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Is finding a way for marketers to beat commercial-zapping DVRs and helping networks to cure the distressed state of TV comedy so simple that a caveman could do it? ABC's decision last week to greenlight a half-hour pilot program based on Geico's popular cavemen characters highlights the blurring line between advertising and entertainment, as well as the trouble the network has had in launching successful sitcoms. Although the project is at a nascent stage -- there's no script and no cast -- plans call for the comedy to be titled "Cavemen" and focus on a trio of prehistoric characters who...

Showtime is certainly not playing coy about its desire to pick up "Arrested Development" if FOX cancels the show. But the cable network doesn't seem to be blind in its ardor either. Speaking to reporters Thursday (Jan. 19) at the Television Critics Association press tour, Showtime Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt acknowledged that his network and 20th Century Fox TV, which produces "Arrested," have been discussing the show. (ABC has reportedly expressed interest as well.) "I always thought it was probably a better fit on a cable network than on a broadcast network," Greenblatt says. "And you know, in fact, I...

But when the payoff does come, it's not what we expect. She doesn't just nudge her husband. She smacks him. Hard enough to make his pale cheek red. "Wake up, you lazy piece of crap!" she screams. Except she doesn't say "crap," because this sitcom will air on HBO, and no one on HBO says "crap" when they can get away with so much worse. (This is, however, The Boston Globe Magazine - so you'll have to fill in your own choice words as you read on.)

NEW YORK - Even God is vulnerable to low television ratings. CBS' decision this month to cancel the drama "Joan of Arcadia" after two seasons has baffled and angered its fans. Many are peppering CBS and anyone who will listen with e-mails trying to find some way to keep the series alive. It's a long shot, at best. The series where God appeared to Amber Tamblyn's title character in the guise of average people won critical praise and an Emmy nomination, but couldn't reach beyond a dwindling cult of supporters. Fans said they appreciated a drama that talked about spirituality...

IS AMERICA ready for David Brent? It seems it is. A US version of The Office, which will be broadcast for the first time next month, is an advance hit with critics, celebrity fans and even Ricky Gervais, its creator. The NBC remake appeared in jeopardy as test audiences walked out of previews last year. But focus groups have warmed to the first episodes of The Office: An American Workplace, which may spearhead a migration of “authentic” British sitcoms to the American screen. The first six episodes — three of which were previewed last week by critics for The Sunday...

Amaani Lyle was fired four months into her job for Warner Brothers as a writers' assistant on "Friends" because she couldn't type fast enough to record the writers' dictation accurately. She sued for sexual harassment because the comedy writers would regularly make jokes about women and sex in the process of writing a sitcom about the sexual adventures of six thirty-somethings. A California appeals court has decided that a jury should resolve whether the jokes made by the comedy writers were appropriate for writing a sitcom or whether they created an actionable "hostile working environment for women." Summary judgment was...

I GUESS IT wouldn't be very Christian of me to start an argument with the driver of the car with the bumper sticker that reads "Christians aren't better, just better off." I spotted this one in a shopping center the other day and, while I'm usually just mildly amused at bumper stickers - "What if the hokeypokey really is what it's all about?" - this one about Christians being better off scraped against some sensitive nerve, probably because it's that time of year when I figure Christians are reflecting, at least for a few minutes, on what it means to...

By now many of you have seen the offensive tv sitcom "Whoopi". Despite our emails to NBC to protest their continued airing of this offensive program, it remains on the air. The next step is to contact the show's advertisers. Their contact info is on my website. Please let them know how you feel, here is my letter:

My email to NBC: Dear NBC: I have seen the previews for your new show "Whoopi" and find it to be very offensive. I will not be tuning and and I doubt many other Americans will be as well. In times like these today, with heightened tensions and racial sensitivity, this show only seeks to further stereotypes and ethnic divisions. As a white person, I am offended by several referrences on your show that are culturally insensitive. In one instance, Whoopi yells at her Iranian employee to "stop scaring the white people". In the second instance, you cast a white...

(Click on link below) Guess the Dictator and/or Television Sit-Com Character Here are the rules: Pretend to be a dictator or television sitcom character. I'll try to guess who you are by asking simple yes/no questions. If you're not sure of the answer to a question, answer "No". If you forgot who you were pretending to be, go take a nap, you're obviously under too much stress. Also, drink plenty of fluids.

After several heated appearances with Bill O'Reilly, Garofalo was a hotter commodity than she had ever been and was invited to appear on a host of shows on which she was lauded as "'so brave" to speak out about her feelings regarding the war and the President. Ah, the smell of shameless self promotion in the guise of humble, peace activist... Then the whispers began circulating that ABC was looking to develop a show as a vehicle for Garofalo. She was ebullient, self assured and boastful. In more than one interview she was asked about the people writing angry letters...

(CNSNews.com) - Homeschoolers are panning a new sitcom called The O'Keefees that portrays children from a "not-so-normal family" who have difficulty absorbing the realities of life in public school. The show will air sometime this summer on The WB, serving as a midseason replacement. But even before homeschoolers have had the chance to see it, they're already lashing out at its portrayal of the fictional family. The Home School Legal Defense Association became involved in the issue last month. The group's president, J. Michael Smith, wrote to Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer to express his concerns on behalf...

Some parental sacrifices are a lot more difficult than others. A few years ago, the sitcom I was writing for, "House Rules" on NBC, was cancelled. No big deal, they say you're nobody in this business unless you've been cancelled, fired, and paid a ridiculous amount of money for nothing. I was one out of three. On my way. But while on hiatus (that's what they call it in show business whether you have work to return to or not) we had child number one. A boy. Kids, you surely know, change your outlook on life. I spent five years...