Brad Garrett was a hoot tossing one-liners from the sidelines on "Everybody Loves Raymond," but he's less appealing thrust to the center of this by-the-numbers sitcom.
Thanks to the comically dour presence of Garrett, who turns grumpiness and pessimism into an art form, and Fisher playing Alice Kramden to his blustery Ralph, 'Til Death could turn out to be something worth watching.
The pilot plot - Jeff wants a pool table in the dining room, Steph agrees, Eddie says it'll never happen, Jeff wants to prove him wrong - follows a well-worn path of sitcoms traceable back to when cavemen acted them out with large dinosaur bones as props.
" 'Til Death" is all that it's cracked up to be, mainly because advance word had it cracked up to be minor and crude -- and yet it still has moments that are engagingly amusing.
It has its share of sexual innuendo and sarcastic insults, as well as some other questionable language. But in between the arguments, it's clear that Eddie and Joy love each other as much as Jeff and Steph do, albeit differently.