David Faustino

David Faustino could barely curb his enthusiasm. After a string of personal and professional woes left the diminutive former star of Fox's "Married . . . With Children" without a career and next to broke, it seemed too good to be true: A movie studio wanted a big-screen version of the hit raunchy television series that ended in 1997.

David Faustino: An article in Thursday's Calendar section about David Faustino said he had appeared on "Celebrity Fit Club." He appeared on "Celebrity Boot Camp."

David Faustino: An article in Thursday's Calendar section about David Faustino said he had appeared on "Celebrity Fit Club." He appeared on "Celebrity Boot Camp."

David Faustino could barely curb his enthusiasm. After a string of personal and professional woes left the diminutive former star of Fox's "Married . . . With Children" without a career and next to broke, it seemed too good to be true: A movie studio wanted a big-screen version of the hit raunchy television series that ended in 1997.

"The Help," a new series from Ron Leavitt, the man who created "Married ... With Children" -- a show to which I would never have expected to affix the words "far superior," but so be it -- is the sort of thing that makes me feel sorry for actors. No one forces them to be actors, of course, but it does call to mind the old joke about the man who sweeps up after the circus elephants.

In "How to Train Your Dragon," the 2010 film from DreamWorks Animation, a skinny viking teen named Hiccup discovers that dragons can be taught and tamed, a lot like dogs, except that these dogs are 30 feet across and breathe fire. By the end of the film, vikings and dragons, who began the movie trying to brain each other, are best pals. As with so many other stories of star-crossed, interspecies pairings, from "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" to "Avatar," one wonders just where this relationship will go. That question is answered in the new animated series "Dragons: Riders of Berk," which is being produced by DreamWorks Animation for Cartoon Network.

You pay your $10, you sit in a room with women wearing black clothes and men wearing ponytails, and you listen to television stars read their innermost thoughts in blank verse. You are at one of L.A.'s currently popular (make that inexplicably popular) celebrity poetry readings. You experience a deep feeling of nausea. Can these people possibly take themselves seriously?

It's a funny thing about watching a great comedy show: The top-notch performers can make it appear so effortless that it seems as if anyone could do it. But as tonight's 8 p.m. premiere of the ABC Family series "My Life Is a Sitcom" makes so excruciatingly clear, TV is definitely not for everyone. And certainly not for the Mozian clan of Old Greenwich, Conn.

CBS' "Schoolbreak Specials," hourlong films dramatizing pertinent teen issues, are generally well done within the limitations of the format, but sheer fun isn't one of their usual ingredients. That's what makes today's delectable offering, "Words Up!" (3 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8), such a surprise. Kadeem Hardison ("A Different World") stars as Henry, an illiterate 25-year-old high school dropout who can't hang onto a job.

"The Help," a new series from Ron Leavitt, the man who created "Married ... With Children" -- a show to which I would never have expected to affix the words "far superior," but so be it -- is the sort of thing that makes me feel sorry for actors. No one forces them to be actors, of course, but it does call to mind the old joke about the man who sweeps up after the circus elephants.

Garry Shandling will return to host "The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards," airing Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. on CBS. This is Shandling's second consecutive year hosting the awards, which honor excellence in the recording industry. The Gramms will be broadcast live--seen on tape-delay in California--from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Country artists Clint Black, Kathy Mattea and George Strait will host "The 26th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" special, airing April 24 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

The Scene: Monday night in Beverly Hills, at a celebration for the 100th episode of "Married . . . With Children," the show that brought America the Al Bundys, the infamous family of bottom feeders that set new standards in televised boorishness. Instead of throwing the party in a typical Bundy environment--a bowling alley or a discount shoe store--Columbia Pictures Television and Fox Broadcasting opted to rent the trendy Beverly Hills club Asylum.