‘Tom Goes to the Mayor’ granted second season

And Odenkirk’s involvement has helped draw a wide variety of comic talent for guest spots. Last season included Cross, Sarah Silverman, Fred Willard, and Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D. The first episode of season two features Sir Mix-a-Lot performing a rap song called “My Big Cups,” similar to his hit “Baby Got Back,” to help Tom sell his new line of 1.8-liter cups.

“Honestly, the reason I decided to do it — it wasn’t financial, that’s for damn sure. Really, everyone I talked to was pretty cool,” Mix told the AP by phone from Seattle. “Sometimes, when you get involved with certain cartoons, it can get kind of cheesy, but this was the coolest thing since sliced bread.”

But “Tom” hasn’t been heating up ratings-wise, despite all that creativity and talent. In the first season, airing at 1 a.m., it averaged about 266,000 viewers ages 18-34, 155,000 of whom were male. A “Family Guy” episode at 11 p.m. usually doubles or even triples that.

“I think the numbers aren’t great but they’re also not that bad. At that time of night, we’re competing against things that do a lot worse,” said Heidecker. “The show is never going to be a huge, ‘American Idol’ kind of show.

“I don’t watch the show either,” he added. “I don’t know anyone who stays up to watch it.”

Lazzo agreed that “Tom” is “too quirky” to pull huge ratings, “just as I think ‘Family Guy’ was too quirky for the room when it premiered. But if we make enough ‘Toms’ people will get acclimated to what that is and people will be accepting of it and the ratings will go up.

“It’s an eccentric program and we know it as such,” he added. “And when we decided to produce it, we knew it was not ‘Family Guy.’ But we don’t care.”

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