Written By Rick Ellis, Monday, December 1st, 2003

For all of its ratings successes, NBC has had a lot of trouble launching new sitcoms. Well, to be honest, they've premiered a lot of new comedies over the past decade. But very few of them were funny.

There has been one consistent reason for the draught. The network seems to be filled to capacity with an endless number of suits who think they know comedy. As the network has dived into the production arena, executives have become convinced that there is some magical "formula" to great comedy. That success can be assured by forcing every show to have a set with stairs leading upstairs, or certain kinds of predictable conflict between characters.

The result has been a lot of shows that play out as if they were assembled by some Warsaw Pact government committee. While this is not a problem limited to NBC, that's the network that has suffered the worst results in its comedy development over the past few years. While ABC has cobbled together some decent new family comedies and CBS has found a lot of success with working man sitcoms, NBC continues to try and reinvent Friends.

By committee.

Despite all the challenges, it's still possible to take a great case and put together a winning show. And exhibit one in that theory is the new midseason series The Tracy Morgan Show.

In the grand landscape of television comedies, The Tracy Morgan Show falls somewhere between The Hughleys and My Wife And Kids. It's a family-oriented show, with more than a little bite to it.

Tracy Morgan plays Tracy Mitchell, a smalltime garage owner who struggles financially and personally. While he has his own business, it's not an easy path, considering the amount of customers who seem unwilling to pay him when the work is done. Or, as in the case of someone in the pilot, want to pay him off in meat pulled out of a small cooler.

While the scenes at work are funny enough, it's the scenes at home that really shine in the early episodes. Tamala Jones is radiant and funny as his wife Alicia, and his 13 and 7-year-old boys are integral parts of the show, not just add-ons that pop up every month or so. There is a love and respect and humor that is all too often missing in some of the other recent NBC comedies.

While the ensemble is strong and consistently entertaining, what makes the show hum are the scripts. They have great laugh lines, but the jokes come out of the moment, happening in a consistent and believable way. Watching a show like Good Morning Miami, it's hard to figure why any of the characters talk to each other, much less date.

But like the best of the NBC comedies, The Tracy Morgan Show is character-driven. That focus is what makes the show work, and why I think it may be the best new comedy of the year. You enjoy the company of the cast, care about their futures and want to see more.

I'll keep it simple. Watch this show. Ignore the fact that it's on Tuesday night, and get past the lackluster network promos. This series deserves to survive, and I look forward to enjoying its 100th episode celebration in a little more than four years.