WASHINGTON MAY SINK SAG CHANCES.

Byline: - David Kronke

Given Friday's deadline to submit votes for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, you wonder how the whole Isaiah Washington controversy that erupted last week at the Golden Globes will affect ``Grey's Anatomy's'' chances in the ensemble in a drama series category. (The show is up against ``24,'' ``Boston Legal,'' ``Deadwood'' and ``The Sopranos.'')

Clearly, it's the hottest show in the category, the most easily addictive among its huge fan base (with not one but two proposals of marriage in Thursday's episode), and it demands significantly more of its cast than the second-hottest show, ``24,'' where everyone basically spends every frame looking as intense as possible.

But will voters want to be perceived as giving an award, at least in part, to an acknowledged homophobe? Or will they want to offer condolences to the rest of the cast for having to work with the guy?

For which show would you have voted? For that matter, any thoughts on which show -- among ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Entourage,'' ``The Office,'' ``Ugly Betty'' and ``Weeds'' -- should win best ensemble in a comedy series?

ABC WANTS TO LAUGH: In the 1996 French documentary (don't give up on this entry yet, it gets better) ``Microcosmos,'' we behold a dung beetle (See? Better already!) in a Sisyphean struggle to roll his prized ball of dung up a hill. He repeatedly loses ground, the dung keeps rolling back; it gets stuck on a stick, which refuses it further passage. Eventually, however, at protracted length, our hero succeeds.

It's a peculiarly exhilarating moment that reminds me of ABC's equally touching efforts in recent years to launch a successful sitcom (except, of course, for that whole ``succeeding'' part).

``We have to stick with it,'' ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson said earlier this month, sounding very much like that dung beetle (if the dung beetle could talk). ``I don't think the sitcom is dead. ... It's frustrating. It's challenging. We definitely want bigger audiences for them. I believe that comedy is due to kind of explode.''

And so, ABC keeps nudging sitcoms up the hill of viewer indifference. ``Help Me Help You'' and ``Big Day'': already history. ``In Case of Emergency'': joining them imminently. ``The Knights of Prosperity'': viewers far more apathetic than critics. ``George Lopez'' and ``According to Jim'': playing out the string. ``Notes From the Underbelly'': might not ever make the schedule.

(``Ugly Betty,'' technically billed as a comedy, is an hourlong series with dramatic elements.)

And yet, that hasn't dissuaded ABC from pushing harder. Here's a list of ABC sitcoms in development that you won't be watching in the 2007-08 season:

``Carpoolers'': Four guys carpool to work, discuss contemporary foibles of manhood. Because nothing screams comedy like sitting in traffic with disparate individuals and making awkward conversation.

``Family of the Year'': A perennially satisfied New Mexico family meets new competition for the title of ``Family of the Year.'' Because nothing screams comedy like an insane drive to keep up appearances no matter what the sordid behind-

the-scenes reality might be, all for the sake of a silly contest.

``Sam I Am:'' A woman who awakens from a coma with amnesia tries to rebuild her life. Because nothing screams comedy like a coma.

``The Middle:'' Life in a ``Roseanne''-style lower-middle-class family, only presumably without Roseanne. Because nothing screams comedy like a superficial sociological profile of the Americans struggling most in the current economy.

``The Call:'' L.A. paramedics rescue everyone but their own tortured souls. Because nothing screams comedy like cribbing shamelessly from the movies ``Bringing Out the Dead'' and ``Broken Vessels,'' not to mention TNT's drama ``Saved'' and even FX's ``Rescue Me.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com