TVSquad

Matt Williams has an impressive sitcom pedigree. He created the quintessential '90s sitcom with Roseanne. Then, with Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean alongside, he struck gold again with Tim Allen's Home Improvement. Now they're hoping lightning can strike twice (thrice?) with another take on the traditional family sitcom for ABC.

Once a television staple, the family sitcom has probably never seen leaner days than right now. But with the multi-camera format making a comeback, there's no better time to test the waters. This time, the family will be a sports psychologist who works out of his home, along with his three kids and presumably a wife.

The big difference between this project and Williams' other two successes is the lack of an established comedian at the center of it. One could easily argue that both Roseanne and Home Improvement were just expansions of the stage acts of their respective stars. That was kind of a trend back then. Are you ready for a family sitcom in the vein of these classics, or has their time come and gone?

As much as there have been movies about the theater and movies about movies, the films that have been made about television are some of the best ever. This year alone, there are two movies nominated for Best Picture of the year by the Academy Awards that are all about television -- Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon. Without TV, neither of these films would exist. Looking back, here are the films about TV that set the standards by which Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon are measured.

The Emmy nominations won't be announced until July 17, but we can tell you right now without a doubt that Ugly Betty's Rebecca Romijn will not be among the outstanding supporting actress in a comedy category at the Emmys. No, we're not psychic. It's just that her spokesman has confirmed that her name was never actually submitted. DOH! And why was that, you wonder. No good reason, said her rep, "It was an oversight."

According to L.A. Times' Tom O'Neil, this isn't really that far-fetched an occurrence. Tim Allen, at the height of his Home Improvement success, missed a chance for an Emmy nomination when somebody fumbled the ball. The next year, his paperwork was hand-delivered, accompanied by the University of Southern California marching band.

Romijn's omission -- on the surface -- looks like a mistake. Yes, it's true that her status on the show is going from series regular to recurring, but I don't believe she purposely kept her name out of the running to in some way act out in protest against the show. It makes no sense? How is she hurting Ugly Betty by not getting an Emmy nomination? No, this was a screw up, nothing more.

A few weeks ago, while doing some research on stand-up comedians who became sitcom stars, I ended up Googling a whole bunch of names to get some additional pre-television history on them. One of these was Home Improvement's Tim Allen. While looking up Tim's information I came upon a listing for his personal website. It was a weird listing though -- something like Tim Allen -- T'Avatar. Well, since I know Tim's not a Romulan, I thought this was just an abbreviation of something. Needless to say I clicked in.

Turns out, T'Avatar was short for Tim Allen's Avatar, which appears in an opening video to his website. Folks, this Avatar freaks the living piss out of me.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with numbers 40-31, we here at TV Squad are also looking at them as well, but in a different light. Last week, we took a look at the top ten sitcom sidekicks. This time around we look at the stars of these shows. In particular, those stars that began their career between a brick wall (or a curtain) and a microphone.

We're talking about stand-up comedians. During the early days of television they were found very infrequently in situation comedies (yet, they were plentiful in variety shows). However, as the decades progressed, more and more of them found a home in front of three cameras and a live studio audience. Many of them became bigger stars then they ever were performing routines in front of a drunken audience at 1:00 AM.

We've compiled a pretty comprehensive (in my opinion) list of those stand-ups who made it big in the sitcom world. In order to keep the list down to under a thousand entries, we set a few standards: The sitcom needed to last at least two seasons, the show had to be a comedy and not a variety program, and the comedian needed to have a prominent role in the sitcom. Even with those rules the list is pretty extensive. So, without further pontification...

Jack Bauer's daughter is trading in angst for romance. Actress Elisha Cuthbert has been cast on the CBS pilot Ny-Lon. That's the one-hour romantic-drama-with-comedy based on the British series of the same name that aired on the Channel 4 TV in 2004 (only there it was called NY-LON; apparently the American version is initial cap only).

I feel sorry for people who have never been fired. I think it's something everyone has to experience, and I think that if you haven't been fired from at least one job in your life, there's a certain aspect of your personality that never developed, and you're going to be disappointed later in life in some way. (OK, I'll stop the psychoanalyzing now.)

The new book Fired! by Annabelle Gurwitch, contains a series of essays from famous (and not-so-famous people) who have gotten fired. It's divided into five different sections: The Job So Terrible You Can Only Hope To Be Fired, The Firing You Didn't See Coming, The Time You Deserved To Be Fired, The Time Getting Fired Leads To Something Better, and The Time You Had To Fire Yourself. It's a funny book, but also one that happens to be helpful and more than a little insightful.

Felicity Huffman recounts the day she was fired from the Ed Asner sitcom Thunder Alley; David Cross talks about the day he was fired from a law firm (after he was fired he said to his boss, "wait, I haven't had time to shit on your desk!"); New Yorker writer Andy Borowitz discloses that he was fired from writing for The Facts Of Life because he didn't "get" Tootie; and Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig recounts the horrifying story of how he was fired once from a gig as Ronald McDonald. Other essays in the book include those from Bill Maher, Brian Unger (fired from Extra for wearing sweaters and having a big nose), Anne Meara, Tate Donovan, Judd Apatow, Jeff Garlin, Tim Allen, D.L. Hughley, Robert Reich, and Andy Dick. A very entertaining read.

Which of these things is not like the other: Al Pacino, Don Cheadle, Robert Downey, Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, and... Tim Allen? Bravo is touting all of these actors' upcoming appearances with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio (a title that is screaming for an apostrophe!). Hanks will be the first actor to make a second appearance in the Studio, while Dustin Hoffman will be the Studio's 200th celebrity guest. No air dates are set, but the network says they'll appear this spring.

While most of the names are impressive, they might also be a bit boring. My favorite guest was Mike Myers, who did all sorts of voices and had some fun at Lipton's expense.

Who would you like to see Inside the Actors Studio?

Maybe Dr. Phil has finally fallen out of favor with Americans. Or, maybe I'm reading way too much into an annual poll listing the Top 10 Favorite Television Personalities. Since 1993, Harris Poll has conducted a research project listing Americans' favorite celebrities. Dr. Phil, Regis Philbin, Ray Romano, and Bill Cosby all fell off the list this year.

The pollsters conducted their research online, and only interviewed 960 adults. So, I'd say that leaves out a significant portion of the population that isn't yet "wired".

Anywho, here's the list: