Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993 TAG: 9307240295
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD HUFF NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The 24-hour cable laugh channel will roll out seven original series - three new ones and four returning ones - starting today and running through Aug. 7. The three new programs:
"Politically Incorrect," a weekly series that puts a handful of unlikely panelists together on stage to examine controversial political and social topics (Sunday, 8 p.m.), "Comic Justice," a standup comedy show focusing on street humor, without four-letter words (Aug. 7, 11 p.m.), and "Everything You Need To Know," a monthly news program that kicks off Aug. 1 at 10 p.m.
"One of the things we've noticed," said Mitch Semel, Comedy Central's vice president of programming, "is that the Big Three networks are not really aggressively scheduling first-run programing to take advantage of the full summer viewing opportunities, as they claimed they would." So, he said, "We're doing it now and beating them to the punch."
Comedy Central's new fall-in-the-summer season starts today with the return of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (7 p.m.). The other returning shows are "Women Aloud" (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), "Whose Line Is It Anyway" (Thursday, 9:30 p.m.) and "Two-Drink Minimum" (Aug. 3, 6 p.m.).
Billy Kimball, who produced all of Comedy Central's offbeat "Indecision '92" political coverage, will be at the helm of "Everything You Need To Know," which will run monthly. While the deal has not been signed yet, Semel said he expects that Christopher Hitchens, a regular writer for Vanity Fair and the Nation, will host.
"The show really is what the title suggests," Semel said. "Our notion is . . . (that) with all the news there is on a variety of channels, there's still nobody really saying it straight. Oddly enough, if there's going to be a one-stop shop for news, it's going to come from a comedy place."
by CNB