tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5130279519547445054..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Why have there not been any hit sitcoms over the last few years? By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28245885054057929192015-02-24T04:22:33.142-08:002015-02-24T04:22:33.142-08:00Superb article. Captures all the relevant points ...Superb article. Captures all the relevant points nicely.<br /><br />Personally I despise Two and a half Men and have no interest in Modern Family. <br />Regarding Big Bang Theory, I think the operative word is 'was.'<br />It was funny, it hasn't been for the last three seasons, instead its been increasingly dull, deliberately offensive and all in all just going through the motions.<br />The only real laugh its given me recently was with Nathan Fillion's guest star setup, and even that got awkward after a couple of minutes.<br />Personally I think the micromanaging may be to blame, they have stopped being funny and are focusing purely on the "quirkiness."<br /><br />I really wish there were a few new good sitcoms to watch, I am desperate for new content.<br />Here in Australia I have had the impression for years that the commercial networks are deliberately sabotaging there own ratings in order to sell pay TV as the only content these days is cop shows and reality TV; nothing for a family audiance at all.<br />And the result, a lot of people have stopped watching TV altogether.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02352487833384896071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54128814801147643872014-10-09T03:25:12.098-07:002014-10-09T03:25:12.098-07:00You have given very good suggestions about above s...You have given very good suggestions about above stated issue regarding of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-sitcoms-in-television-history" rel="nofollow">best sitcoms of all time</a>. But you need to explore those more. It can really commence a new modern time for sitcoms of TV.<br />gagbushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16113621363719821195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42724748098503742632014-10-06T07:49:40.989-07:002014-10-06T07:49:40.989-07:00I think this article is good, but it covers only s...I think this article is good, but it covers only some of the problems. A few people have mentioned YOU'RE THE WORST, and I agree that it's an excellent comedy. It follows some of the guidelines, but is directed at a niche audience.<br /><br />In my estimation, there are two prevalent issues with mediocre sitcoms:<br /><br />1) They are copies of copies. SEINFELD was funny in it's time. FRIENDS was funny. HIMYM squeaked by. But FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES (for example)? Amiable cast, but we've seen it all before. As an audience, we want to feel comfortable, but we don't want something 10 or 15 years out of date.<br /><br />2) Too crass. Since the taboo is always a major source of humor, and so little is taboo these days, comedy tends toward the extreme. Unfortunately, it seems that many folks don't realize that just because something's extreme, it's not necessarily funny. So many times I've seen comedies today use escalation and grotesquery as a basis, but it's hollow. <br /><br />Getting back to YOU'RE THE WORST as a positive example: they've taken the basic premise of the rom com (two people who are so wrong for each other that they must end up together) and turned it on its head. These are two people who ARE right for each other, but are are wrong for relationships. The extreme situations - and some are VERY extreme - come off as funny rather than crass because they stem from the characters themselves, not from needless escalation.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-55593597581138408062014-10-03T19:52:36.271-07:002014-10-03T19:52:36.271-07:00@Wendy -- I think my theory more accurately descri...@Wendy -- I think my theory more accurately describes the show as it became, not what it was.Greg Ehrbarhttp://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/woody-woodpecker-on-records/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6003149607097857852014-09-29T01:39:44.493-07:002014-09-29T01:39:44.493-07:00@Wendy M. Grossman
When you say "poorly soci...@Wendy M. Grossman<br /><br />When you say "poorly socialized and lacked emotional maturity", what I read is "I like laughing at, rather than with, them".<br /><br />I think that's ultimately what appeals to people about TBBT, and why some people can't stand it.<br /><br />It's certainly why I can't stand it, nor any other Chuck Lorre's shows. I find them mean-spirited and deeply unpleasant.Olivernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52334046162736174692014-09-28T07:00:19.002-07:002014-09-28T07:00:19.002-07:00Pat, I would say they're trying to appeal to m...Pat, I would say they're trying to appeal to millennials by emulating the fast-talking "His Girl Friday"...but then again, that was in black and white, and we know how millennials feel about <i>that.</i>VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23014186128403028192014-09-28T05:49:59.000-07:002014-09-28T05:49:59.000-07:00I've enjoyed reading all the comments (okay, m...I've enjoyed reading all the comments (okay, most of them), but have `one thing to add that hasn't been mentioned yet: <br /><br />Could someone please explain to today's sitcom writers that having your characters rattle off lots of words reallyreallyreallyreally fast and bounce the lines back and forth with no pauses for breath is not a substitute for wit? This seems to be a hallmark of sitcoms that try to appeal to millennials, like "Happy Endings." <br /><br />Nothing kills the humor like having to hit rewind five times to decipher what they're saying, then finally giving up and turning on the closed captions. Pat Reedernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63434667898535130082014-09-28T04:22:42.049-07:002014-09-28T04:22:42.049-07:00"Trophy Wife" was at times very funny. G..."Trophy Wife" was at times very funny. Great show. Great cast. No chance with the network. If they had put it on Wednesday it would have soared. