The Duke Is Back, and So Is Carpoolers

Hello...hello...hello...Is anybody out there...out there...out there?

The TV landscape might seem a wee bit, er, empty right now, thanks to that nasty ol’ S-word, especially when it comes to comedy.

So, I want to make sure you all know ABC’s Carpoolers—the freshman comedy starring Jerry O’Connell and Fred Goss, etc.—returns tonight with a slew of new episodes in its new time slot (Tuesdays at 9:30).

If you’ve seen this show, you know Carpoolers has a bona fide scene stealer—one Mr. T.J. Miller, aka Marmaduke—who is just about the most ridiculous TV son around. And thankfully, show runner Bruce McCulloch had the good sense to up the Marmaduke factor in the new batch of eps.

“The episodes are only getting funnier and funnier,” Miller tells me. “And the 13th episode is all about Marmaduke, so that’s something to look forward to.”

In tonight's episode, Leila (Faith Ford) is in a struggle to the death with real-estate agent Donny Darmejian to sell the most houses. Marmaduke, in his usual basset-hound-like way, informs his mommy dearest that the newest trend in marketing is having someone stand on a corner and spin a sign around. She calls it "not the worst idea" she's ever heard, and let’s just say Marmaduke’s escapades (which involve a dwarf) are “not unfunny.”

Of course, thanks to Marmaduke’s pantless debut in the pilot episode, what I really want to know is how often he’ll be clad in Skivvies. Miller says, “I've really lobbied for pants through most of this, but there will be some episodes sans pants, because I know I have some Facebook groups that are really dying for that."

—Additional reporting by Jennifer Godwin