Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement is a studio sitcom built around the shifting rules of dating, marriage, and friendship, with the jokes coming from people who have very different ideas about commitment. By our assessment, it does one thing well: it keeps the ensemble moving briskly, so scenes land as relationship squabbles rather than heavy domestic drama. The trade-off is familiar to many long-running comedies, because the characters can settle into type and the jokes start to circle the same arguments. In practice it plays like a comfort-show comedy, light enough to drop in and out of without much catching up. Rules of Engagement sits closer to broad relationship sitcoms than to sharper, more experimental comedy, and it suits viewers who want an easy half-hour around couples and friends rather than anything edgy.