| Runtime: | approx. 26 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Reality television[1] |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 5 (4 unaired) |
Dot Comedy is an American television series that aired on American Broadcasting Company (ABC). It is notable for being a series that was canceled after only one episode.
Dot Comedy was an early attempt at bringing Internet humor to mass television audiences in the pre-broadband era, which premiered on ABC on December 8, 2000. The show was hosted by Annabelle Gurwitch, the Sklar Brothers, and Katie Puckrik. Adapted from a British show of the same name, the show featured a similar premise to America's Funniest Home Videos in that the hosts and audience react to ostensibly humorous content originating on websites.[1] In addition, Puckrik would interview the creators of the web content presented. Viewers were also encouraged to submit their own web content, such as video, audio, and image files.[2]
The show replaced The Trouble with Normal on ABC, which had been cancelled after five episodes as part of a troubled post-TGIF attempt to relaunch the night with adult-targeted sitcoms. Dot Comedy did even worse, being viewed by 4.1 million viewers in its only aired episode before also being cancelled. The remaining four episodes never aired.[3]
Bob Curtright of The Wichita Eagle gave the show a mixed review. He thought that the show had the potential to display humorous content on the Internet and give a platform through which content creators could gain exposure, but criticized the Sklar Brothers' hosting as "superfluous".[4]