Sitcoms were first broadcast in Russia in the 1990s, when the country was on the brink of economic collapse, but both original sitcoms and copies of American ones achieved poor ratings. People were struggling and seemingly not in the mood for the kind of breezy jokes about the lives of the comfortable that sitcoms usually offer. Unable to identify with the sitcoms' characters, Russians instead flocked to dubbed versions of Latin American soap operas, which offered an escape from Russia's many miseries.

Only recently, with the economic upturn, has the sitcom taken hold.

"This is probably the last television genre to be adopted in Russia," said Elena Prokhorova, a Moscow native who studies Russian television and is a visiting professor at the College of William and Mary, in Virginia. "The reason why they did not work before was that, really, sitcoms require a very stable social life."

Russians involved in producing and performing in "Schastlivy Vmeste" said that while the Russian scripts followed the outlines of the American ones, they had made changes for a Russian audience, from fashioning plots around Russian holidays to using sets that more closely resemble interiors in Russia. Viktor Loginov, the actor who plays Gena Bukin, looks younger than Ed O'Neill, who played Al Bundy, in part because the show is geared toward younger audiences.

The producers and actors also insisted that the humor was more in a Russian style. "We try to capture the so-called Russian soul so that it will be accepted by our Russian audience, so the character becomes a guy from the street," said Loginov, a classically trained actor who has become so popular that TNT recently hired him to be the host of a new game show, "Intuition."

Still, the feel of "Schastlivy Vmeste" seems far more American than Russian. Classic Russian humor tends more toward narrative satire than the slapstick of "Schastlivy Vmeste." During Soviet times, comic monologists often appeared on television, making light of the problems of daily life while steering clear of politics.

Though "Married . . . With Children" was something of a shock when it first appeared in the United States, provoking advertiser boycotts, two decades later the Russian version has not stirred a similar reaction. Russian television critics note that, as in much of the world, television in Russia has become the home for a lot of relatively coarse fare.

Yet Daniil B. Dondurei, editor in chief of Cinema Art magazine, said he saw a darker significance in the success of "Schastlivy Vmeste" and other sitcoms here. Russians are increasingly apathetic, he said, and want to watch programs that do not challenge them.

"Today, people are becoming accustomed to not thinking about life," he said. "The television is training them to not think about which party is in Parliament, about which laws are being passed, about who will be in charge tomorrow. People have become accustomed to living like children, in the family of a very strong and powerful father. Everything is decided for them."