It’s So Funny Isn’t So Funny

Stern, serious, socialist North Korea has carved out a spot in TV history for having one of the world’s longest running comedy shows, despite it being mostly devoid of jokes for the decades it has been on the air.

The show now called “It’s So Funny” is meant to uplift the morale of troops and extol propaganda about the virtues of serving under “The General” Kim Jong-il. Laughter is optional — unless the soldiers in the audience are ordered to do so.

The format of the show is usually a conversation between a man and a woman in military uniform, who sometimes sing, dance and try a little slapstick, but mostly avoid telling one-liners.

“Often, it is really hard to find the humor,” said a South Korean official who monitors the North’s official broadcasts.

“This type of show has been on since almost the beginning of the state’s official programing (in the 1970s),” he said.

The latest version that came out in the past week extolled the virtue of beans, while avoiding any flatulence humor.

It opened with the man soldier saying to the woman soldier he feels better and looks more handsome because he has been taking medicine made from beans.

Legendary Songwriter Vic Mizzy Dies At 93

Vic Mizzy, a songwriter who composed the catchy themes for the 1960s sit-coms “The Addams Family” and “Green Acres,” has died. He was 93.

Mizzy died at his home in Bel Air, his manager Jonathan Wolfson said.  He said he didn’t know the cause of death.

He wrote songs that were recorded by Dean Martin, Doris Day, Perry Como and Billie Holiday in the ’40s and ’50s. His hits included “Pretty Kitty Blue eyes,” “My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time,” and “With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho.”

But his most famous work was the theme to “The Addams Family,” a tune accented by finger snaps and opening with the cleverly quirky lyrics: “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky: the Addams family.”

Mizzy sang the song himself and overdubbed it three times to give the impression of multiple vocalists. He also directed the title sequence where he asked actors who played members of the Addams family to snap their fingers in a bored way.

The enduring tune is often heard during sports game to rally the home team.

“He was smart enough to demand to own the song, which was unheard of at the time. So any time you go to a Lakers game and they play that song, he made money,” Wolfson said.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mizzy learned to play the piano as a child. In his teens, he teamed up with Irving Taylor and began writing songs and sketches for variety shows. They won a pair of radio contests and toured the East Coast vaudeville circuit. While served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, the pair wrote several hit songs, including “Three Little Sisters” and “Take It Easy.”

Mizzy later composed and wrote songs for television and film, most recently a song for “Spiderman 2″ which ended up on the DVD version of the movie.

He is survived by a brother, daughter and two grandchildren.

Playboy TV Fined Over Raunchy Content

British media regulator Ofcom has fined Playboy TV 22,500 pounds for airing sexually explicit images in breach of broadcasting rules.

It said the free-to-air channel Playboy One had broadcast unencrypted raunchy, and what the watchdog deemed offensive, material until September 2008.

Ofcom had received five complaints relating to seven late night programs broadcast between September and December 2007.

Shows investigated included: “Sexy Girls Next Door,” “Sexy Urban Legends” and “Adult Stars Close-up.”

“Depending on the individual breach, the explicitness, strength and, or, sustained nature of the sexual content and language was unacceptable for broadcast on an unencrypted free-to-air channel,” Ofcom ruled.

It said Playboy TV UK/Benelux Ltd had failed to ensure adequate protection for viewers from “potentially harmful or offensive material.”

Don’t Throw Out Those Rabbit Ears Yet: Digital Television Conversion Delayed

After weeks of debate, Congress is giving consumers four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

The House voted 264-158 to postpone the shutdown of analog TV signals to June 12 to address growing concerns that too many Americans won’t be ready by the Feb. 17 deadline.

Nielsen estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not ready. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.