Entertainment

GOOD FELLAS

IN the opening scene of this new blue-collar comedy se ries, a careless factory worker’s tie dangles too closely to a piece of machinery and he winds up being ground to death.

Hilarious? Let’s leave it at this: I’ll report, you decide.

The new show is called “Factory” and it’s the first sitcom manufactured by and for the Spike channel, cable’s only entertainment network aimed exclusively at immature males (basically all men).

In a package containing a preview DVD, Spike’s press material describes “Factory” as “loosely scripted,” but the p.r. department might have added “loosely acted” and “loosely filmed” too.

It’s an “improv” comedy in which the actors get outlines of scenes instead of actual scripts and then are expected to create uproarious dialogue as they go along – a process that doesn’t always work.

In “Factory,” the actors appear to enjoy themselves so much that you can actually detect them snickering, which indicates that, when it comes to actually laughing at their improvisations, I guess you had to be there.

This style of situation comedy was first made fashionable by “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and then spread to a number of other shows, most notably “The Office” on NBC.

But “Factory” is no “Office.” On “Factory,” the principal characters – four pals who work as machinists in a small plant in Anytown USA – struggle crudely to enliven scenes that consist of little more than four guys sitting around (or standing around or walking around) and talking.

In this weekend’s premiere episode, the four working stiffs each jockey for a promotion into the job that became open when the aforementioned co-worker met his end in a grinding machine.

We also learn about the characters’ lives – that one has never had a date since being dumped by his girlfriend in high school, that another is divorced but still lives with his wife because neither he nor she can afford a new house, and that a third wishes he were divorced from his wife because basically he hates her guts.

In next weekend’s second episode, which was also provided for preview, one of the guys (“Gary” played by creator/executive producer Mitch Rouse, who also created “Strangers with Candy” for Comedy Central) gets ripped off by a used-car dealer.

With its loosey-goosey improvisations, “Factory” plays like a work-in-progress instead of one that was actually finished and really ready for prime time.