Craig Kilborn's new show: File it under mediocre

THE SHOW "The Kilborn File," WNYW/5, weeknights at 7

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Pretty much what it was about at "Late Late Show," which he left six years ago this August. Kilborn starts with some topical jokes at the outset. An example: Joan Rivers' former manager hit her with a federal lawsuit, and "she had her plastic surgeon create a look of shock and disappointment." Of that seven-hour tennis match - "the longest since Willie Nelson beat Snoop Dogg in Yahtzee." That's followed by a "Power Panel," with celebrity guests who offer quips on some topic, followed by Kilborn's old "Five Questions." There's also a bit called "Speed News," with Kilborn tossing off one-liners as pictures he insists he's never seen before flip by. And let's not forget the guest interview (Jeff Foxworthy was the first). Finally, he's got a sidekick: Former kid actor Christine Lakin ("Step by Step"). The show will try out in this time period for six weeks. Then . . . ?

MY SAY So, Craig, let's get this straight. You leave us in the dead of night six long years ago. You never call. You never write. And now, just like that, here you are again, on the doorstep. On his "Power Panel" segment the other night, he asked - "What is love?" - then answered his own question: ". . . that knowing over the distance and passage of time you'll be welcomed home to loving arms five nights a week on Fox." Spoken like a true cad, Kilborn (but amusing, nonetheless). Most critics long ago dismissed Kilborn as too smug, too conceited, too not-Letterman. His bespoke suit, as it were, was not tailored to the appropriate Post-Modern Ironic Self-loathing cut that late-night hosts were supposed to wear. He left "Late Late Show" and the silence was deafening. Now he's back - for reasons he and his bank account probably know best.

BOTTOM LINE While still glib and still Craig after all that time, Kilborn is fronting a show that feels six years old, as though it just plopped right out of some late-night time-warp machine. But he's a talented guy and given these six weeks and a much later slot, this could still work.

GRADE C+