• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, June 7, 2016

Here’s a challenge: Make a comedy series about an airline crash.

Watching the premiere episode of this new series called “Wrecked” --  premiering next Tuesday (June 14) on TBS -- I am struck once again by the let’s-try-anything approach to making TV shows that has overtaken the industry these days.

Apparently, TV is so competitive that no idea is too far out. Develop a scripted sitcom about the aftermath of an airline crash in a remote section of ocean? Sure, why not? What have we got to lose except airline advertising?

“Wrecked” is one of two original scripted sitcoms premiering within the next week on basic cable. The other is “Still the King” (premiering Sunday), the first-ever scripted comedy series for Viacom-owned CMT (otherwise known as Country Music Television).

What do these two new comedies say about the state of TV comedy? Well, for better or worse, they indicate that most of the new ideas and fresh approaches to TV comedy are being undertaken on cable lately. That’s in contrast to the broadcast networks, where the preponderance of sitcoms seem to get developed and produced according to relatively inflexible formats and formulas. You might categorize Fox as an exception to this, however, by virtue of some of its comedies such as “Last Man on Earth” and “Brooklyn Nine Nine.”

Still, there’s nothing on the broadcast networks like “Wrecked” or “Still the King.” Whether or not that’s a good or bad thing, I will leave to others to decide. 

In “Wrecked,” the challenge of extracting comedy from the tragedy and carnage of an airline crash is mostly met, believe it or not -- except for the nagging feeling throughout the show that you’re really not supposed to be laughing at this.

One scene is a case in point: The scene inside the airplane when the engines fail and it starts to dive. Naturally, the passengers engage in a full-on panic -- a scenario most of us have imagined, at least for a moment, while flying. The group panic seen in “Wrecked” seems fairly accurate, and in no way comedic.

The scene is accompanied by Rare Earth’s “I Just Want to Celebrate (Another Day of Living),” which was used so memorably in the series finale of “Six Feet Under.” It does nothing to lighten the terror of the crash scene in “Wrecked.”

TBS is positioning “Wrecked” as a parody, at least in part, of ABC’s “Lost,” with the marooned survivors of “Wrecked” filling various character needs such as “the hunky hero,” “the young, bickering couple,” “the young Indian man obsessed with his cell phone,” and the like. Others include one man who imagines he’s a cop and another who is so meek he can’t get the attention of flight attendants either during the flight or after the crash when he is seriously injured. (This character is played by Rhys Darby, seen in the “Wrecked” photo above.)

A comedy series about an airline crash? I’ve heard of worse ideas. I think.

Meanwhile, in “Still the King” on CMT, Billy Ray Cyrus (above right) plays Vernon Brown, a washed-up former country-music star who now earns what little money he can pick up as an Elvis impersonator. In the premiere, he is released from jail after serving three months on a reckless- and drunk-driving conviction. He owes child support to a woman who is the mother of a 15-year-old daughter Vernon never knew he had, and he also owes the county 1,000 hours of community service at a local church.

So he masquerades as a preacher, and almost gets away with it because the church caretaker happens to be blind. Who knows how many people will find this sitcom who don’t ordinarily gravitate toward the programming on CMT? But the fact is, “Still the King” is as good as -- if not better -- than many, many sitcoms on TV.

In saying that, I certainly don’t mean to damn this show with faint praise. On the contrary, watching this show was such a pleasure and so entertaining that I watched two episodes CMT provided for preview, rather than the usual one episode that I watch generally when reviewing TV shows (particularly when facing a writing deadline).

Billy Ray is great in it, and so is the supporting cast, which includes Leslie David Baker of “The Office” as the blind church caretaker and Kevin Farley (brother of Chris Farley) as Vernon’s parole officer. Cameo appearances include Randy Travis as the sheriff’s deputy who arrests Vernon on the drunk-driving charge -- a clever touch considering Travis’s own history of arrests and struggle with alcohol. Also seen in “Still the King”: Darius Rucker in a dream sequence as a black Jesus.

CMT making a sitcom about a flawed country singer? Sure, why not? If TBS can make a comedy about an airline crash, then anything is possible on TV these days.

“Still the King” premieres Sunday (June 12) at 9 p.m. Eastern on CMT. “Wrecked” premieres Tuesday (June 14) at 10 p.m. Eastern on TBS.