Paging Mel Silverberg

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 27th, 2007

Way back on June 13, we posted the following, toward the end of our LCS Episode 1 analysis:

(We predict that our stats will be filled with google searches for “Mel Silverback” He’ll make one of the larger cyber-splashes. Of course, a good number of them will be for “Mel Silverberg,” from people who don’t get half the joke…)

We noticed one yesterday– a Google search using “Mel Silverberg.” We’ve gotten a half-dozen or so in the last week. We assume we’ve gotten many more in the past month. We’ve been way too busy to check our stats that closely.

He’s made a big impact, at least in cyberspace. Knowing the way network executives think, and knowing that they are no doubt watching with great interest the premiere of the Caveman series at rival network ABC, some folks at NBC probably had visions of pitching a gorilla-out-of-water series.

But they ditched him last episode, so he’s off the show. And they can’t bring him back. (Sure, sure, they brought back comics in Season II, but that was when they had a house. No such device exists this year.)

Perhaps they’ll dredge him back up in spirit by concocting a challenge for future episodes– Bellamy Bill will tell the contestants (in a raised voice) “each of you will be forced to do five minutes in the animal costume of his or her choice!” This would give the network plenty of other potential series pitches– Dog Rickles (Sure, it sounds a lot like Triumph, but, in television, imitation is the sincerest form of revenue!), Mort Sahl-amander (The acerbic lizard who’s performed for six presidents!), Whoopi Goldfish. (Stop us before we write any more bad jokes. You get the idea.)

Just for the record, Wikipedia says:

A silverback is an adult male gorilla, typically more than 12 years of age and named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back.

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