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When I was co-running a different TV site for most of the aughts, there was one immutable truth upon which, for many years, I could always rely: nothing we needed to pay attention to ever happened on Fridays or Saturdays, and nothing ever would. Over time, that changed, as shows like Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica and, for a while, The Amazing Race proved that if a series had a very devoted (and/or geeky) fan base, those kooks would follow their favourite shows even to a night that had generally been written off, and in more recent years, shows like Grimm, my beloved Carrie Diaries, and Dave's beloved Dracula have done okay on what used to be a complete TV dead zone...I'm a little worried, in advance, for Enlisted.

Enlisted is the story of Sgt. Pete Hill — initially a "supersoldier" deployed to Afghanistan, who quickly loses his status by punching out a superior officer and gets busted down to "Rear Detachment": being in charge of a bunch of Bad News Bears-y recruits whose so-called deployment involves them performing upkeep duties at a base in Florida, and supporting the families who live there. How great an indignity is this for Pete? His first assignment is to track down a lost dog.

Worse yet, this happens to be where Pete's two brothers have been stationed, and the three are not close. Middle brother Derrick (played by Chris Lowell, known to/generally loathed by Veronica Mars fans as Piz) is a cynical underachiever who knows Pete disdains him and defensively disdains him back. Youngest brother Randy is at the base because he's an idiot (and those who remember Parker Young, who plays him, from his role as Ryan on Suburgatory will find this performance a bit familiar — not in a bad way!), but he's endearingly affectionate with both his brothers and wants nothing more than for them all to love each other.

In addition to the fuckups in Pete's squad (an energetic spitfire going through a divorce; a skinny geek type; a couple of guys whose weight, I feel, would probably disqualify them from actual military service, even by today's relaxed standards), we meet his opposite number, Sgt. Perez, who's managed to turn her squad into a bunch of winners and is hoping to distinguish herself enough in Rear D to be deployed into actual combat. And just when you think Pete and Perez are going to fall into the typical sparry sitcom love/hate mold, they quickly find common ground in their shared love of the job. Perez also joins Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Diaz and Santiago as Latina characters who don't conform to simple-minded stereotypes, and yes, Gloria Pritchett, I am glaring in your direction.

Enlisted comes to us from Kevin Biegel, creator of Cougar Town, so if you've ever wished that show was an unconventional workplace sitcom where people talk just as fast but drink beer and shots instead of wine and that Keith David was there, Enlisted is here to scratch that exact itch. The brothers have believably sweet/ballbreaking chemistry, the army business is nicely exposited without making non-military types (hi) feel like we're being talked down to, and best of all, it's really funny and one of the strongest sitcom pilots I've actually ever seen — no kidding. Maybe the Friday-night berth is smart scheduling from Fox in that it will keep Enlisted away from tough time-slot competition, but just in case, please watch it so that it doesn't get cancelled...and so that when Dads gets killed it can get moved to Tuesdays, where it actually belongs.

Enlisted airs Fridays at 9:30 ET on Fox.