Make 'em laugh?

My favorite passage from today's other column, which deals with Fox's new comedies, "'Til Death" and "Happy Hour":

Early in the pilot episode of Fox's other new sitcom, "Happy Hour" (8:30 p.m., Ch. 5), Amanda, a pretty bank manager played by Beth Lacke, eats an entire deep-dish pizza to punish herself for not fitting into her favorite pair of jeans.

This is notable for two reasons: First, because it's so rare to see an actress on Fox convincingly eat anything, let alone something so obviously fattening; and second, because the pizza scene is the highlight of the inaccurately titled "Happy Hour."

My second favorite passage, David Simon talking about "The Wire":

In preparing that August magnum opus on why "The Wire" is the best drama in HBO's history, I did a lengthy interview with Simon and producer Ed Burns, then did several e-mail follow-ups with Simon. In one of those, I asked for his reaction to a New York Times story from early last year about a Queens drug crew that allegedly picked up counter-surveillance tips from watching "The Wire." Having seen that, I asked Simon, did he ever have concerns that he was helping to create smarter criminals?

"I have no reaction to the story," he wrote, "except to say that everything we are depicting on 'The Wire' is common knowledge among professional drug traffickers in and around Baltimore, Md. If someone in Queens, N.Y., needed an HBO drama to bring them up to speed on basic counter-surveillance techniques, it speaks poorly as to the industry standard in that city."

To read the full column, click here.