'Marriage isn't about fun," Eddie Stark (Brad Garrett) tells Jeff Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas), a tremulous newlywed in Fox's new " 'Til Death." "Marriage is about having someone drive you to the hospital for your operations."

Eddie is certain he speaks with authority, as a guy who has been married for nearly two decades to Joy (Joely Fisher), who's equally blase about the whole keep-the-romance-alive thing. They've been shuffling joylessly through their days when Jeff and his new bride, Steph (Kat Foster), move in next door.

Eddie's advice, delivered with occasional pinpoint accuracy, and the generally desiccated nature of his marriage, force the newlyweds to consider just what they've committed themselves to. Meanwhile, the younger couple's cuddliness forces Eddie and Joy to confront whatever became of their own affection.

It's a perfectly workable premise, and Garrett and Fisher are fun, but they fairly blow the terminally bland Thomas and Foster off the screen. And it would've been nice if creators Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa (a married couple themselves) could have resisted a couple of their more crass, obvious gags (see Jeff's surname, above; add to it the fact he works at a high school).

Marriage, meanwhile, is pretty much off the radar for the floundering lead characters of "Happy Hour." Henry (John Sloan) just got dumped by his girlfriend (Brooke D'Orsay) after moving to Chicago to be with her; Larry (Lex Medlin) is a ne'er-do-well whose sole passion is pouring martinis at the time indicated by the show's title, and Amanda (Beth Lacke) laments her lack of success with men.

(Yes, Amanda is one of those people who only in the world of TV would be considered somehow undesirable.)

"Happy Hour," too, ladles on gratuitously sophomoric wit: Henry, for reasons unfathomable, goes to a job interview at a bank in shorts so baggy, well, just guess what embarrassment awaits him there. And supporting characters include a harridan and her hen-pecked fiance.

But Medlin is a smooth operator with the one-liners, and Lacke isn't lacking for charm or a wry way with her material. Mildly disaffected slackerdom is hardly the most compelling concept fueling a sitcom these days, but the show, like the first drink or two at happy hour, goes down easily enough.