10-4, GOOD LEWIS

This is the time of year when TV networks are sorting through pilots and deciding what to put on the fall schedule. Most years, this process would be well underway, but this isn't most years. The writer's strike delayed most TV development for the coming season. In some cases, networks are having to make decisions based on a script or a short video presentation (as opposed to a full pilot episode). Rumor has it everyone is desperate for ideas.

With that in mind, I thought I'd drop this little gem. You see, I was given a series idea in a dream last week (I'm not making this up), and it might actually be worth producing (I'm probably making that up). Alas, I no longer live in Hollywood, and my access to entertainment decision makers is non-existent. So instead of pitching it over lunch at The Ivy, I'll just post it here. Anyone interested can take the idea and run with it. All I ask for is Executive Producer credit.

Without further ado, I give you: "10-4, Good Lewis... Featuring Buddy Lewis." In this show, Buddy Lewis is a former cop who becomes disillusioned with law enforcement and decides to become a long-haul trucker instead. I see Bronson Pinchot in this role. It may be a bit of a stretch, but I think he could pull it off.

Buddy drives a truck to get away from all the crime and lowlifes he dealt with as a cop. But no matter what he does, he always finds himself in situations where he has to put his law enforcement experience to work. Crimes are solved, punks are put town, and women are loved and left. And his deliveries always make it to their destination on time.

To keep things from getting too heavy, Buddy Lewis peppers his language with the kind of CB talk that was briefly popular in the 1970s. Thus a cop is a "bear", the highway is called "the super slab," and his rig is an "18-legged pogo stick." (Writers can just use this guide to CB slang to fill out more dialogue.)

Each episode would end with Buddy leaving the town where he solved some crime (kind of like those old episodes of The Incredible Hulk). Some grateful townsfolk would stop buddy and say (trying to mimic Buddy's CB talk), "10-4, good Buddy." And he'd reply, "Make that '10-4, good Lewis.'") Several episodes in, it will be revealed why he doesn't like to be called buddy, but we'll save that detail for now.

So there you go, that's my plan to save network television. Anyone else pitching any shows?