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From Henry Mietkiewicz of The Toronto Star:

New sitcoms follow same bland formula

Okay, let's do the math: Four guys plus two girls multiplied by hardly any laughs and divided into two time slots equals . . . a pair of bland new sitcoms.

Pretty slick calculation, but it computes so smoothly because the shows are practically clones of each other. Each is built around a couple of quirky, affable men, a perky but brainy woman and living arrangements that bring them all under a communal roof.

Imagine two versions of a rejigged Three's Company, minus the leering farce and any shred of originality.

First up tonight is NBC's House Rules on Channel 2 at 8:30, also airing tomorrow at 8 p.m. on Channel 11. Then there's ABC's Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place which debuts tonight at 9:30 on Channels 6 and 41, repeating Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. on Channel 7.

Is the similarity between these shows just an incredible coincidence? Not really. Bear in mind we're entering that mid-season twilight zone when fledgling series are vying for a shot at the big time.

With so much at stake, they're easily intimidated into obeying the No. 1 rule: Head for the mainstream and don't make waves.

Never mind that most mid-season hits - everything from 3rd Rock From The Sun to Buffy The Vampire Slayer - make their mark by defying convention. For some reason, Hollywood's most popular mathematical formula is still ``Safety equals success.''

Of the two series, Two Guys is marginally more satisfying, thanks to comedy that springs not from forced, artificial punchlines but from the natural eccentricities of its characters.

An aura of true chemistry ripples between the Oscar-and-Felix combo of Berg (Ryan Reynolds), a wily but frustratingly easygoing grad student of philosophy, and Pete (Richard Ruccolo), a would-be architect and pathological fussbudget.

Sharing a house with them is Sharon (Traylor Howard), who's thrilled to be earning a handsome salary at a major corporation, except that she's reduced to selling toxic chemicals. All she can do is rake in the cash and commiserate at the pizza place where Berg and Pete have part-time jobs.

Also look for M*A*S*H veteran Donald Ogden Stiers as a lovable, loony hanger-on who can't remember details of his own life, but clearly recalls events from movies like Casablanca and Jaws as if they were his experiences.

Nothing much actually happens tonight in Two Guys, except for Pete breaking up with an old girlfriend. Nor is there anything to suggest how characters or storylines will blossom.

But even if the odds against it are great, it's worth remembering that Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond also started with similarly hazy concepts.

House Rules, on the other hand, is a pure disaster. No one is called upon to be anything but goofy or snippy, and even after three episodes, all we know about the characters is that William (David Newsom) is a med student, Thomas (Bradley White) is a journalist and Casey (Maria Pitillo) is a lawyer.

As if their pallid acting isn't tiresome enough, their dialogue is amateurish and juvenile in the worst sitcom tradition.

Typical is Casey's lament after her pet puppy disappears into a hole in the cellar wall: ``What if she's captured by a colony of evil rats and forced to submit to their bestial desires with no hero in sight?'' Which prompts Tom to wonder: ``Isn't that the plot of Fivel Goes West?''

Hasn't anyone realized yet that zero dialogue spoken by zilch characters still adds up to nothing?

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