One of the best pieces of television development news last week came from basic cable’s Lifetime. The network that prides itself on its programming geared towards women announced the pickup of its first original sitcom in ten years, a half-hour comedy called Rita Rocks.

The series is slated to premiere this fall and will star Nicole Sullivan (Kim Possible, The King of Queens) as title character Rita Clements, a married working mother of two daughters who attempts to regain her youth by returning to her earlier happy days as a garage-band guitarist.

Other cast members include Richard Ruccolo (Joey, Two Guys and a Girl) as Rita’s husband Jay; Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids, Martin), a personal favorite of mine from back in the day, as post office worker Patty; and guest star Ian Gomez (Jake in Progress, The Drew Carey Show) as the Clements’ out-of-work neighbor Owen.

Lifetime will pair Rita Rocks with Reba in a new hourlong comedy block this fall.

Cable’s Showtime has a new comedy called Secret Diary of a Call Girl premiering Monday night at 10:30pm EST that stars former Doctor Who companion Billie Piper as a companion of a whole ‘nother kind.

The U.K. series already aired across the pond from September to November 2007, where it quickly gained popularity. Based on a book based on a blog — yes, a blog, and one hosted by Blogger at that! — anonymously written by a person who claims to be a London prostitute, the show follows her life and times as she mostly contentedly plies her trade.

In other words, the central character, 27-year-old college graduate Hannah Baxter aka Belle, is a relatively Happy Ho (they say “call girl,” but it’s all the same to me), not a drug-addicted one down on her luck getting knocked senseless by her pimp and johns everyday — that would be too depressing and realistic for a comedy.

I guess the fact that she’s all Billie Piper cute and whatnot also means viewers are supposed to relate to her better, kind of like Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, but getting paid instead of just writing a column about her sexual exploits and hanging out with her talkative girlfriends all day.

Get a first look at the series in the sneak peek after the jump. Since the second and third seasons are already on order in the show’s country of origin, we can look forward to at least a couple more years of Hannah/Belle, as well.

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Who needs an Emmy when you can have a Peabody Award? Although the first award gets tons more coverage and fanfare in the general entertainment industry and among the general public, it’s the second honor that seems to generate the most respect and admiration among TV-industry insiders.

That fact might have something to do with the roster of past Peabody winners, which consistently includes the best, boldest, brightest, and bravest contenders possible. The annual Emmy extravaganza can’t hold a candle to that reputation in an era where its voters consistently overlook potential nominees that seem like a shoo-in to people who know TV.

On April 2, the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the entity that bestows the international Peabody Awards, announced the 67th annual group of winners. The lucky recipients for 2007 included several familiar shows from the field of comedy, namely the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, the Showtime dark dramedy Dexter, and the Comedy Central political-minded cable-news satire The Colbert Report. Nice, huh?

The Peabody Awards committee says the following about each of the shows:

30 Rock

Tina Fey’s creation is not only a great workplace comedy in the tradition of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” complete with fresh, indelible secondary characters, but also a sly, gleeful satire of corporate media, especially the network that airs it.

The Colbert Report

Let none dare call it “truthiness.” Colbert, in his weeknight Comedy Central send-up of politics and all that is bombastic and self-serving in cable-news bloviasion [sic], has come into his own as one of electronic media’s sharpest satirists.

Dexter

With a premise that questions our fondness for avenging heroes — a serial killer who channels his dark urges into police forensics and the killing of other sociopaths — this Showtime series is a masterful psychological thriller and a complex and ambiguous meditation on morality.

Other notable honorees are AMC’s highly praised first original series Mad Men and the phenomenal Discovery Channel 11-part nature special Planet Earth.

Congratulations to all of the very deserving winners. It’s great to see awards done right for once.

ABC Family

Greek

• Second half of first season (12 episodes) premieres on March 24
• Complete first season will have 22 episodes
• RENEWED for a 12-episode second season on February 14

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I received my December 17–23 print issue of TV Guide in the mail yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it contains an overview of what various editors and contributors at the publication consider to be the best of U.S. television in 2007. Even better, the comedy genre is very well represented among the shows and stars mentioned.

Behind the cover featuring a smoldering Kate Walsh of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice fame is the special section My Big Year 2007. The notable comedy mentions are (in magazine order):

• Actor, producer, and writer B.J. Novak of The Office (pictured here)
• The Simpsons, now in its—wait for it—nineteenth season
• Christina Applegate of Samantha Who?
• Actor, director, producer, and writer Tyler Perry of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne
• Baldwin Brothers Alec of the sitcom 30 Rock and William of the dramedy Dirty Sexy Money
• Dana Delany, Big Comeback for Desperate Housewives
• Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer, Big Comeback for Back to You
• Drew Carey, formerly the star of The Drew Carey Show and currently the host of the hugely popular game shows The Price Is Right and Power of 10

TV Guide senior critic Matt Roush, a favorite of mine whose insightful opinions I always respect even when I don’t agree with them, also heaps praise on several notable comedy shows on his Top 10 list for 2007. Here’s a bit of what he has to say about the deserving series he singles out:

• (#3) 30 Rock: “The funniest show too few are watching, and easily the most inspired comedy airing anywhere on TV.”
• (#5) Pushing Daisies: “An enchanting confection, if not for all tastes.… Every episode is a charming, inventive delight.”
• (#10) Showtime, which airs “the subversively ribald” Weeds and “the graphic” Californication: “Showtime delivers the goods, with a diverse and irresistible array of daring entertainment.”

What a nice crop of honorees given the space limitations. I just wish someone had also managed to reserve a spot for junior sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which is consistently one of the best and funniest sitcoms on the tube. That’s what airing on The CW does for you, though.

The hit Showtime comedy Weeds closes its third successful season tonight with a fourth of thirteen episodes already secured. Get high on the final hijinks for this fall.

Go

As the wildfire approaches, everyone must evacuate. Nancy (Mary-Louise Parker) tells her family to pack up, while Conrad (Romany Malco) and Heylia (Tonye Patano) must say goodbye to the growhouse.

The authorities question Sullivan (Matthew Modine) and Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), while Shane (Alexander Gould) continues to ask Nancy about Pittsburgh.

As Andy (Justin Kirk) deals at the evacuation center, Silas (Hunter Parrish) realizes the truth about Tara (Mary-Kate Olsen).

Weeds airs Mondays on Showtime at 10pm EST.