Three years have passed since Dave Chappelle abandoned his brilliant series Chappelle’s Show at the height of its popularity.  Although viewers still feel his absence from the airwaves, the comedian’s former employer Comedy Central has particularly suffered, struggling to fill the void left by one of its brightest stars.

In order to bring some quality sketch comedy back to its prime-time line-up, the network has enlisted the services of David Alan Grier, a founding member of the groundbreaking Fox sketch series In Living Color.  Grier’s brainchild is Chocolate News, a Daily Show-style parody of TV news magazines such as 20/20 and Dateline.  He plays the pompous host as well as many of the characters that pop up in the ridiculous “investigative reports” that pepper the program.  An early version of the show’s first episode contained skits about childhood steroid abuse, a pair of so-called “biracial conjoined fraternal twins” and a blinged-out gangsta rapper named Fat Man, who records a series of booty-shaking PSAs directed at the nation’s youth.

If this all sounds a little lame, that’s because it kind of is.  Chappelle’s Show had its fair share of disappointing sketches, but the writers always tried to push the envelope of what you could do and say on television, just like In Living Color did back in the day.  In what we’ve seen of Chocolate News so far, all of the targets are safe and obvious and for ever gag that connects (Fat Man’s rap about the No Child Left Behind bill is pretty damn funny), at least two or three land with a thud.  Grier’s a smart guy, so it’s too soon to write off his show completely, but he needs to take some risks if he’s going to turn Chocolate News into must-see TV.