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From Frazier Moore Associated Press:

A familiar slice of life; Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" hopes to attract twentysomethings with a familiar setup.

NEW YORK -- Maybe pizza makes the difference.

In any case, this week marks the arrival of two sitcoms that share a nearly identical premise. And no matter how you slice it, one is funny. One isn't.

"Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place," the funny one, launches tonight on ABC at 8:30 p.m. "House Rules," more aptly named "Two Guys, a Girl and No Pizza Place," bowed Monday on NBC at 7:30 p.m.

Catch both these premieres and you'll be reminded that sitcoms, aiming to cultivate rapport with the viewer, generally avoid new, unfamiliar ideas. Another thing: The success of a sitcom depends almost all on execution.

In each series, three pals face the world together as young adults. One chap is a lanky slacker-dreamer. The other is a wired-up realist. Both strenuously reject adulthood. (Did we mention Peter Pan? One of the "Two Guys" is even named Pete!) They live in close proximity, but platonically, with the gal.

The guys in "Two Guys" are graduate students who share an apartment in Boston. Berg (played by Ryan Reynolds) is a philosophy major with an easy-does-it outlook who makes extra money by signing up for medical experiments. Richard Ruccolo is Pete, a perpetually fretful would-be architect.

The girl is Sharon, their former college bud and now their upstairs neighbor who mothers them with a wide-screen TV and a well-stocked refrigerator.

All in all, "Two Guys" is about as funny as you could hope for, considering the absence of a single new idea.

Indeed, its second episode has the same story line as the "House Rules" premiere: In each case, the fellows do their part to derail their gal pal's budding romance. But to reiterate, one version is funny; the other isn't.

If you were to take the basic "House"/"Guys" formula, then add another male and a dozen years to everyone's age, you'd have "Seinfeld" ("Three Guys, a Girl and an Upper West Side Diner"). But Jerry and his geezer chums are old news. Right now, television is consumed with that demographic anxiously poised on the precipice between college graduation and "Melrose Place."

"Ally McBeal," the season's only new series to lift the audience out of its torpor, focuses on a 25-ish woman at a freewheeling Boston law firm. Despite steady employment, she's still plagued by post-matriculation doubts about her life.

Fox unveils another hour-long romantic comedy next tonight at 8 The first scene of "Significant Others" finds 25-year-old Campbell discovering Henry, his best friend, in bed with Nell, his other best friend.

"When did stuff start to count? I mean, in life," Campbell wonders later on, lamenting his lack of both a job and a relationship. "It didn't used to. Pick the wrong summer job? Get a different job next summer. Pick the wrong girl? Dump her, move to the right girl. I loved that."

Now TV loves this bittersweet angst, this foot-dragging coming of age. No wonder. Reluctant adults everywhere can relate.

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