It's the moment every father is supposed to dread: opening the front door to the guy who will be taking his daughter out on her first date. He'll no doubt be too old, smell like a cologne factory - and is that an earring? He'll need to wipe that smug look off his face before the door is slammed into it. But while young women have a hard time getting out to play, young men appear to have no such problems.

This week, Star World is offering not one but two new comedies, back-to-back, that address what goes down in the world of sexually confident older women. You could, if you wish - as in Accidentally on Purpose (Mondays at 9pm) - find yourself in a boy-daddy situation. Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg; EDtv) stars as a 37-year-old television critic who falls pregnant after a one-night stand with a twentysomething cook who lives in a van. Amazingly, the two become roommates (in her house, obviously) and raise the baby together, platonically. But does hilarity ensue?

If this sounds a little far-fetched, you may be surprised to learn that it happened in real life. There's even a book about it. Presumably, Mary F Pols' account of her sort-of-single motherhood was supposed to inspire others rather than hook a sit-com deal, but humour can be a life saver in challenging times. We wish we could say there were plenty of laughs along with the lessons in the series - but alas, all except Elfman's character are flat stereotypes: the cougar best friend, the strait-laced sister, the doe-eyed father of the child and his loafer friends; it's like watching a badly drawn cartoon in which each face has just one expression.