Anyone who works in journalism will tell you there's supposed to be a wall between editorial and advertising. Not so on NBC.com's comedy trifle FCU: Fact Checkers Unit, which is just another mildly-entertaining excuse for product placement.

The series, created by and starring Peter Karinen and Brian Sacca, debuted today and begins an eight-episode "season" on NBC.com tomorrow. It follows the wacky antics of two fact checkers from Dictum magazine while they try to verify the assertions in the publication's articles. Oh, and they have a trusty sidekick too. It's not Luke Perry, who guest stars in the first episode. It's their Samsung Galaxy 5, a cell phone that is intrusively inserted into several scenes in the six-minute short. If only these editorial staffers knew they were doing advertising's evil bidding!

The comedy of two zany magazine employees sounds like it would be just our brand of humor, but this just isn't funny enough to excuse the rather tone-deaf intrusions. Put that in your Funk and Wagnalls and check it!