{alltv} 'Happy Endings,' 'Paul Reiser': That's not funny

In TV, the sins of the fired are visited upon their successors.

In a more-just world, rather than departing with golden parachutes, deposed network presidents would exit with their loser shows in tow, instead of dumping them on the new regime and, inevitably, us. So we get to suffer as new ABC and NBC management burn off two leftovers, which, if nothing else, are fairly good examples of why the bosses got booted.

The two shows are very much of their networks' type: one yet-another attempt by ABC to launch a Friends-in-the-city sitcom, the other an NBC attempt to recapture old glory through an old NBC star. But they have one important, insidious thing in common: Both owe more to other sitcoms than they do to real life.

Dr. Frankenstein himself might marvel at the patchwork job newcomer David Caspe has done on Happy Endings, which stars 24's Elisha Cuthbert as a runaway bride. That's exactly how Rachel was introduced on Friends— except that Friends' creators were too smart to build the show around her, her ex and her reunited wedding party, because they realized most people would balk at the thought that leaving a groom at the altar would have no emotional ramifications.

About the shows

Happy Endings
ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. ET/PT
* 1/2 out of four

The Paul Reiser Show
NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT
* 1/2 out of four

Yet in Happy, after a few squabbles, Alex (Cuthbert) and her ex, Dave (Zachary Knighton), reconcile to keep their social circle intact. That includes Alex's sister Jane (Scrubs' Eliza Coupe) and Jane's husband, Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.) — whose exaggerated bromance with their gay friend Max (Adam Pally) comes lock, stock and silly-handshake barrel from Scrubs. Rounding out the group is Casey Wilson (SNL) as Penny, who could be pretty much any man-hungry single woman you've ever seen on TV.

Granted, Friends was not a shockingly original premise. It's what you do with it that matters, and Caspe and crew do almost nothing that doesn't feel secondhand and artificial. Even the characters seem to have been gathered from some diversity-conscious collection, including the gay man we're supposed to see as anti-stereotypical because he watches sports, even though every line out of his mouth is either catty or focuses on his clothes and weight.

Where Happy goes in for petty thefts from a wide variety of series, The Paul Reiser Show rolls the dice on one grand heist: lifting in toto the faux-bio structure of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

As in Curb, the idea is that we're following the real Reiser through his daily life, even though no one around him is actually a part of that daily life. In semi-TV-retirement since Mad About You, Paul devotes much of his time to his wife (Amy Landecker) and son, spending the rest with four fathers from his son's school (Ben Shenkman, Duane Martin, Andrew Daly and Omid Djalili). Together they have adventures, starting Thursday with Paul considering hosting a game show.

The adventures aren't funny, and the friends aren't believable. But the real flaw is Reiser seems to have missed one of the central points that gives Curb its odd, counterintuitive appeal: David's willingness to paint himself in an unwaveringly horrid light, which is both appallingly amusing and stops the show from coming across as some Hollywood vanity project.

Paul may make mistakes here, but he's still beyond question the best and brightest of the bunch. That may separate Reiser from Curb —but it's another reason to kick it toward one. And it can take Happy Endings with it when it goes.