The Bright Idea: A Comedy Central Morning Show?

Each night, I fall asleep with the television on.

I know, I know, it's a nasty habit that I should really try to break.

Sometimes I fall asleep chuckling to "That '70's Show" re-runs (for some reason, I find the show funny, particularly Topher Grace's delivery), but most of the time I enter dreamland while watching Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report," which I've come around on since my earlier posting. This falling-asleep-while-watching is not a reflection of either show's quality, just that I'm dead tired by the 11 p.m. hour. I'm getting old.

And sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I am shocked at what Comedy Central usually has in the early morning-- infomercials. Looking at the schedule, this seems to be the norm between 4 and 8 a.m. One would think a large number of Comedy Central's core demographic would be up at this hour and be receptive to watching a comedy film 'classic' like "Half-Baked" or "Soul Man". The channel's economics of a steady diet of infomercials gives me pause.

But I'm most confounded about the lack of programming in the 6 to 8 a.m. slot, when the channel's competitors are filled with vacuous morning shows. Would an extension of their faux news brand to morning TV work here, and would people watch? I would believe yes-- a smart, uncompromising show filled with seemingly bobblehead anchors and smart satire would appeal to me, and I'm sure to many others. Especially in the wake of Katie Couric finally announcing she would be leaving "Today" yesterday, this would certainly have the potential to shake up morning TV and make the channel's competitors quiver over the loss of the core 18-34 demographic.

Apparently, these are the things that keep awake at night, after looking at the TV.

So, how about it, Comedy Central?