The show’s casual surreality can be traced to its roots, when Mr. Zwar told Mr. Gann a story about going home with a date and encountering her jealous dog. That anecdote, expanded to sitcom length, became the first episode of the original show. The idea was simple: a dog fights a man over a woman, and gradually they become mates. It was a buddy comedy crossed with a talking-animal comedy, filmed on a shoestring (much of the action involved man and dog sitting on a couch and getting high) and featuring the foul language and full frontal nudity allowed on Australian broadcast television.

The new version has been put in the hands of the writer and producer David Zuckerman (“Family Guy,” “American Dad”) and toned down for American basic cable, though the humor still pushes the envelope. (Some of the nastiest jokes, as it happens, target Asians: the narrowness of their birth canals, the foulness of their cooking.)

The real signs of Americanization are higher production values, more plot elements and a streak of slightly gooey sentimentality. Instead of dating Jenna from the get-go, Ryan now admires her from across the fence, a chaste and emasculating rejiggering of the story.

“Wilfred” tries for a coarse sophistication that locates it somewhere between HBO’s winsome “Flight of the Conchords” and FX’s brutally honest “Louie” (which begins its second season on Thursday night). But it ends up muffled and not very funny. Mr. Gann’s bits of doggie business — turning in circles before sitting on the couch, chasing a laser-pen light — are reliably humorous, but beyond that the show doesn’t offer a lot of bark or bite.