FOX Greenlights Ben Stiller's "Station"

Another sitcom is coming to FOX, but this one might actually be good. Shows like ‘Til Death have been cringeworthy at moments, and FOX has had quite the lack of good sitcoms, cancelling them right and left. Even Kelsey Grammer couldn’t hold up the flop Back to You, which was cancelled after less than a season. I’d really given up on FOX for anything really funny other than Walter’s quips on Fringe. But today I heard some news that actually gave me hope that FOX could be funny again.

That news was this: according to Benstiller.net, FOX has greenlighted a pilot episode of a sitcom called The Station. The Station, produced by Ben Stiller’s company Red Hour Films, is set in South America, where several CIA operatives are on a secret mission to install a new dictator in the country they are in.

It seems weird, but after last years’ Tropic Thunder, which Stiller wrote, directed, and starred in, I’m much more hopeful about the show than I normally would be. Of course, a lot of the humor in Tropic Thunder came from the profane delivery of taboo topics, and I can’t imagine that we’d see anything akin to that in The Station. But if the same spirit of Tropic Thunder is maintained, perhaps The Station will replenish FOX’s almost-dry comedy well.

No cast has been announced for the single-camera pilot (other than the great John Goodman), and almost no other details other than the short synopsis have been given. However, I’m interested to see where this goes, because it’s just strange enough to either be really good, or really bad. If Ben Stiller keeps up with his current win streak, it might be something to tune in to, come fall.