Perhaps the wrong new show was scrubbed

So the word is that Fox has canceled "Andy Richter Controls the Universe." I blame myself. Every week that show was on the air, I should've written about it. "Don't miss this one, folks - Andy's dating a Nazi!" Yeah, that would've turned things right around. So the season's best new comedy is toast, which leaves the second-best new comedy, "Scrubs," although once the "new" label drops off next season (NBC's already renewed it), I seriously doubt it will be second-best on anyone's list of comedies. Not that "Scrubs" isn't trying hard. It hasn't gotten lazy with the sight gags or the character development. Everyone on the show seems to be working very hard. Perhaps too hard. Perhaps, in their madcap rush to be the second coming of "M*A*S*H" (more about that in a minute), these guys have ignored the fundamental rule that guided TV's other great wacky-doctor comedy - I refer, of course, to the classic "Muppet Show" sketch, "Veteranarian's Hospital" - and that rule is: Keep it simple. In last week's episode of "Scrubs" (8:30 p.m. Tuesday, "NBC 41"), it was time once again for Turk (Donald Faison) to experience an existential crisis. Turk, who nearly gave up his Christian faith in a previous episode, was on the verge of tossing away his scalpel for good when a kindly surgeon showed him the light. Touching, I guess. And I admire this show for trying to mix medical realism and lowbrow shtick. But there's so much gear-shifting on "Scrubs" - by turns funny and grimly serious - that it's become distracting. Laughter is the best medicine, guys, and we need more of it, now more than ever. Alas, there won't be much of it this week, when the two-parter that started last week wraps up, and we learn whether or not guest star Brendan Fraser will die of leukemia. Regardless of how you feel about the current rash of reunion shows, it's clear that Carol Burnett's "Show Stoppers" have become the networks' schedule stuffers, filling every leaky time period between now and Memorial Day. My rule of thumb is, if you can watch the original show on cable, do that instead. I make two exceptions this week. One is the two-hour NBC special, "The Cosby Show: A Look Back" (8 p.m. Sunday, Channel 41), a smartly-put-together clip reel of some of the funniest scenes and outtakes from the original "must-see TV" sitcom, now a Nick at Nite staple. Everyone in the show's cast (save for that snooty Lisa Bonet) shows up here, and old Cos himself steps on stage to deliver some choice reminiscences. The other is the "M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Reunion," airing at 7 p.m. Friday on Fox. It's not the ideal time period to honor the funniest comedy ever, as CBS itself learned when it briefly scheduled "M*A*S*H" on Friday nights. Also, this really isn't the network that should be honoring the 4-0-7-7. Fox wasn't even a network when "M*A*S*H" was on the air, but because the show was produced by Twentieth, its corporate cousin, Fox had dibs on the reunion. That said, will I be watching as nearly the entire surviving cast and the show's producers get together to talk about what made "M*A*S*H" the benchmark for comedy of the color-TV era without the aid of a single catch phrase or (after a time) laugh tracks? As Sherman Potter might have said, you bet your booties I will. On this week's second-to-last episode of "24" (8 p.m. Tuesday, Channel 4), the mole who's been making life so miserable for Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) will finally be revealed. And Dennis Hopper will reveal that his ridiculous Serbian accent is actually a secret homage to the Cartoon Network show "Dexter's Laboratory." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com