It's been hardly two weeks that this column wondered if TV would heed Bollywood's example and get more serious about humour.

In the space of the last one week, it would seem, TV's really trying hard to tickle the funny bone. But no, I ain't doubling over with laughter, tears running down my cheeks. Across channels, there's a rash of shows trying to be funnier than the other, but it's the rare one that's succeeding in its aim.

Star One's Naya Office Office, to be precise, hits it spot on. Producer Rajeev Mehra and his team have managed to recreate the same sardonic humour that dotted the original, and the same cast performs with effortless ease. There are the same issues of corruption at the babu level dogging the common man, but with a topical flavour. The inaugural episode laid bare the hypocrisies of television news channels, with one of them persuading a common man to attempt self immolation in support of his principles. The wry humour had a chilling twist at the end with Pankaj Kapoor succumbing in the attempt and the media airing it live, instead of providing the promised succour. If there ever was a grim social message couched cleverly in comedy, this was it. If the first episode is something to go by, the sequel should turn out better than the original.

Wish one could say that about Sab TV's revamped Yes Boss, that's part of the slew of comedy shows that launched in the Poore 32 Chahiye band this week. It relies on slapstick, has actors hamming instead of acting and is still searching for plausible plots. Some of the other new shows in the line up could best be described as an insult to the comedy genre, by a channel that once prided itself on being the only one that could evoke laughs. Ji Behenji tries to emulate the inimitable Rajani, and fails. Rajeshwari Sachdev is the protagonist who will tackle social issues in each episode, but her inspired performance fails for want of a good script. The villain of the first episode flung 'acid' over Rajeshwari's face, only to be told a minute later that it was pineapple syrup. One expected a better deal than this from producers Garima Productions, who came up with satirical gems like Raamkhilavaan MP some years ago. Brilliant artistes like Rajeshwari and Uttara Baokar can only be wasted in this effort.

The second in the lineup, FIR, promised much with a music video promo, but fell flat in the actual episode. If corruption in the police force is to be exposed through satire, it needs to be subtle. If it is combined with ribald humour and tired clichés about the workings of the Indian police, it can only appear like a B grade Bollywood flick. Which it does. Kavita Kaushik is cast well as the brazen cop who talks a north Indian dialect out of the side of her mouth, but her character is far too one dimensional to be realistic. Perhaps this exaggeration is what the producers intended, but that, coupled with the mediocre production standards, will never raise FIR into a believable comedy.

The new season of Star One's Don, er, rechristened DON Investigates (didn't he do that earlier too?) has a sprinkling of humour that makes it a very human show. Sai Deodhar delighted as a bumbling new assistant in the first two episodes, and Dipak Qazir as Don's assistant, is the perfect Dr Watson. DON's stories are far more original than its competitor in the Friday night slot, CID. Sony's one strong property can be hit a mean blow below the belt if it doesn't spruce up, and soon.

Weekend news programming got an unexpected shot in the arm this time when a child slid down a 57 feet deep hole in Kurukshetra. All other issues, national and international, were forgotten as channels rushed to provide live coverage of the boy's ordeal for nearly 48 hours. As if that were not enough, some channels provided simulated, animated versions, and one channel even sent a reporter down the adjoining well the next day. Farmers' suicides, follow up stories on the Mumbai blasts, all took a back seat, while the channels milked the human interest story dry and exulted on the boy's return. As a media observer justified, the channels' over-enthusiasm over the rescue, "It feels good to know that while you can't do anything about the blasts and floods, you can still rescue a boy from a ditch."

Doordarshan's continuing Jasoos Vijay may have been ennobled at birth due to its association with the HIV cause, but that really shouldn't be an excuse for a tacky script, a stumbling flow of events and lackluster performances. For a show that's always receiving laurels for its good work, it tests patience if one has to last an episode. Perhaps the mofussil audiences it is targeted at, are better endowed with patience.

For the rest of the country, there's the Rang De Basanti flavoured Left Right Left that does the trick. A young generation, mindful only of its immediate desires, is flung together in a military academy. The patriotic element is yet to be infused, but once it is, it might just catch the imagination of the Gen Next that RDB hooked. It's to the producers credit that they have got the flavour just right, unlike Sahara One's Sati - Satya Ki Shakti, which couldn't do the same inspite of roping in RDB's writer Kamlesh Pandey (and tom tomming the fact on the channel, to boot). Sati ends up sounding preachy, hence doesn't connect.

Two serials underwent a mutation this week - Sab's Twinkle Beauty Parlour and Sahara One's Suno - Har Dil Kuch Kehta Hai. Twinkle changed its entire cast, luckily with no major mishaps to the script, and Suno... changed the protagonist and married her off to a blank face. The serial continues to look as lost as ever. Mata Rani, what next??

Couch potato's promo of the week - This one's a case of sour grapes, to be sure. Sab is airing promos, warning viewers to keep away from the 'duplicate' Musaddilal of Office Office, an obvious reference to Star One's Naya Office Office. For the n'th re-run of the original, they say, tune in to Sab TV!

(The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)