While ABC, NBC, and CBS have historically remained in a cutthroat battle for viewers, each network has shared one common trait: come the season of network promotional campaigns, all actors must be prepared to look absolutely ridiculous.

After the jump ... Remember this pop cultural gem (video below) that gained traction on the Net not too long ago? The sheer oddity of the clip alone forces us to ask ourselves several questions: do these people all live together? Why is Marla Gibbs dressed like an astronaut? Does Bea Arthur do everybody's shoppingl? CAN'T NELL CARTER JUST SIT DOWN AND REST HER FEET FOR A SECOND? (Seriously, give her a break!)

While television networks continue looking for the best way to distribute full-length episodes online, CBS is taking a new approach that might seem a little old fashioned. The network is launching EyeLab, a production studio tasked with creating short video clips based on CBS content.

CBS reports that less than a third of the visitors to their website want to watch full-length episodes online. Instead, the network is betting they want to watch short, entertaining YouTube-style videos. The project was inspired by a user-generated clip called "Endless Caruso One Liners" uploaded to YouTube a year ago. So far, it's been viewed over a million times.

HBO has launched yet another quirky, viral marketing campaign - this time to promote the return of Rome on January 14th. From January 10th through the 13th, 100 Italian eateries in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offering complimentary bottles of Rome wine, a cabernet sauvingnon bottled in California and labelled for maximum ad appeal. Rather than have servers push the wine on customers, a card will be placed on each table offering diners "a taste of Rome."

The brainchild behind the promo is Lime Public Relations & Promotions who feel that the campaign is "innovative but tasteful." Lime president Claudia Strauss reported to AdAge that, "The show is all about indulgence, and we just felt this was a great way to bring to life one of the key aspects of the story line." In keeping with the show's over-the-top sex and gore, participating restaurants will also allow diners to drink the blood of Christian martyrs, sodomize select servers and retire to a vomitorium following their meal.

I have no idea what the story is behind these, but they're really interesting, nonetheless. They're comics based on old TV shows, which I assume were created as promotions for the television shows themselves. The Cartoonist has a few scans for your viewing pleasure featuring comic book versions of Star Trek and Dr. Who, among others. Oddly enough, while they created these comic books for science fiction programs like Star Trek and Dr. Who, they never made a comic based on Meet the Press. All I'm saying is that Roger Mudd shooting aliens with a laser would have been really cool.

I know how you feel. They took Arrested Development away from us too soon, which is bad enough, but you can't help but think that maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if once, just once, you could have seen the Bluth family depicted as characters from Star Wars. Well, thanks to artist Chase Black and this promotional poster, we can all enjoy our Bluths as they might have been in the Star Wars galaxy. Actually, Michael and Gob each had Luke-like and Han-like personalities, didn't they? Sort of? No? Anyway, you should also check his other work for Lewis Black and Stella.

[via Best Week Ever]