TVSquad

Last night, Carl Reiner provided a bit of comedy relief on the season finale of House. He was only in a few scenes, but had some surefire material to work with (pooh is always funny). Reiner is one of the chief architects of funny, going back to his days with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and later on with Steve Martin in films like The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains.

The Three Haircuts:
This is the musical parody sketch that created the blueprint for all musical parody sketches to follow. Just pure, wonderful madness. And watch Reiner's face as he's leaping in the air during the dance solo in "Flippin' Over You." Pick up the Sid Caesar Collection DVD of this to see it on a regular screen with better resolution.

TV Week tells us that after clearing 85% of the market with a few last-minute sales, including to one of my local stations in St. Louis, The Bonnie Hunt Show is now able to get things in order for a Fall 2008 launch. Hunt filmed a pilot in June of 2007 and was picked up with a two year commitment in September.

Bonnie Hunt is one of those Hollywood names everyone knows, everyone in the industry likes, and she's been around forever, but she's never been in anything "big-time." Her biggest TV role was probably her Emmy-nominated performance in the short-lived ABC series Life with Bonnie, in which Hunt played ... a TV talk show host ... well, that's kind of weird. I guess all she's really wanted to do is direct-- I mean, host a talk show. Sorry, they all want to direct, of course. Goes without saying. So I probably shouldn't have.

I've been wondering when actress Bonnie Hunt was going to return to television. She's had several short-lived sitcoms (all rather good and different - Grand, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Life with Bonnie, The Building) and beyond her movie work (Cars, Cheaper By The Dozen) I heard she had also signed a deal to create another comedy show.

But that's not going to happen anytime soon, because Hunt has just signed a two-year deal for her own talk daytime talk show. The show will premiere in syndication in the fall of 2008 on NBC stations.

After last night's powerful gay marriage debate with Bill Bennett, Jon was asked what went on between commercial breaks. "He asked me out. I would have gone, but I'll tell you why I'm not going to go... 'Cause... I don't know how to salsa dance," he tearfully admitted.

I don't know who's more excited about this news, me or Joel. The brilliantly funny Bonnie Hunt is having another go at situation comedy on ABC. In her untitled project, she'll play a recently divorced woman who works as a detective.

Bonnie has convinced some powerful comedic talent to join the cast. Dennis Miller (yes, THE Dennis Miller of HBO and SNL) will co-star as Dr. Langley, Hunt's therapist. And Joe Mantegna will play Jack, her ex-husband. Both roles were meant to be guest stars only, but Bonnie reportedly talked the men into sticking around if her sitcom gets picked up by the network.

This is the second edition of this column where we share with you some of those shows that were gone from the airwaves too soon, and, oddly enough, today's show also had Bonnie Hunt in it, not to mention the writing of Simpsons scribe Frank Mula. It's all coincidence, I can assure you. Although, I must say that despite being very funny and talented Bonnie Hunt's not exactly a lucky rabbit's foot when it comes to sitcoms.