It came like a blast of warm sunshine during the Wednesday night "South Park" last week - the commercial we've been waiting for.
There was Dave Chappelle, sitting at dinner with the Niggar family, yucking it up. Then came the exclamation, "All-New Chappelle's Show starting May 31."
TV's funniest show was coming back.
One night later the excitement was dashed when it was reported the show would be delayed once again.
Chappelle's last new episode aired on April 14, 2004. In the year since, we've seen the launch of season one on DVD and two "Best of Season 2" shows.
That's it.
But it also wasn't long after that date that Comedy Central signed its main man to a $50 million deal for two more years. The new season was originally supposed to premiere on Feb. 16.
Depending on the source, there are a few reasons we're still waiting for a triumphant return. Rolling Stone recently ran an article that said Chappelle originally held out on production because he felt he wasn't getting a big enough cut of the lucrative DVD profits.
Then, when he signed that monster new contract, the pressure mounted heavily on Chappelle and his staff. They were plagued by writer's block and severe perfectionism trying to surpass season two's sketches, and couldn't produce the quality of shows they're demanding from themselves.
Or maybe it's just as Chappelle and Comedy Central have claimed - he's been sick with the flu, then pneumonia, and is anxious to get back in the studio and crank out another hit season.
It feels like we've waited long enough for a show that, if cancelled now, would go down as one of the funniest ever. Crappy seasons have come from great TV shows, and if Chappelle's run of brilliance is over, then shouldn't he deliver what he can and let the fans be the judge?
This isn't to say Comedy Central should deliver sub-par programs, but the demand for "Chappelle's Show" couldn't be higher right now. Students holler "I'm Rick James, bitch," or the prolonged "Yeeeaah," that have become staples of pop culture.
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The Rick James sketch was simply the funniest half-hour of television I've ever seen. Equally brilliant were sketches about Uncle Tom Wayne Brady - Oh man, I'm just kidding Wayne, put that knife away - and Prince playing basketball like Michael Jordan in his prime.
Newsweek reported Chappelle may be taking his show's content a bit too far for Comedy Central execs. Considering some of his past material, that's hard to picture. How much worse can it get from a black white supremacist or R. Kelly serenading teenagers with "I want to piss on you" and then pouring "doo-doo" butter on his head?
We're waiting to find out.
