Parents' Guide to Virgin River

As comforting as a hug, this gentle series has the warm, easygoing vibe of a Hallmark Christmas movie, where all characters are quirky are lovable and all problems can be solved with a good talk. Gilmore Girls fans will instantly connect Virgin River (the town) to Stars Hollow, another television town full of twee residents with adorable problems; if that's a good association for you, Virgin River (the show) is definitely worth a look. Alexandra Breckenridge's Mel is suitably twinkly and charming, her apricot-colored beachy waves always perfect, tending to an endless procession of telegenic mommies in Doc Mullins' ob-gyn practice (which might make more cynical viewers wonder why a town tiny enough to lack a coffee shop seems to have so many pregnant women), when she's not weeping over the Tragic Secret in her past (trust that it'll get doled out to power plot twists over the first season).

Mullins, too, is the type of endearingly crusty small-town doc to be found in romance narratives; Tim Matheson gives the role some color, just as Annette O'Toole finds warmth and irony in her role as Virgin River's can-do mayor. And Martin Henderson is crinkly and laid-back as Mel's love interest/the owner of the only bar in town, playing the part of the handsome local who shows our big city gal the heartfelt appearl of small-town life. In Mel's first week, he offers to take her on a tour of the local sights; she accepts -- Jack hands her a pair of binoculars so she can see the eagles wheeling between the mountains. "Beautiful," she sighs, relaxing into the moment before asking "What's next?" "Nothing," shrugs Jack; that's the only sight he had to show her. It's a sweet moment in an even sweeter show that some will find saccharine and others will relax into like a warm bath.