TVSquad

Where are the family comedies these days? They're a rare commodity on the big three plus Fox, and even if you include the animated clans on The Family Guy and The Simpsons and American Dad, you can count the family-type comedy shows on one hand.

However, TBS has a throwback family comedy, one in The Cosby Show mode, and they're sticking with it. TBS's The Bill Engvall Show has just been given a third season renewal. The sitcom will be back in the summer 2009 with ten new episodes.

I've watched The Bill Engvall Show and enjoyed it. It's meant to evoke Cosby, but I also found a lot of Everybody Loves Raymond and Home Improvement in it as well, and that's a good thing. Engvall's a funny guy, and he's greatly aided in the show by sitcom vet Nancy Travis as his smart, attractive spouse.

The relationship between the viewer and the network is one that requires a delicate balance. As the numbers for DVR penetration continue to climb, it's pretty clear that a great many of us are successfully dodging more and more commercial breaks. And the networks continue to push back, trying different things to get eyeballs on ads. Some are merely annoying. For instance, as much as I like both Kyra Sedgwick and The Closer, I'm annoyed every time Brenda walks out of the corner of my screen while I'm watching another show on TNT.

While that one is annoying, this latest adventure from TBS crosses a line. During an episode of Family Guy (video after the jump), Bill Engvall walks out on the screen, much like the Brenda spots for The Closer. The difference is that Bill holds up a remote and actually pauses the episode before heading into his pitch for his show. When he finishes, he unpauses the show, which runs for two more seconds before going to the regular commercial break. Please, if it's not too much trouble, strap on your sturdiest combat boots and join me in sending a theoretical kick to the crotch of anyone at TBS that didn't think this was the dumbest idea since starting everything at five minutes past the hour.

Look, a family sitcom that's NOT on Disney or Nickelodeon which been renewed for another season! How unique!

TBS has ordered up a second season of 10 episodes of The Bill Engvall Show. The comedy, which entered the television landscape back in July, premiered with fairly strong ratings and remained the number two sitcom among adults 18-49 on ad-supported cable (fancy talk for basic cable) for the rest of its freshman season.

I don't think I would be stretching the truth too much if I said that the family sitcom is pretty much dead on network television. I mean, with the exception of According to Jim and perhaps Two and a Half Men, there has been a dearth of successful family comedies on the air since the departure of Everybody Loves Raymond and Arrested Development a few years ago.

Former SNL'er Tim Meadows has taken a co-starring role in The Bill Engvall Show. As Adam reported earlier this month, Engvall plays a family counselor whose family could (ironically and typically) use some counseling of its own. Nancy Travis will play Engvall's wife who is trying to raise their three children right. Meadows will play Engvall's friend, who is also a doctor. The sitcom will air on TBS.

Where has Tim Meadows been since leaving SNL in 2000? Well, most recently he had some guest-starring roles in The Office, Everybody Hates Chris, Help Me Help You and According to Jim.

Anna mentioned back in November that TBS was creating a pilot for Blue Collar comedian Bill Engvall, best known for his "here's your sign" routine. Now we know that the new series will be called The Bill Engvall Show (what else?) and will star Engvall and Nancy Travis. Engvall will play Will Pearson, a family counselor and father of a teenage daughter and two boys. Travis will play his wife, Susan.

Much like a majority of Engvall's comedy, the new show promises to be a simple, family-friendly comedy shot in typical multi-camera fashion in front of a studio audience. The series debuts sometime this summer.

Fans of Engvall's stand-up can also catch him March 25 at 9:00 p.m. on Comedy Central in a new special: Bill Engvall: Fifteen Degrees Off Cool.

TBS is looking for a companion to its highly-rated reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, and good ol' boy Bill Engvall appears to be it. The comedian, who appeared in the Blue Collar Comedy Tour alongside Jeff Foxworthy, will star in a pilot for the cable network. Engvall will play the father at the center of a sitcom, which is described by TBS senior vp of programming Michael Wright as, "very clever and witty but not mean-spirited." If you're like me and you have no idea who this guy is, you can watch some of his comedy and an interview with him in this clip on YouTube. Engvall is co-producing the show with Michael Leeson, whose impressive resume includes producing The Cosby Show, Taxi, Happy Days, All in the Family, and Mary Tyler Moore.

Engvall's pilot is the second comedy that TBS is eyeing. The network recently greenlighted a workplace comedy pilot called Imperfect Union, starring Eric McCormack (who recently claimed he was done with sitcoms).