No Joke: Comedy Central Stretches

There are days, Doug Herzog admits, when he wishes that the cable network he runs was named Mildly Amusing Central instead of Comedy Central.

Being the medium’s only all-comedy channel is both a blessing and a curse.

“You can do almost anything within the genre of comedy, and we’re positioning ourselves as an edgier alternative to broadcast shows,” said Herzog, president of the channel since last July. “But what’s funny is subjective, and comedy is very hard to do.”

The 5-year-old Comedy Central network, reaching 40 million homes, is a valuable asset because of its reach, but it is widely regarded as not having reached its potential. “They’ve been something of a disappointment because they haven’t had that many hit shows,” said Larry Gerbrandt, cable analyst for Paul Kagan Associates.

The channel has created only two signature programs: “Politically Incorrect,” a talk show hosted by comedian Bill Maher, and “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist,” an animated series about a psychiatrist whose patients tend to be stand-up comics.

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It also got widespread attention for the sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous” and the B-movie spoof “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” But “Absolutely Fabulous” was a British import that has ended production, and “MST3K” was canceled (though it will be revived by the Sci-Fi Channel). And “Politically Incorrect” has been so successful that it’s leaving Comedy Central after the presidential elections in November to reappear on ABC in January.

Much of the current schedule is taken up with repeats--old movies and reruns of “Saturday Night Live,” “Kids in the Hall” and “The Tracey Ullman Show.”

“Comedy Central hasn’t put enough shows on the air that stick,” acknowledges Herzog, who previously was head of programming at MTV. “Unlike MTV, Comedy Central is a network of shows. Original programming is what will make people stop their remotes and watch us. We need to be more urgent, more topical, giving our take on the events of the day.”

To help achieve that end, Comedy Central is launching a daily talk show and embarking on an ambitious development plan for new series.

The host of the new talk show, called “The Daily Show,” will be Craig Kilborn, former anchor for ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Beginning July 22, it will air weeknights at 11:30 and will be produced in New York.

“Craig has a great dry sense of humor, and the show will include humorous news-style reports from the field on events of the day,” Herzog said.

Like “Politically Incorrect,” “The Daily Show” will have a mix of pundits that sounds like a crazy dinner-party guest list--actor F. Murray Abraham, journalist Jimmy Breslin, comedian A. Whitney Brown from “Saturday Night Live” and others.

The network also has signed conservative commentator Arianna Huffington and liberal comedian Al Franken to cover the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions this summer.

The shows in development include a low-tech animated series, “South Park,” that Comedy Central executives believe could be the next “Beavis and Butt-head”; a stand-up comedy series from “MTV Unplugged” creator Robert Small; a takeoff on European variety shows with comedian Andy Kindler; and a “Comedy on Demand” series that promises to send a comedian to help with such traumas as breaking up with your boyfriend (or girlfriend) if you can’t bring yourself to do it.

“The goal is to create signature shows that will differentiate us as a cable network,” said Eileen Katz, 32, Comedy Central’s programming chief since last October. Like the 37-year-old Herzog, she formerly worked at MTV.

“The audiences are different, but the process of trying to create hit shows is similar at both MTV and Comedy Central today,” Katz said. “And I must say I don’t miss having to go to spring break” every year for the music channel’s specials.

Comedy Central is investing $1 million in this development slate, which Herzog said is the first time the network has committed to a formal development process. Its overall production budget is being increased by 50%, although Herzog wouldn’t disclose specific figures.

The channel had a deal two years ago with Creative Artists Agency for several stylized short-term series from CAA clients that went on the air without pilots, but none lasted more than a few episodes. This time, Herzog and Katz said, Comedy Central will commit to full-scale series only after pilots have been shot and studied.

Comedy Central is a 50-50 joint venture of Time Warner and Viacom, created when the two companies decided to consolidate after killing each other with competing comedy channels. There has been some speculation recently that Viacom might want to buy out Time Warner’s interest, but Herzog said no such deal is in the works.

“Dr. Katz” and “Politically Incorrect” are both produced for Comedy Central by Time Warner’s HBO Downtown Productions. The shows in development are from a variety of producers.