"Right now, my biggest fear is we're not playing to a receptive crowd," says Levitan, who is, at this moment, writing the Just Shoot Me season finale and trying to convince NBC not to make it the series finale. "I feel like a comedian walking out onstage to a bunch of sour faces not in the mood to watch comedy. It's tough when you're doing jokes and people wanna see people eat pig colons. That's the thing that worries me--that any crummy reality show can draw pretty good numbers. Frankly, I am a little bit embarrassed by much of our television these days."
The funny thing is--and even Levitan has to admit--the success of Joe Millionaire and American Idol may be good for Oliver Beene after all. Fox has been using those two shows to promote the hell out of Oliver Beene. Whether that translates into anyone actually watching the show is something to be answered Sunday night. That's when real reality sets in.
