"The L.A. Complex" has moments that make it more than a rental

I never watch the CW. Even when there's a show I find interesting ("Nikita," "The Vampire Diaries"), my remote just won't go there.

But maybe I'll try a little harder to get there for "The L.A. Complex" (9 tonight, the CW). It's a show that could only exist on the CW -- it's about young good-looking people living in a grungy Los Angeles apartment building -- but it has moments that set it apart, lending an unexpected poignancy.

All the residents are aspiring to make it in Hollywood. There's a seemingly sweet girl who wants to be a dancer; a very unfunny guy who wants to be a comedian; a nerdy black guy who wants to be a rap producer; a Canadian transplant who wants to be an actress. Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore) has just landed a pilot, and left the complex. Raquel (Jewel Staite), older than the others, is recognized for a short-lived show; now she's struggling for work and to avoid mom roles.

With such easy types and an unoriginal set up (you'd be right to think "Melrose Place"), the show has scenes that try too hard. But then, it has sharp-edge dand well-done moments like when the wannabe comic is at a comedy club and meets up with actress/comedian Mary Lynn Rajskub as herself. She rattles the newbie before he goes on stage, then with the club owner, destroys him after he bombs. It's  a sequence that's both brutal and pretty funny.

As the aging actress, Staite, too, stands out. You get the feeling she's lived some of the moments she's portraying on the show.

If "The L.A. Complex" can get more of that stuff in future episodes, I'd consider moving in long term.