Rob Burnett wants everyone to laugh at his new Ed drama, but he's really writing the show for an audience of one:

        David Letterman.

        “I know this may sound corny, but ... when we're sitting at the typewriter, there's only person that we really care about making laugh, and that's Dave,” says Mr. Burnett, former Late Show with David Letterman executive producer. “That's sort of what we've been doing our whole lives.”

Rob Burnett (right) with David Letterman. | ZOOM |

        Mr. Burnett and former Late Show writer Jon Beckerman created NBC's Ed, one of two new prime-time series from Mr. Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc. The company also produces four CBS shows: the new Welcome to New York, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

        Although Mr. Letterman “has this other job,” as Mr. Burnett puts it, his fingerprints can be found all over Ed, the lighthearted drama about a New York lawyer (Tom Cavanagh, Providence) in his early 30s who returns to his tiny hometown of Stuckeyville, Ohio, and buys a bowling alley.

        “(Dave) has a great interest in this show,” says Mr. Burnett, 38, who has worked for the late-night TV host for 15 years. “He actually took the pilot script home and punched it up, and he looks at a lot of the casting ... He watched all the dailies (on the pilot).

        “Dave's influence on this show is enormous,” says Mr. Burnett, who shares an executive producer credit with Mr. Letterman and Mr. Beckerman.

        Seeing Mr. Letterman expand into prime-time isn't surprising, considering that his idol, Johnny Carson, produced Amen and other network sitcoms. It's understandable that Mr. Letterman would see talented stand-up comedians on his show and suggest building sitcoms around their acts, like he did with Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Jim Gaffigan (Welcome to New York).

ON THE AIR

David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc. produces five network series:     • Ed (8 p.m. today, Channels 5, 22)     • Everybody Loves Raymond (9 p.m. Monday, Channels 12, 7)     • Welcome to New York (8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Channels 12, 7)     • Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. weekdays, Channels 12, 7)     • Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (12:35 a.m. weekdays, Channels 12, 7)

        What's totally unexpected is Ed's sweet, sentimental tone. Who could have guessed that cynical Late Show Top 10 List writers could create the charming romance of “bowling alley lawyer” Ed Stevens and high school teacher Carol Vessey (Julie Bowen). In today's episode, written by Mr. Burnett, Ed gets all mushy over the spatula he had bought on his honeymoon.

        “The thing that Dave has taught us is that we hate cliched humor,” says Mr. Beckerman, 31, the former Late Show supervising producer who has written for Mr. Letterman for eight years.

        “Every time we write a joke, or think of a situation, or a line, if it feels like something we've seen a lot of, we steer clear of it. You can just imagine Dave rolling his eyes at a particular idea,” Mr. Beckerman says.

        Mr. Burnett says his goal was creating a quality one-hour comedy that didn't have “sitcom rhythms.” He wanted to “try to do a funny, interesting show that has some emotional depth.”

        Both Mr. Beckerman and Mr. Burnett relate to Ed Stevens making a career change in his 30s. While Ed made his in two weeks, it took them four years (and two networks) to make the transition from Dave to Ed.

        They originally wrote Ed for CBS as a half-hour single-camera (no studio audience) comedy in 1996, the same year Everybody Loved Raymond premiered. When CBS suggested they try a multicamera sitcom, the guys offered to do a one-hour show instead.

        They finally filmed the CBS pilot last year that focused on Ed's divorce and move to Ohio. CBS rejected it, but let them shop it around. NBC,the network Mr. Letterman left in 1993, liked the show and asked them to do a new pilot starting with Ed buying Stuckey Bowl.

        “We honestly just got lucky. A lot of times networks really aren't interested in picking up a show that they didn't develop. But NBC wasn't afraid to take a shot on it,” Mr. Beckerman says.

        Mr. Gaffigan, a comedian from Chesterton, Ind., got his shot in prime-time after doing jokes about his Midwesterner's observations of New York on Mr. Letterman's Late Show.

        “He really responded to my sensibility of New York,” says Mr. Gaffigan, who plays a Fort Wayne weatherman hired by a New York morning show anchored by a Bryant Gumbel-type jerk (Cincinnati's Rocky Carroll).

        As Mr. Carroll explains: “David Letterman prides himself on the fact that he's kind of visiting another planet; that's sort of been his whole take on New York.”

        Like Ed, Mr. Gaffigan's Welcome to New York went through several evolutions. What started as a star vehicle for Mr. Gaffigan evolved into a workplace comedy with Christine Baranski (Cybill), Sara Gilbert (Roseanne) and Mr. Carroll (Chicago Hope). Ms. Baranski is an executive producer; Mr. Gaffigan isn't.

        Unlike Ed, Mr. Gaffigan's show isn't written by former Late Show writers. Worldwide Pants has hired former Murphy Brown writers Barbara Wallace and Thomas R. Wolfe to supervise Welcome to New York.

        But Mr. Gaffigan knows that the former Indianapolis weatherman is keeping an eye on his show. “I know that Letterman has trusted me with this opportunity,” he says.

        Mr. Beckerman knows Mr. Letterman will be watching. He hopes he's not rolling his eyes.

        “As the (former) head writer of the Late Show, I've had plenty of times in my life when I've had to pitch something to Dave that he didn't want to do,” Mr. Beckerman says.

        “He's a perfectionist. He's very selective about his own sensibility, his own comedic tastes, and if it doesn't feel like him, he doesn't do it. I give him credit for that. That's why he is where he is. To me, there is nobody funnier that I've ever met.”

        No Stupid Human Sitcom Tricks here.

        E-mail: Johnkiese@yahoo.com.
       
       

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