There's something oddly familiar about the new ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules . . ."— why, there's John Ritter playing a guy sharing a house with two nubile young women.
However, this is not "Three's Company," which went off the air 18 years ago. This time around, those nubile young women are not his roommates, they're the teenage daughters of Ritter's character.
The title of the new show (which debuts Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Ch. 4) is shorted from the book "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," and Ritter's character, Paul Hennessy, is determined to keep guys like Jack Tripper of "Three's Company" away from his daughters.
"That's exactly right," Ritter said. "I think the thing that's interesting about that is the thing he hates about guys is the stuff that he sees in himself about how he was. He is familiar with the tricks."
On the surface, the Hennessys are a pretty standard sitcom family. Paul is a sports writer who's been on the road a lot, but now his wife (Katey Sagal of "Married . . . With Children" has gone back to work and he finds himself taking over some of the parenting chores. He's got a decidedly nubile 16-year-old daughter, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco); a more bookish 15-year-old daughter, Kerry (Amy Davidson); and a 13-year-old son, Rory (Martin Spanjers), the only one of his offspring he can relate to.
"I want this to be an all-American family — an affectionate glance at anybody who is raising teenagers," said creator/executive producer Tracy Gamble. "It's an affectionate look at that time of child-rearing, and a manly time."
Paul isn't a bad father, he's just out of practice. He doesn't want to deal with "female problems," but he's forced to.
And, as far as he's concerned, the No. 1 female problem is keeping the boys away from them.
"The problem is that he's trying to keep his kids safe and he's overly worried and overly protective," Ritter said. "And he doesn't trust any teenage boy alive except his son. I think it's just that he loves (his children) so much."
Like so many sitcom kids, these often seem wise beyond their years, and they have smart mouths. The show runs the gamut from genuine laughs to scenes that have the studio audience sighing, "Ahhhh" — but this is not a retro sitcom family from the '50s.
Despite the producer's vows that this will be "a family friendly show," parents with small children may flinch when the subject of sex comes up. And it comes up a lot.
"It's part of a teenager's life," Gamble said. "I am not saying that we're going to do provocative, sexual stories. We're doing stories about parenting teenage kids."
Sagal said she thinks the show is "very reality based" in that area. "I would imagine sexual issues will definitely be addressed," she said. "Do 16-year-olds have sex today? I think so."
And a lot of the comedy in "8 Simple Rules . . ." will come from Paul trying to make sure his daughters aren't among them.
REAL-LIFE DAD: In real life, Ritter is the father of two sons (ages 22 and 20) and two daughters (ages 20 and 3). And he can relate to his "8" character when it comes to his older daughter.
"She goes to Vassar and she is in love with a guy named Tim who's a German physicist. Kill me now," he said, adding, "He's a very nice boy."
A very nice boy who didn't make the best first impression. When Ritter asked him how he was going to spend his summer, "He said, 'I don't know. I'm just going to take a break and live a life of debauchery.'
"And I said, 'That's probably not the best thing to say to the father of your girlfriend the first time we meet.' But he was trying to be funny. He's a very nice, young German."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com