No laughing matter

NBC pulled the show after a few episodes, then brought it back with the more conventional trappings of a studio audience and multiple cameras. The show was still canceled.

"It's hard to do anything well," says Louis-Dreyfus. "I think we all know this, whether it's in television or in film. Or if you're making a car, it's hard to make a good car. It's hard to do things well, period."

Networks often fall back on tried-and-true strategies, such as hiring big-name stars or successful writer/producers, but neither is a guarantee.

Bette Midler and Geena Davis each had their own show two seasons ago. They were both panned by the press and neither lasted a season. Veteran show runner Bruce Helford gave us "Roseanne" and "Drew Carey," but he also produced the failed "Nikki," on The WB.

Every now and then, the creative juices are fresh, the show is original, and critically praised, but even that doesn't mean viewers will jump on board.

The list of critical hits that didn't survive is lengthy - "The Job," SportsNight," and "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," to name just a few recently demised shows.

Writing itself poses its own challenges. Given the pervasiveness of modern TV, writers have to dig deeper in their creative psyche to bypass the familiar.

"In writing comedy, there's been plenty of times where I've written something and showed it to somebody and they say, 'Well this is just like that other thing," says comedian Andy Richter.

"You know, the rhythms of a sitcom and that kind of pattern of a joke are so ingrained in all of our brains that it comes out, without meaning to."

That familiarity is a double-edged sword. Executives want to give people what they know and like, but they also say it's harder to keep it fresh.

"An awful lot of people in the country can sit home and watch a sitcom and sort of know what joke's coming next," says Anne Flett-Giordano, creator and executive producer of "It's All Relative," a new ABC sitcom. Rerun channels such as TV Land and Nick at Night spin old sitcoms endlessly. "It's harder to sell sitcoms because people are so familiar with the form now."

But even a drought can have a bright side, says media maven Thompson. Aside from new comedies panned by critics, such as "Hope & Faith" or "Coupling," the state of today's sitcoms may not be as bad as it seems, he says. The whole field has been redefined, for the better, over the past few decades by such shows as "Seinfeld," "The Simpsons," and even "Friends."

The bar has been raised, so today's viewers expect much more, he says.

"Remember when we made hits out of 'Give Me a Break,' 'Diff'rent Strokes,' and 'Facts of Life'?" he says. "By today's standards, these shows were dreadful. They were able to be such big hits because there wasn't too much to compare them with."

Those higher expectations couldn't come at a worse time for the networks. Proliferating cable channels have created more outlets for the writers who can produce high-quality comedies. HBO's "Sex and the City," for instance, has won several Emmys.

Cable channels also tend to be more patient with new shows, allowing time for audiences to build. (Lest we forget, "Seinfeld" took nearly a year to find its funnybone.)

But at least for this season, the next water-cooler sitcom may prove more elusive than ever.

"It's the hardest thing to do, a high-quality comedy series," says Chris Albrecht, chairman and CEO of HBO. "You've got to be smart and interesting and get people warm and fuzzy and funny at the same time. Most people can't even do one of those things."

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