'Unhitched'

Although the Farrellys have been pitched as the guiding lights, the listed creators are Chris Pappas, Michael Bernier and Kevin Barnett (one of several credited writers on the Farrellys' remake of "The Heartbreak Kid"). The premise they have decided upon, such as it is, is that all the major characters -- Gator, Kate (Rashida Jones), Tommy (Johnny Sneed) and Freddy (Shaun Majumder) -- have been recently divorced or dumped and are making their way back into the dating pool. Shows in which characters have been divorced, dumped and/or are paddling around in the dating pool are, of course, neither new nor rare: Sitcom people are forever hooking up to hopefully hilarious (and sometimes to hopefully awww-inspiring) results. In any case, they are hooking up.

In the first episode, Kate likes a guy (even though he's short) until she discovers he's the "leprechaun" mascot of the Boston Celtics; in the second, she likes a guy until she discovers he isn't a real rock star but a professional air guitarist. Gator likes a girl -- she is presented as just about perfect -- until he notices a "skin tag" hanging off her back. ("Skin tag" -- it's such a Larry David notion.) Freddy is so naïve it's difficult to imagine he was ever married; he hires an escort for his birthday and proposes to her, and when Tommy tells him to "make friends" with the bouncer to gain entry to a nightclub, he actually becomes friends with the bouncer. (That bit is rather sweet.) Tommy is not so much a character as an embodiment of low standards, a familiar TV type.