Could it be that the resurgence of the sitcom has finally arrived? With "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Everybody Hates Chris" drawing buzz, Fox adds two more comedies to the prime-time schedule: "The Loop," a superior comedy coming next month, and "Free Ride" premiering this week.

		'Free Ride' When: Previews 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Fox; regular time slot premiere March 12 at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Starring: Josh Dean. 'Deal or No Deal' When: 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, NBC; 8 p.m. Mondays starting March 6. Starring: Howie Mandel.

The network is not putting its better sitcom forward. Partially improvised, "Free Ride" (previews at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday; time slot premiere March 12, 9:30 p.m.) is more of an amusing diversion than a laugh riot. Filmed single camera-style (a la "My Name Is Earl"), "Free Ride" follows college grad Nate (Josh Dean) home to Johnson City, Mo., where he intends to get a free ride living with his parents, the argumentative Bob (Allan Havey) and Margo (Loretta Fox). "They take care of me, cook the food," Nate tells a buddy. "It's like having servants."

But his envisioned life of leisure turns out to be anything but relaxing. With his parents bickering, loud hammerhead friend Mark (Dave Sheridan) dragging him around town and disappointment looming when he discovers high school crush Amber (Erin Cahill) is now taken, Nate's Midwestern life won't be easy.

As a comedy about the boomerang effect of college grads who return home and take low-paying jobs (Nate works at an Australian steak house), "Free Ride" is spot on.

"A crappy job is the foundation of a good life," Nate's dad says, attempting to encourage his son to get a job, any job.

But "Free Ride" is more loud and raucous than it is funny. That's especially true in Wednesday's pilot episode. A future episode that features Nate on a double date with obnoxious Mark is funnier and features more humorous dialogue, but the series doesn't demand to be watched again and again.

'Deal or No Deal'

NBC's no-need-for-knowledge game show "Deal or No Deal" (8 p.m. Monday through Friday, WPXI) returns for a week of episodes before settling into a regular 8 p.m. Monday time slot next week.

Host Howie Mandel presides over this gambling game. Contestants ask models to open briefcases numbered 1 through 26, with each case containing a different dollar amount. The goal is to eliminate as many low-value cases as possible so the show's unseen banker will offer up a larger amount of money to the contestant, who can take the deal or say, "No deal!" and continue to play.

"You can go home with a lot of money with absolutely no skill," Mandel said last month at an NBC press conference in Pasadena, Calif. "You can be a rock and move into another tax bracket."

For Mandel, who was a reluctant game show host when first approached to work on the highly rated first week of "Deal" that aired in December, it's turned into a plum gig.

"They've afforded me the opportunity to do everything I've done in my career," he said. "I can be dramatic, and there are very dramatic moments. ... I can be comedic, improvisational, because I'm in front of a live audience and talking to these people."

After the first week of shows aired, Mandel said he ran into a man in Miami who insisted on showing the host black and blue marks on his arms.

"I go, 'I'm sorry, what is that?' He goes, 'A week of "Deal or No Deal" with my wife sitting on this side of me on the couch,' " Mandel said. "She would go, 'Take the deal' and punch him for it. That's what I've heard most ... how people have been spending their time at home screaming at the TV."