Drop the Dead Donkey

Before it picked up the British-made AbFab, Comedy Central was best known as the fortress of solitude for Mystery Science Theater 3000 geeks. Amusingly, AbFab — so energetically relentless in its own bad taste — ended up giving Comedy Central some class, and the cable outfit is capitalizing on its current visibility by introducing a few new series — another British import, Drop the Dead Donkey, and a domestic cartoon, Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist.

Dead Donkey, a huffing, puffing satire of TV news shows, looks clumsy and thick-headed next to The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Murphy Brown — both of which the new show rips off without a trace of imagination. Drop this dead turkey. D