(Photo: Mitch Haaseth/Courtesy of NBC Universal)

The story of this season is the revival of the sitcom—whether it’s the surprisingly surreal My Name Is Earl or the viciously deadpan The Office. This week, those two shows move to Thursday as part of NBC’s revamped, all-comedy, why-did-we-abandon-this-format-in-the-first-place, must-see-TV lineup. And they’ll be joined by Four Kings, the latest from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and the most straight-down-the-middle sitcom of the night—or the year. “Look, we all know how this works,” says Mutchnick. “If you have the right script with the right actors, it will work.” And by this definition, Four Kings works. The show, about four childhood buddies splitting a New York pad, isn’t cutting edge, but it’s a reminder that Kohan and Mutchnick write killer one-liners and can still wring a lot of charm from the premise of four friends swapping barbs. For Kohan, the calculus is simple. “The audience has to either want to hang out with these people, or be these people,” he says. “Either way, you have a shot.”

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• Table of Contents: Jan 9, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!