Short Ribbs was a weekly local sketch comedy

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 program, broadcasted in the Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 / Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 area on KDOC-TV

KDOC-TV

KDOC-TV is an independent television station based in Orange County, California . The station's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson, California...

. Featuring a midget and dwarf cast, The show starred veteran actor Billy Barty

Billy Barty

Billy Barty was an American film actor.-Biography:Barty, an Italian American, was born William John Bertanzetti in Millsboro, Pennsylvania...

, whose production company produced the program.

The format of Short Ribbs was similar to Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

, featuring take-offs of TV shows and commercials. The series was sponsored by 7 Up

7 Up

7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...

, and first aired on KDOC-TV on Saturday night, September 23, 1989 at 8:30 pm, running for 13 episodes.

Court case

While the program is relatively obscure outside of Southern California, it is known for the court case that followed the following year.
In 1990, Barty was sued in small claims court by two of the writers of Short Ribbs, producer and writer William Winckler, and writer Warren Taylor. Winckler and Taylor filed separate lawsuits against Barty for money owed, and Barty lost both cases.

News of Barty losing in small claims court made headlines all over the world, with lead stories such as Barty Comes Up Short in Small Claims, and other such puns. Barty claimed the lawsuit news was the most negative publicity he ever got, and compared it to similar bad press Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...

 received for slapping a Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

police officer.