Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998-1999)

Starring: Traylor Howard, Ryan Reynolds, Richard Ruccolo

Three former college chums are the center of this sitcom, set at a Boston pizza parlor where grad-school roommates Berg (Ryan Reynolds) and Pete (Richard R. Ruccolo) work. Above their apartment lives their friend and neighbor, Sharon (Traylor Howard), sales rep for a chemical company. Berg is an eccentric philosophy major who's also a guinea pig each week for a different new product (nasal spray, talking shoes). Pete's a potential architect with a bubbly girlfriend, Melissa (Jennifer Westfeldt). Bill (Julius Carry) is the boss at the pizzeria, where one of the "wacky" customers is the delusional Mr. Bauer (David Ogden Stiers). Most of Bauer's "adventures" seem to have been filched from the plotlines of JAWS and other movies. The first six episodes of this series were purchased by the Fox network and then sold to ABC, where the show premiered March 11, 1998 on ABC. The New York Times reviewed it as a "charmless comedy." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide