Robots Get TV Deal

Comedy Central, always on the lookout for good punch lines, has struck upon a new programming idea: fights between homemade robots.

The network has signed a deal with San Francisco-based BattleBots to show the organization’s third competition - to be taped June 9-11 in San Francisco - plus 13 episodes of “bot-bashing” sports satire later in the year.

“It’s not as much of a departure as you might think,” said Comedy Central senior vice president of original programming and development Debbie Leibling. “There is humor in the fact that somebody has spent a year and a half to build the perfect robot only to see it smashed to smithereens.”

The sport of live robotic combat has been around for about five years. Usually, the robots dodge metal spikes and saws or other dangerous obstacles while trying to destroy one another.

BattleBots has been in business about 18 months. Next month’s event will be a one-hour live special, with comedians providing profiles of the contestants and their robots.

Last month, Sci Fi Channel announced that a show called “Robodeath” - which features robots fighting one another in vicious battles - would air in the first quarter of 2001. It is a one-time special that could return if it performs well.

Leibling said Comedy Central will put its own unique spin on the event.

“How we handle it might be different from how another network would handle it,” she said. “We will cover the people who make these things, who take it quite seriously.”