A delightfully off-the-wall show about a bright youngster, his brothers, goofy dad and spunky mum. Wonderfully performed and scripted, with unpredictable (often irreverent) storylines. Home sweet home has seldom been such a nutty battleground.
Latino comic actor Luis Guzman starred in this eponymously titled sitcom as the owner of a donut shop and landlord of an apartment building, both located in Spanish Harlem. When dealing with his sharp-tongued, ethnically mixed tenants, co-workers, and loved ones, Luis demonstrated that he could give back as good as he got -- most of the time. The supporting cast included Diana-Maria Riva as Luis' ex-wife, Isabella, who hung around mostly to dispense insults and gobble down her former hubby's donuts; Jaclyn DeSantis as Luis' daughter, Marly, a level-headed type except when it came to her boyfriend, indolent "artist" Greg (Charlie Day); Charlie Day as Luis' assistant Richie, who carried a torch for Marly; and Malcolm Barrett as TK, a glib wheeler-dealer who spent most of his time trying to sell "valuable" merchandise which he'd recently fished out of the neighborhood dumpsters. Created and produced by Will Gluck, Luis made its FOX network bow on September 19, 2003.
More "twentysomething sexual angst" in the tradition of Friends, the Fox sitcom Happy Hour also borrowed elements from The Odd Couple. The focus was on a pair of mismatched male roommates, described by the network publicity flacks thusly: "one disappointed by love, one blinded by love." The "disappointed" one was Henry Beckman (John Sloan), who after breaking up with girlfriend Heather (Brooke D'Orsay) moved in with his party-animal buddy Larry Cone (Lex Medlin). Having just lost a roommate named Brad (Nat Faxon), who defected in favor of marriage, Larry welcomed Henry as "The New Brad," assuming that both shared the same viewpoint about the opposite sex; they didn't, of course, and therein lay the series' comic contrast. Other cast members included Beth Lacke as Larry's main squeeze Amanda, and Jamie Denbo as the roommates' somewhat deranged next-door neighbor Tina. Happy Hour debuted on September 7, 2006, in tandem with another new Fox comedy series, 'Til Death.
Life on and off the baseball diamond for a woeful big-league team called the Pioneers played out in a sitcom that aired---for two months---while there was a Major League Baseball strike.