The TV is a weird beast. Your show can have ridiculously high ratings, receive greater critical claim than the Mona Lisa and achieve a cult following not seen since the People's Temple, and the network can still pull the plug on you.

TV Land doesn't work like Reality Land, if the Reality Land is in fact reality and not some bizarre reality land where meat-hungry producers are the gods of fate. TV has a different equation for success.

Here are the ten telltale signs that your new show will spend eternity shining in the pantheon of the cosmos and the rest of its life on Best Buy's DVD shelves.

The Wire actor Clark Johnson is going to direct a short film about "masculinity and youth" written by nine New York City students. The film, called Misunderstood, was written by students of the High School of Graphic Communication Arts who won a contest held by Scenarios USA. The group of students consists of juniors and seniors, seven girls and two boys. Clark Johnson was on the committee that chose the winner of the contest. He will begin filming this month with a volunteer crew. Misunderstood is going to premiere this winter and will be "distributed to high schools and community groups across the country, streamed on the Internet and air on TV." However, the article did not include what channel(s) would be airing the short film.

Johnson, who played Gus Haynes on The Wire, directed 2006's The Sentinel. His other directing credits include episodes of FX's The Sheild, one episode of The West Wing, and one episode of NYPD Blue among others.