I find the setting similarities to be a large issue. Office type comedies remind us of what we've seen before, and everything has a muted effect as a result. Personally one of the funniest sitcoms in recent history for me has been WWDITS, which obviously has a unique setting. They're able to adapt old sitcom tropes to that absurd setting, and that made them feel new. Going from a government office to a government office, or from a bland group of friends to another bland group of friends will leave things feeling too similar, as if hearing the same joke twice. Viewers who haven't seen those older shows will end up appreciating the newer ones, but you won't get the same universal acclaim until there's a bit of time without them..

The "oh and by the way we've worked together before and have chemistry that could be important in a series that is heavily reliant on chemistry." being slipped in at the end of the quote is a little bit of a throw.