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Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.

Just ask the folks at NBC, whose inability to put a decent sitcom on the air is killing them.

Just take a look at the network's schedule. There are a grand total of two half-hour comedies on the slate right now.

For decades, NBC had twice that many on Thursday nights alone.

Both current NBC sitcoms are buried on Friday nights. One of them, "Undateable," isn't doing well in the ratings. It's not awful, but it's not particularly good.

And the gimmick of doing episodes live this season is just that — a gimmick. It doesn't make it any funnier. And when you're watching in the Mountain Time Zone, they're tape-delayed anyway.

NBC's other current comedy, "Truth Be Told," is just plain bad — almost unwatchable. It's also canceled. The network cut the original series order from 13 episodes to 10; the final installment is scheduled to air Dec. 11.

The network is adding two mid-season sitcoms. "Superstore" will preview with a pair of episodes on Monday at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on Ch. 5 before moving to its regular time slot on Monday, Jan. 4 , at 7 p.m. "Telenovela" will preview with a pair of episode on Monday, Dec. 7, at 9 and 9:30 p.m. on Ch. 5 before moving to its regular time slot on Monday, Jan. 4 , at 7:30 p.m.

Both shows come to us from producers with good credits. "Superstore" executive producer Justin Spitzer is a veteran of "The Office"; "Telenovela" executive producers Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein are veterans of "Cougar Town" and "My Name Is Earl."

Both shows feature proven TV stars — America Ferrerra ("Ugly Betty") and Ben Feldman ("Mad Men") in "Superstore"; Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives") headlines "Telenovela."

Both shows have promising premises. "Superstore" is basically "The Office" set inside a Wal-mart-like — yes — superstore; "Telenovela" is set behind the scenes of a Spanish-language soap opera whose star (Longoria) doesn't speak Spanish.

Both of them feature pretty likable characters. They're both fairly pleasant.

But neither one is funny. There is the occasional laugh, but for the most part the best you can hope for is that you'll smile every once in a while.

This is a problem for a comedy. Let alone two comedies.

That NBC can't figure out how to get laughs is sort of shocking. This is, after all, the network that dominated the ratings for decades with shows like "Cheers," "Seinfeld," "The Cosby Show," "Friends," "Frasier," "Mad About You" and more.

Even after NBC could no longer get big ratings for its comedies, it still aired high-quality shows like "The Office," "Parks and Recreation" and "30 Rock." Now it can't even do that.

By the way, NBC has already cut the original episode orders of "Superstore" and "Telenovela" from 13 to 11.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune . Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.