Given the constraints of a typical sitcom - 22 minutes, comedy, resets each week (no new characters, no major changes to character's lives), the "formula" is basically the only option: You present a problem, you wrestle with the problem, and you resolve the problem (maybe with a subplot or two). What else can you do?
You can avoid having a problem at all. But that loses all the usual dramatic structure and tension that we expect, not just from comedies but from tragedies all the way back to ancient greece.
Or you can have multiple problems, each resolved in turn. This was done by the Simpsons in several seasons (but not in the earliest or latest). One problem would occur, quickly get out of hand, then either get resolved or morph into another problem. It made the Simpsons feel much more "chaotic" and "dense".
Otherwise, the "formula" is basically the only way to do it. Maybe I missed something the article was saying?