The Man Show Cometh

When I first graduated from college, I couldn't decide whether to become a magazine writer or a TV writer. I quickly settled upon unemployed writer, until Martha Stewart hired me to type up gardening tips. The things a man will do just to get close to that siren.

Thus, until recently, my only experience with TV writing was a meeting at UPN several years ago to pitch my one brilliant sitcom idea: "It's about a Nielsen family and will therefore be the highest-rated show ever, because every Nielsen family will watch it." That meeting went poorly, only partly because I was...