What the deal with this bit of funniness, you may ask? Answer: “Graduates is an independently produced comedy television pilot. The story centers around 3 graduate students, John, Gus, and Cameron, trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives.” Looks good! Let’s get it on the Fall ’09 schedule.

With any new sitcom, I have to dig the premise and embrace the main characters from the get-go. I’m talking right away, chop chop, none of this “it will grow on you” crap. That’s why I’m already a fan of “Graduates.” The lead guys are funny in a casual unforced manner and look like actual grad students, not “One Tree Hill” type automatons. The studly “party” professor is also a nice touch, a good foil to build a show around. And the girl, wow! Kudos to the casting director, she’s a lovely mix of approachable and insanely cute.

There hasn’t been a smartly done college show in some time (“Undeclared”… “Saved By The Bell: The College Years”… Oh that Zach!), so hopefully this will get picked up and we can all enjoy some higher education hi-jinx with lots of crazy drinking, lots of awkward sex and most of all, tons and tons of humiliating and soul-scarring social encounters and confrontations… oh, and maybe a pesky life lesson tossed in for good measure.

Website: www.graduatespilot.com (coming soon), until then, check the Facebook Group.

CBS Green-lights My Secret Public Journal! We’re big fans of comedian Mike Birbiglia (that’s “Birbigs” to those in the know) and his secret public journal.

He’s got himself a big network show, hopefully he’ll say no to the laugh track and won’t have ancient comedians guest star as his parents… at least until season 4. Here’s the skinny straight from the low-key comic himself:

I have great news. The secret public journal emails you’ve been reading for the last 20-25 years are being made into a comedy pilot (and ideally a series) for CBS!!! Maybe it was the 93 comments you wrote after my last entry or Ted Kennedy’s endorsement, but they’ve decided to let me and my friend Andy Secunda make a show about a guy who does comedy, writes a journal, and kills polar bears for sport (not true). More>

Listen: Our Interview with Mike from 2007.

Who are the Cylons Again? Chief? What the Frack? Enjoy a very funny and informative 8-minute video recap of seasons 1-3 of Battlestar Galactica. The show can be exhausting (please please please kill Gaius Baltar and his annoying blonde Amazon), but it’s still pretty damn good. Watch now:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=RcFNqvHPQQc[/youtube]

Gradual Engagement: Web usability guru Luke Wroblewski stares at web forms and ponders the boring nuts and bolts of the Internet so you don’t have to, and makes the experience better for everyone in the process. I saw him speak over the summer and he made it all sound very interesting. Read why he says, “Sign Up Forms Must Die”. You will most certainly agree.

Happy Birthday: Winslow!