Blue Collar TV on WB

The resounding answer came, with no warning, Tuesday morning: no. Instead, UPN and WB will merge into a new entity, known as the CW (conventional wisdom? country western?), in the fall.

The business implications are beyond me to comment upon — as in: In markets like mine, where there is both a UPN and WB affiliate, which channel becomes CW and what happens to the other? — but there does seem to be some logic in the notion of merging the best of both networks' schedules to create a truly viable fifth broadcast network with higher market penetration.

It's way too early to know for sure which UPN and WB shows will survive and how they'll be programmed to fill the six-night, 13-hour schedule (patterned on WB's). But if I had to put together a CW schedule from what exists now, keeping in mind that there will likely be new shows in the fall from the developme read more

Country-fried comic Jeff Foxworthy is still successfully workin' his white-trash shtick. In the mid-'90s, the You Might Be a Redneck If... author had a self-titled Fox series, which lasted two seasons. Now, he's taking another shot at television in WB's Blue Collar TV (debuting tonight at 9:30 pm/ET).

The family-friendly sketchcom is based on Foxworthy's popular Blue Collar Comedy tour, which he did for about three years. He plans to keep his down-home flavor by shooting the show in his native Atlanta, rather than on a Los Angeles soundstage. "I was a little bit concerned about [doing TV] from the sitcom experience," he admits. "Initially, when I did it, I didn't have a lot of freedom to do what I wanted to do.

"[WB's execs] have been so great," he says. "I think they were the only network that understood what was going on on the Blue Collar tour. I love doing sketch. I thought I didn't like acting because I always had to be Je read more