Ellen Gray: Fox tries to revive the sitcom with 'Disturb'

DO NOT DISTURB. 9:30 tonight, Channel 29.

WITH ONLY one half-hour comedy, CBS' "Two and a Half Men," in Nielsen's Top 20 last season, it's not exactly news that the sitcom's fallen on hard times.

Sure, other funny shows exist - NBC's "30 Rock" and "The Office," CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" - but to call them hits would be to supersize the truth.

People looking to laugh these days are more likely to turn to "Moment of Truth," where the joke's on just about everyone.

So I have to give Fox's programmers credit for the effort they've put in, season after season, to develop live-action comedies for viewers brought up on "The Simpsons" and hopelessly devoted to "Family Guy."

They've tried the high road, giving nearly three seasons to "Arrested Development."

They've tried the low one, too, casting Pamela Anderson's two most significant others in "Stacked."

Lately, they've been on a dreary middle path, recycling the stars of other people's past hits in "Back to You" and " 'Til Death" and finding out the hard way that when it comes to comedy, it's the writing, stupid.

And, OK, sometimes the stupid writing.

So far, not even that's seemed to work.

Canceling "Back to You," which paired "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer and "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Patricia Heaton as warring news anchors with a secret past, might seem odd - with 6.4 million viewers in its first season, it was nearly a half-million viewers ahead of " 'Til Death," which tied with "30 Rock" for 111th place in the Nielsens and lived to tell the tale.

But I sort of get it.

"Back to You" wasn't nearly as classy - or as funny - as Grammer's and Heaton's previous shows. But it seemed as if it should be. Had it succeeded, it would have felt like some other network's show, Fox's comedy DNA deriving from "Married . . . With Children," not "Mad About You."

"Raymond's" Brad Garrett may headline " 'Til Death," but neither he nor co-star Joely Fisher ever seems to forget for a moment what network they're working on. Tonight's season premiere, which focuses firmly on Fisher's breasts, does as much to establish their Fox cred as any I've seen.

And I really wish I meant that in a good way.

" 'Til Death" is the lead-in for "Do Not Disturb," a new show from one of the producers of "Back to You" that stars Niecy Nash ("Clean House," "Reno 911!") and Jerry O'Connell ("Carpoolers," "Crossing Jordan") as the human-resources director and general manager, respectively, of a hip hotel.

We know it's a hip hotel because some female staff members' uniforms barely cover their hips, but judging from the episode I've seen, "Work Sex," the comedy's not so cutting-edge.

Nash is a force of nature, O'Connell a genial actor in search of something more interesting to do than leering.

Together, they might want to think of checking out of "Do Not Disturb," which is, after all, the sign you slip on the door when you don't want to be bothered.

Looks as if you'll be able to get "The Office" on iTunes again.

A year after NBC and its cable brethren took their marbles and went home, the Apple download store and NBC Universal have kissed and made up.

So what about the original dispute, which reportedly turned on Apple's refusal to charge anything but $1.99 per episode?

Well, most shows will still be $1.99, with an extra dollar tacked on for shows in high-def. *

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