Having quickly admitted defeat in their last attempt at launching a hit comedy series with The Comeback, HBO has abandoned the treacherous terrain of the has-been actress psyche for the relatively upbeat milieu of the war in Iraq:

The premium network is developing "Hotel Palestine," a half-hour comedy about a group of wartime journalists living in a Baghdad hotel.

The Palestine Hotel is the real-life residence of dozens of journalists covering the war and has been attacked several times by insurgents. "Hotel Palestine" was sold by ICM and produced by Peter Baynham, a writer on the upcoming Ali G movie "Borat."

HBO was reportedly sold on the strength of the pitch alone: a delicious, semi-improvised romp in which a neurotic, balding and combative reporter brings his three horny best friends along for the ride when he's assigned to cover the war, and the four of them sit around a Baghdad bar sipping Cosmos bemoaning the lack of decent dating material among the local insurgents.

• HBO Planning Comedy Set in ... Baghdad? [TVWeek.com]

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