Sarah Silverman Lands New Show: Will NBC Censor Her?

There are many ways to describe Sarah Silverman, but "soft-spoken" is not one of them. So when news broke that Silverman had sold the pilot episode of her new series to NBC, that got me wondering: can she make it on network TV?

There's no question of the level of talent here. Silverman is as funny as it gets, and cancelled show on Comedy Central, "The Sarah Silverman Program," was the only show I've ever seen that made Holocaust jokes funny. Yes, I know how that sounds, but the woman is that funny.

But therein lies the problem: nothing is off-limits to Sarah Silverman. The humor on her show will range from the inappropriately offensive (the Holocaust) to the inappropriately sexual to the inappropriately scatological. We love her for it, but chances are pretty good that the censors won't.

So will Silverman's new show differ considerably now that she's aiming for a primetime network slot?

One would have to assume that NBC knows what it is getting into and is prepared with a staff of editors ready to bleep what must be bleeped. But there are just some things that Silverman won't be able to get away with on network TV that she could on Comedy Central with a TV-MA rating behind her.

Will we see a more mature, sophisticated Silverman? God, I hope not. But something's gotta give. It will be interesting to see how the end product compares to the likes of "Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic."