(S01E01) There have been a few monumentally bad attempts to entertain in the history of show business. Star Trek 5, Howard the Duck, The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Flops are fascinating once you consider the enormous amount of effort that goes into creating a piece of entertainment. From the writers and actors all the way to the gaffers and the caterers, it's stunning to think of the thousands of man-hours spent working on something that you have trouble spending 30 minutes watching.

There's been a considerable amount of morbid curiosity surrounding Cavemen. Would it transcend its bad buzz and go on to be a seven-season television institution? Or would it wind up on the flop-heap of history? The answer after the jump...

I don't like Dane Cook's brand of comedy, but hey, I don't have to like everything. There are plenty of other comedians more suited to my palate on the comedy salad bar, so while I personally feel his "material" is all delivery and no punchline, it doesn't mean other people can't enjoy him with croutons.

CC Insider points to a funny satirical piece from The Onion about Cook's new HBO special, Burgasm, in which the young comedian riffs on Burger King's Texas Double Whopper for a full hour. In the article, Cook explains his plans for the special:

(S01E04) This show is really shaping up to be a soap opera, isn't it? I mean, even the structure is the same: we spend a few minutes with one group, then we switch to another group. After a couple of more minutes we switch to another, and so on. It gets to the point where we see scenes during each of the four storylines during each act of the show. I'm not really sure this really works here, though; in this episode, we only get glimpses of each story, but not much else. Things don't move along as quickly as they should, and when you really want to follow one storyline -- like anything involving Richie -- an annoying storyline comes up and kills the momentum -- like anything involving Holly.

Comedy Central has a few clips of the upcoming Roast of William Shatner featuring Patton Oswalt, Betty White, Carrie Fisher, George Takei, and what appears to be a running gag involving Andy Dick licking people. If anything, these clips help to remind me why I always Tivo these Roasts. It's not because they're that funny, it's because there are so many dead moments and jokes that fall flat it helps me to enjoy it more if I can skip over those parts. One can always expect Grade A material from Jeffrey Ross, but the rest of the night is always a crap shoot. I think they should hire Courtney Love to do what she did at Pamela Anderson's Roast and get drunk and belligerent on stage, diverting attention from all the bad jokes. Actually, she should just make herself available for any situation when you need a distraction. You could sneak into a movie while she does a handstand in a dress and no underwear. My god, that's the most brilliant idea I've had in the last ten seconds. She'll make millions of cents doing that.

Are you sick of reading the analysis of Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner yet? I am. I mean, I haven't seen something so inconsequential polarize so many people since "Clay vs. Ruben". It seems like most of the analysts fall into two camps: either Colbert is a patriot and a hero for mocking the Bush administration and the media right to their uncomfortable little faces, or he was a blowhard that just wasn't funny, no matter who he was skewering. USA Today recaps the latest columnists to weigh in on the matter.

Really, folks, it was a glorified stand-up routine. It's almost a week already; it's time for us to move on.

[Photo: Mandel Nagan/Getty Images]

At a recent speech given to students at Stanford University, Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane alluded to the "Cartoon Wars" two-part episode of South Park which ruthlessly took aim at Family Guy for using easy humor and being written by manatees. Anyone who has read interviews with McFarlane has probably guessed that he didn't really have a problem with the episode, stating, "they sh*t on everybody like we do." Spoken like a true satirist, says I. Besides, I'm looking forward to a Family Guy where they take a few shots at South Park. I'm not here to root for one team, I just like watching the battle.

In the same speech, McFarlane also spoke about censorship, and that the interference of family advocacy groups would only get worse. Despite their different approaches, this seems like one thing both South Park and Family Guy have in common.

[via South Park Studios] 

I walked across the street to the coffee shop. The girl behind the counter handed my muffin and breakfast tea to me, but as soon as our eyes met her expression turned sour.

"You're the Man Who Doesn't Like Scrubs, aren't you?"

"It's just not my cup of tea."

"No, THIS is your cup of tea!" she screamed, tossing my breakfast tea directly into my eyes.

I stumbled out of the coffee shop, where I was immediately attacked by three ducks and seven squirrels. "Oh god!" I screamed, "Even Mother Nature loves Scrubs!"