Part of me is surprised that this deal took this long to happen. But when you watch the recent crop of new shows on the Chortle Network (with the exception of Tosh.0), it really shouldn't surprise anyone.

Comedy Central has ordered a half-hour scripted pilot based on the Onion's Sports Network. The OSN is part of the popular satirical magazine's online TV news network that launched a little under a year ago.

This isn't the first time the network has tried to do a satirical sports show. Comedy Central also shot a pilot for a Daily Show-esque sports show called Sports Central that died in the pilot stage. This incarnation sounds much more promising since it will spoof not only sports figures and stories, but also the tone and style of sports media. Sweet sassy molassey, this is gonna rock!

It's becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between shows like The Daily Show and The Situation Room or The Colbert Report and The O'Reilly Factor. Oh sure, i can tell the shows apart. I just can't decide which is funnier. Sometimes I wonder why Sean Hannity hasn't won the Thurber Prize.

No one has exploited the news' foibles and follies better than The Onion. Their newspaper parody crippled news junkies with laughter and probably the newspaper industry, as well, which is a bigger shame for newspaper people since The Onion is free. Their mockery of the 24-hour cable news network was just as brilliant and parallel.

But the line between news and news humor has now gone from aluminum gray to a dark and smokey charcoal. They have actually hired former CNN anchor Bobbie Battista.