New sitcoms don't offer much to laugh about

‘The Game’
When UPN and the WB combined forces to create The CW, the new network got to pick over both networks' shows and choose only the ones it wanted for the new schedule. That didn't leave much room for many new shows, and indeed, the CW only came up with one original drama, "Runaway," and one comedy, "Girlfriends" spinoff "The Game" (The CW, Sundays, 8:30 p.m. ET).

The plot of "The Game" was introduced to "Girlfriends" fans in a related episode of that show. College student and wannabe doctor Melanie Barrett (Tia Mowbry), cousin of "Girlfriends" character Joan, is adjusting her life to stay attached to boyfriend Derwin, a rookie wide receiver with an NFL-like football team, the San Diego Sabres. In the pilot, Derwin's not exactly setting the field on fire, and Melanie's being thrust into a foreign world of groupies, gold diggers, and "momma-gers" (mother-managers).

The jokes on "The Game" are hardly fresh, though the characters, especially Mowbry, are likable. This brand of football is a far cry from the realistic bloody battles waged on NBC's new drama "Friday Night Lights": The focus here is on who's scoring with who in the biblical sense more than who's actually crossing the goal line. And two major casting changes resulted in the show's pilot being redone at the last minute — hardly a good sign. Still, "The Game" may have a readymade audience. "Girlfriends" creator Mara Brock Akil is executive producer, and the show follows "Girlfriends" on Sunday nights.  —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

‘Twenty Good Years’
John Lithgow. Jeffrey Tambor. Two great comedic tastes, but do they taste good together? The first time we see them in “Twenty Good Years” (NBC, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. ET) engaging in a ‘friendly’ game of racquetball that turns into a brawl, the answer is clearly “yes.” 

FREE VIDEO 'Twenty Good Years' John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor team up as old pals. MSNBC

Lithgow and Tambor respectively and logically portray a flamboyant, ego-driven surgeon and a judge with an “obsession with regularity,” both reaching age 60 and approaching two different life crises by leaning on, and yelling at, each other.

This could become a standard sitcom odd-coupling, with crazy John dragging spoilsport Jeffrey into another wacky situation every week. (Yes, those are their characters’ names too. Are the producers assuming these older actors will have memory issues?) But the dialogue is smart and witty, even when delivered at high decibels. One of the bigger laughs occurs when John points out “I was raised a block away from you,” and Jeffrey replies “And yet, you have a British accent.”

Television might not respect its elders, but viewers could do worse than watching these two goofballs growing old disgracefully.    —W.W.