Another two bite the dust

Two shows built around a similar premise in absolutely opposite ways were cancelled this week. Fox's Brimstone, which centered around a police officer who had to hunt down 113 escaped souls from hell in order to avoid going back there himself, and ABC's Cupid, where a man who may or may not be the Greek god of love had to unite 100 couples before being allowed back to Mount Olympus, have been yanked from their respective schedules. I had grown to like Brimstone, so I'm sad to see it go, and Cupid featured Duckman producers Ron Osborn and Jeff Reno, so I feel sorry for them having another series go belly-up.

I knew something was missing...After catching an episode during my snowbound and drumless weeks, I watched Sportsnight again, and realized two of the reasons I find it intriguing. First off, the sets are much more varied than an average sitcom, which allows scenes to be more fresh. Second, and more importantly, there's no laugh track. I didn't even notice that the first time I watched it, and when I think about it, that may be one of the reasons I like animated sitcoms over live action.

STRICTLY COMMERCIAL

Missing links...Internet search engine HotBot is taking an interesting approach by airing television spots for their service. This is interesting because most technology commercials, particularly Microsoft, Intel, and IBM, work very hard to make the concepts simple, but HotBot flies in the face of that, unabashedly dealing with something as Net-centric as old links when a segment of their audience may have no idea what they're talking about.

Hype weak...Normally, the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl consist of endless speculation about the football game, with some passing mention of the million-dollar advertisements that will happen in between the action. This year, however, there have been advertisements FOR THE ADVERTISEMENTS that will air during the contest. I don't see how this can possibly be construed as a good thing. Also, Budweiser will be staging its annual Bud Bowl online, which may be an interesting way to try bypassing the high rates required to get on viewers' other screen.