CARPOOLERS (7:30 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): When you've got a show that's supposed to be a comedy but it isn't funny and the characters aren't likable, you've got trouble. And you've got "Carpoolers."

This new half-hour show revolves around neighbors who carpool to work every day. Gracen (Fred Goss) is the unbearably neurotic leader (sort of) of the group. He's got big, awful problems like (gasp!) his wife (Faith Ford) makes more money that he does. Boo, hoo!

His buddy Laird (Jerry O'Connell) is a dentist who's in the middle of a divorce, which he handles by becoming an obnoxious womanizer.

Laird and Gracen both seem intent on beating the joy out of the new guy in the car pool, newlywed Dougie (Tim Peper), who only wants to be one of the guys.

And then there's poor Aubrey (Jerry Minor), whose life is made so miserable by his (unseen) wife that the time he spends carpooling is the highlight of his day.

Spending 22 minutes with this crowd is downright depressing. Which is why this was the single worst pilot of the fall season. (Which is saying a lot, given that "Cavemen" is one of the new shows.)

Could be worse. We could all be stuck in a real car pool with people like this instead of having the option of just changing the channel or turning off the TV.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com