• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 14, 2014

If love is blind, then that must explain why this guy named Jake loves this woman named Annie on NBC’s new comedy series called “Marry Me.”

This show has its series premiere tonight (Tuesday) at 9 (Eastern time), followed by the season premiere of another NBC sitcom, “About a Boy,” at 9:30. “About a Boy” aired for about half a season earlier this year, after premiering in the plum time period following the Super Bowl last February.

But “Marry Me” is the new one premiering tonight, as the rollout of the new fall shows continues. The premiere episode of “Marry Me” indicates that this show will be about one couple’s epic engagement following six years as an unmarried couple.

They are in their early 30s, more or less in the middle of the age range that seems to be required for NBC sitcoms (and, come to think of it, a handful of sitcoms on ABC too) aimed at the 18-49 age group.

In the premiere of “Marry Me,” there’s a wee bit of confusion about the future of this relationship as Annie (Casey Wilson) expresses her frustration that Jake (Ken Marino) did not finally propose to her while they were together on a vacation in Mexico. 

But her reaction is not “wee” at all. On the contrary, she goes berserk -- and not just “comedy-show” berserk either. She throws a fit that is so irrational that she cruelly insults almost every one of their friends and relatives. And later in the show, another ill-considered move on her part will get Jake fired from his job.

And yet he still loves her, if only because you wouldn’t have a show that hopes to continue every week if he didn’t love her, no matter how unhinged she becomes.

Thus, if you choose to sample “Marry Me” tonight, you might be left with this question: Why does Jake love Annie in the first place? With any luck, if the show continues, we might learn the answer to that question.

And while we’re on the subject of questions, here’s another one: Why did my review copy of this “Marry Me” premiere (on a DVD NBC sent to me) contain so many four-letter words that I doubt will make it to air? Is this a new trend I’m late in discovering?

Two of the words were f-words -- and one of them is shouted so loudly that it will be awkward to remove it, assuming it will be removed. This is still necessary, isn’t it? I mean, we have not yet smashed the taboo on the f-word on commercial-supported network TV, have we? If we have, please let me know.

Meanwhile, no f-words were heard in the season premiere episode of “About a Boy” that I watched last night on the NBC press Web site. There was no casual cursing at all on “About a Boy,” which comes across as the more genial of the these two sitcoms.

This show is about a grown man (played by David Walton), who sometimes acts like an immature boy, who befriends a fatherless boy who lives next door, an indication that the show’s title “About a Boy” is meant to refer to the grown man as much as this lonely boy. The fatherless boy (Benjamin Stockham) has a flighty mother (Minnie Driver), who is the show’s other principal character. 

The theme of tonight’s episode seems to be the relative aimlessness of this grown man’s life, and how his role as a self-appointed surrogate father for this boy gives his life the structure and focus that it apparently lacks. Whether you can be made to care about this guy’s life is completely up to you.

Here’s something novel about this “About a Boy” episode: If you’re a Rob Reiner fan, you can see him in a guest role as a ranting, belligerent bagel-store proprietor -- the kind of stereotype the real New York doesn’t really have anymore (if it ever did).