" helmer Marc Webb, but don't look here for any of the creative flourishes he brought to the filmmaking there. "Star" is traditional TV but still earns points for not being yet another procedural set in a precinct, courthouse or hospital; the oil fields where some of the stories take place feels like fresh air in more ways than one. But there's a reason serialized story lines are a minority on the air. A drama of that type has to be truly distinctive to earn repeat viewing, and "Star" just might be original enough to clear that high bar.