The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

“ER” may have been last season’s new runaway TV smash, but - surprise - it wasn’t the most influential series introduced in prime time.

That fact will be painfully evident this fall when viewers of the Big Four networks are deluged with a flood of new sitcoms imitating, in various forms, another major NBC freshman success, “Friends.”

It’s no contest: “Friends,” which deals with six buddies living in New York, has TV creators doing flipflops to cash in on the show’s aura. How hot is “Friends”? It was the No. 8 show of the season and ranked No. 1 for the third time in the national ratings released last week.

By the time the coming season is over, or way before that, you may well be sick of all the snappy, shallow wisecracking of the new comedies inspired by “Friends,” not to mention the trivial, stereotypical concerns over sex and success by demographically perfect young adults - advertisers’ primary TV targets - as they try to find their way in life, love and the ratings.

I have seen the pilots of 27 of the 34 new series being offered by ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, most of which are sitcoms. The “Friends” influence, while sometimes pleasant in several of the new series, eventually becomes overbearing - and I’d wager that goes for viewers who are 22 or 52. Enough is enough.