Comedy Central greenlights 'Root'

Carter, Sacks to exec produce show

"Real Time With Bill Maher" exec producer Scott Carter is aboard to exec produce, along with "The Simpsons" scribe and "Third Rock From the Sun" co-exec producer David Sacks.

Show pits two people or topics against each other in a courtroom setting, with a rotating group of comedians arguing for their client as the root of all evil.

At the end of each episode, Black rules on which party in fact deserves the designation.

Among the topics litigated are "Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney" and "chick flicks vs. videogames."

Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo, Andy Daly and Paul F. Tompkins are among the comedians featured in the pilot, which recently wrapped.

Comedy Central enjoyed its best ratings year in 2006, with a 6% increase in total viewers over the previous year.

Net has made forays into scripted live comedy with "The Sarah Silverman Program" and continues to push edgy animated series such as upcoming political skein "Lil' Bush." "Root of All Evil" takes it back to its roots of promoting prominent and up-and-coming comedians.