Hollywood trades -- Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood Daily -- are reporting that Fox has canceled the Pittsburgh-set sitcom "Back to You" after a single season.

That decision comes as a surprise. Fox renewed lead-in sitcom "'Til Death," even though it got lower ratings. "Back to You" regularly improved on the household ratings of its lead-in.

Despite some midseason tinkering with the cast -- one actress was let go, another role recast -- Fox seemed high on "Back to You," which starred Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, was created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd and was directed by James Burrows. The trades suggest it was those marquee names on-screen and behind-the-scenes that pushed the show's cost up to a point that even its ratings superiority relative to "'Til Death" no longer mattered.

No comment from Fox. I'm attempting to reach Levitan, but not optimistic that he'll be eager to talk about the cancellation.

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I don't think I've ever enjoyed "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" more than the first half of Thursday night's episode, scripted by the writers of the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men."

I wrote last week about the writers of "Two and a Half Men" and "CSI" trading writing assignments for an episode. Monday's "Two and a Half Men" was OK, but the comedy went down better in the drama than the drama did in the comedy.

"Men" writer Chuck Lorre worked on "Roseanne" and "Cybill" and it's clear he brought his experiences to bear on this script, which begins as knowing fun but veers off into unrestrained Chucklesville before the end.

Annabelle (Katey Sagal) is the nutjob sitcom star who treats her writers and co-star terribly. Rachael Harris plays the co-star Megan Kupowski, which sounds a good bit like "Cybill" co-star Christine Baranski.

Like Roseanne, Annabelle has a dim-witted former bartender boyfriend from middle America (clearly a gloss on Tom Arnold).

All the roman-a-clef stuff works great, but then the bad jokes begin. When the CSI team suspects a writer was hiding in a closet, Nick (George Eads) says, "Looks like a comedy writer came out of the closet."

"I doubt if it's the first time," Catherine (Marg Helgenberger)chimes in.

There are references to "Two and a Half Men" (and a blinked-and-you-missed-it cameo by the show's stars), "Valerie's Family" and a bizarre bit with a mime.

And then there are the puns:

"A mime is a terrible thing to waste."

"What we have here is a failure to coagulate."

"So the clot doesn't thicken but the plot does."

It all began as a successful trade, but by the second half of this week's "CSI," the episode veered wildly off course. Oh well, it was still a fun experiement to watch Lorre exorcise his sitcom diva demons.

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Perhaps it says something about how society is evolving that fans of ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" (10 p.m. Sunday, WTAE) are far less concerned about the gay romance and pending nuptials of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) than they are about the budding romance between Justin (Dave Annable) and Rebecca (Emily Van Camp), who until recently believed they were half-siblings. Turns out they are not related but they have behaved as if they were for the past year.

Fans are divided into two camps, those who think the idea of romance between these two is icky and those who think it's just swell. Personally, I can see both sides.

As Justin's older brother, Tommy (Balthazar Getty), notes, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see you two have connected."

Indeed, the actors have great chemistry and were rumored to be dating off-screen at one point. But the upshot of the writers' decision to not make Rebecca a Walker sort of invalidates much of what viewers invested in last season and requires the writers to jump through still more hoops Sunday with a new revelation that may send the show spinning into even soapier terrain come fall.

I'll admit I had no sympathy when series creator Jon Robin Baitz was let go and vented about his experience working on the show. He comes off as insufferable. In the first season "Brothers & Sisters" surely needed the more accessible and lighter touch executive producer Greg Berlanti brought to it. But I also can't help but think that Baitz would not have allowed the show's plots to veer so far from reality.

He also wouldn't have allowed Saul (Ron Rifkin) to become such an underused character, reduced to a comical coming out in Sunday's season finale.

"God, this is the gayest week of my life," Justin mutters after Saul comes out around the time of Kevin and Scotty's committment ceremony.

Perhaps it's a tribute to Baitz that the Kevin and Scotty story is the most believable and resonant on the show these days. Maybe, for that same reason, their relationship hasn't elicited the hue and cry that's greeting Justin and Rebecca

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What I enjoy most about NBC's "30 Rock" (9:30 tonight, WPXI) is the gonzo glee with which it skewers its targets. Whether it's snooty liberals who decry the spate of reality shows on TV or the ineptitudes of the Bush administration, "30 Rock" shoots down its targets with an impish joy.

In tonight's season finale, all the series regulars get a showcase: Liz (Tina Fey) has a baby mama scare; Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) applies to be a page at the Olympics; Jenna (Jane Krakowski) illustrates "backdoor bragging;" Tracy (Tracy Morgan) continues to develop his pornographic video game and Jack (Alec Baldwin) takes a job in Washington with the Bush administration that doesn't go as planned.

"I don't like to think of this president as a lame duck," Jack tells his new colleague, Cooter (Matthew Broderick). "I like to think of him as a lame eagle."

The Jack story has the most pointed jokes about administration denials of the obvious. Water drips into Jack's office, but Cooter says there's no leak ("I'll show you the study!"). When Jack complains that no one in the office has pens, Cooter gets defensive, saying quickly, "We're not in a recession!"

"30 Rock" is the sharpest satire in prime time (and before "The Daily Show").

But here's what I want to know: Why don't you watch "30 Rock"? Judging by the ratings, few viewers are tuning in (although it's been renewed for next season). Did you try it and decide you don't like it? If so, what don't you like? Or are you just too tied to "CSI" or "Grey's Anatomy" to give "30 Rock" a chance?

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Tonight's "Back to You" got a few things pretty right. No, not the new station manager, who seemed more likely to work at a West Coast station than one in Pittsburgh, but other elements synced well with reality.

The plot of the episode had the new station manager (Suzy Nakamura) firing forecaster Montana (Ayda Field), a character we knew was about to depart the series. This episode sealed her fate.

Kelly (Patricia Heaton) warned Chuck (Kelsey Grammer) that Montana's replacement may not be much better.

"Remember Johnny Hail and his stupid puppet, the weather dragon?" Kelly said. Seems like that may be a nod to KDKA freelancer Dennis Bowman and his dummy, Chester Drawers, pictured here.

Later the station manager complained that Montana is a problem because she "can't pronounce the name of the river that flooded this week," a nice reference back to an earlier episode that featured Montana stumbling over "Monongahela."

Another moment that meshed well with Pittsburgh reality saw Chuck defending the station's ratings, saying, "We're No. 2 in women 54-to-80."

"Yes, you have them on the edge of their shower chairs," the station manager said.

Sometimes the truth hurts -- from laughing at it.

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