"My Boys" is less like attending a performance of a stand-up comedian and more like getting together with a bunch of friends. It's enjoyable and occasionally amusing, but it's not loaded with laughs.
And that's not really meant as criticism. The new TBS series is a rather enjoyable half hour.
"My Boys" (tonight at 8, TBS) is sort of a much, much more tame "Sex and the City," only the woman at the center of the series is surrounded by male friends. (Thus the title.)
P.J. Franklin (Jordana Spiro) is an attractive, perky sportswriter who covers the Cubs, hangs out with her guy pals and is always equating the relationship game to the game of baseball.
Her buddies have plenty of relationship problems of their own: Brendan (Reid Scott) keeps breaking up and getting back together with the same woman, P.J.'s brother Andy (Jim Gaffigan) is the ultimate whipped husband, Mike (Jamie Kaler) is of the love-'em-and-leave-'em (quickly) school of thought, and Kenny (Michael Bunim) is a shy loser at love.
Enter Bobby (Kyle Howard), an attractive new sportswriter at a rival Chicago paper, who quickly catches P.J.'s eye. But in the premiere episode, her no-nonsense, guylike approach to guy-girl interaction proves to be a big turn-off for Bobby.
When things start to get, um, romantic between the two of them, P.J. tries to put Bobby at ease by telling him she doesn't expect a night of, um, romance to turn into a big commitment.
"Can you not say the guy stuff?" Bobby asks. "Girls say stuff like, 'Wait, why is this happening so fast?"'
"But that's acting," the oh-so-honest P.J. says.
"Fine, but it's hot," Bobby replies.
In tonight's second episode (8:30 p.m., TBS), Bobby sends mixed signals when he gives P.J. a gift but then shows up with another woman.
"My Boys " is more about the gang getting together and talking about their personal lives than about actually showing us those personal lives. And it's a fun bunch of people — the sort of pseudo-family like the one that lasted all those years in "Friends."
There are a lot fewer laughs in "My Boys" than there were in "Friends," however. "My Boys" feels more like a half-hour version of an hourlong show like, say, "Grey's Anatomy" (without the blood and drama) than it does a half-hour sitcom.
That's not a bad thing. It's a great group to hang out with.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com