Jon Heder, who has spent the past five years trying not to be "Napoleon Dynamite" anymore, is about to try again. This time on TV.

He's signed to star in a new series for Comedy Central. He'll play an IT guy who gets laid off from his job and has to move back home with his parents and younger brother.

Sounds like your run-of-the-mill sitcom, but it should be noted that the executive producers are Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (who wrote and directed "Step Brothers" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and directed "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby").

Heder co-starred with Ferrell in the 2007 comedy "Blades of Glory" — the only real success he's had other than "Napoleon Dynamite."

Comedy Central has ordered only 10 episodes at this point, but the cable network has an option on 90 more.

Doing a show on Comedy Central isn't exactly the A-list, but, after a string of theatrical bombs, it's a career coup of Heder.

The still-untitled show will premiere sometime in 2010.

ACCORDING TO The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Seacrest is about to get a big raise.

Perhaps as early as today, the host of "American Idol" will get a big bump in his salary, which reportedly paid him $5 million last season. And he'll remain on the show for three more seasons.

This should be inspirational to millions of young Americans of limited talent and appeal — if you're in the right place at the right time, you, too, could end up making ridiculous amounts of money.

GOOD CHOICE: Contrary to some reports, "So You Think You Can Dance" did not do a Michael Jackson tribute late week.

So there are some TV producers who have good sense.

And, no, this is not a slam at Michael Jackson. It's a slam at the Michael Jackson tributes — many of which are completely self-serving.

Not to mention that they've been, um, done to death at this point.

LOOK CLOSELY: In the spirit of total disclosure, I rarely pay attention to the commercials on TV.

Generally, I'm either watching something that's been recorded, DVDs sent to me for preview, or I'm channel surfing during commercials.

I am an advertiser's nightmare when it comes to what they spend on TV spots.

But I happened to pay attention to a local commercial for the criminal justice program at Eagle Gate College. It includes video of a chalk (or maybe tape) outline of the kind you so often see on TV shows. The outline of a murder victim.

And, apparently, at Eagle Gate College they teach you how to investigate alien murders. Because if you take a look at that chalk outline, there's no way on Earth that a human would have created that shape.

Scary.

Maybe I should just go back to not paying attention to the commercials.

e-mail: pierce@desnews.com