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63408882963687693732014-09-27T09:30:42.635-07:002014-09-27T09:30:42.635-07:00During the 90s there were so many hit sitcoms can ...During the 90s there were so many hit sitcoms can you explain Ken why? I particularly loved Wings. The stars were good looking yet funny and they had good delivery and timing with their lines. One of the best ensemle cast.Critics of today give Wings a better review than before why a delayed reaction I don't understand. Good writers, good looking or not ensemle cast as long as they can deliver funny line you will get a hit sitcom.Cristinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-43593866050008667572014-09-27T09:11:12.234-07:002014-09-27T09:11:12.234-07:00There were many hit sitcoms during the 90s Ken can...There were many hit sitcoms during the 90s Ken can you explain why? I particularly love Wings they have good looking stars and they were funny and know how to deliver their lines. You can be good looking and funny. The writers and actors should worked well together to achieve their goal. Actually critics of today are writing good reviews of Wings than before why is that, did they just discovered that this show is funny? Good writers,actors good looking or not,timing and delivery you will produce a hit sitcom.Cristinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88496202810421102032014-09-26T21:34:13.252-07:002014-09-26T21:34:13.252-07:00Mike, where did you get your list and what do the ...Mike, where did you get your list and what do the numbers mean? The #1 show for Democrats is Countdown with Keith Olbermann? That went off the air over five years ago.Bob B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26007123672642177152014-09-26T18:08:42.634-07:002014-09-26T18:08:42.634-07:00Another point not to overlook (esp. for us non-DVR...Another point not to overlook (esp. for us non-DVR people). Moving the damn show around too much so you can't find it, or it is no longer convenient. Or opposite something else you watch. This is true of hour long dramas often. "NCIS is doing well in that time slot, lets put a procedural against it" WTF!?!? how about programming something <i>different</i>. Give me Castle, Bones, Mentalist, POI, NCIS, CSI, L&O, all at times when I can watch all of them. Put comedies up against them, or reality shows. Any DIFFERENT choice. One night of the week now there is NOTHING the fuck on because every station is programing reality against each other. Somebody give me 2BrokeGirls to watch, that would at least be a different bad choice.<br />The other part for 1/2 hour comedies is what it is paired with. If you aren't DVRing, then the whole hour needs looked at as a whole. This has caused me to stop watching many shows live anymore, and just wait for the DVD at the end of the season. I don't want to watch the turd of the month just to get from the end of BBT to the top of the hour. And yes, I find BBT funny, regardless of how uncool that is in the comment section of this blog. One of the reasons that NBC Thursday was such a juggernaut in the mid 80s is that there were always at least 3 out of 4 good shows to watch. No clunkers. When they start to piece them out to <i>anchor</i> other nights, everything gets weaker. Thursday night, NBC = Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court (&HSB). They moved NC around after that, and as I recall, there was rarely anything good on with it, and I stopped watching. Maybe Wings one year, which I always enjoyed, and then they decided it needed its own night so both shows could have crap with them. <br /><br />Network programming reminds me of half the managers in baseball - if someone is pitching well, pull them and look for the guy who can't. "I only brought him in to get one guy out, so what if he struck him out in 3 pitches and it wasn't even close, I need to bring in the next guy so he can give up the 3 run homer". <br />"Boy these two shows really click together and give each other bigger numbers, let's split them up and see if they can both get smaller numbers on different nights" Network programming might be the only job that you can have a worse success rate than hitting a baseball and still have a job. The mendoza line probably gets you a huge bonus.<br /><br />FQ: How much say does a studio / producer have (if any) with what you are paired with? It seems like Lorre can get his shows paired with each other, but is that him requesting / requiring, or CBS just doing it? I remember A different world slotting after Cosby after he kicked Lisa Bonet off, but was the the studio or NBC just looking at the same audience? But it seems like the Tortellis was not after Cheers. It might have been one of the clunkers after Night Court. <br /><br />JohnJohnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-20809219530121196612014-09-26T17:14:39.393-07:002014-09-26T17:14:39.393-07:00Shows that are popular with Republicans tend to ge...Shows that are popular with Republicans tend to get Democrats as well, but the reverse is not true. AMC really needs to figure out what's going on. <br /><br />Top shows watched by Republicans<br /><br />Glenn Beck 238 (35)<br />The Amazing Race 132 (100)<br />Modern Family 124 (108)<br />American Idol 122 (103)<br />V 122 (90)<br />The Big Bang Theory 119 (99)<br />The Mentalist 119 (116)<br />Survivor 118 (100)<br />Dancing With The Stars 117 (112)<br />Desperate Housewives 116 (116)<br />NCIS 115 (109)<br />The Bachelor 114 (104)<br />Lie To Me 114 (100)<br />How I Met Your Mother 113 (112)<br />Two And A Half Men 112 (105)<br /><br />Democrats:<br /><br />Countdown With Keith Olbermann 184 (31)<br />Mad Men 155 (55)<br />Dexter 147 (61)<br />Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami 146 (66)<br />90210 140 (54)<br />Private Practice 127 (94)<br />Brothers & Sisters 127 (103)<br />30 Rock 126 (68)<br />The Good Wife 124 (119)<br />Community 122 (75)<br />Law & Order: SVU 122 (86)<br />Friday Night Lights 119 (111)<br />Damages 118 (75)<br />Parks and Recreation 118 (89)<br />Breaking Bad 117 (50)<br /><br />Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-24008796894183839612014-09-26T12:31:57.429-07:002014-09-26T12:31:57.429-07:00Third vote for "You're the Worst" --...Third vote for "You're the Worst" -- caught on just in time to catch up before the finale, and now I'm rewatching the whole season and praying for a pickup. It's like a mashup of Blackadder, Archer and Fraiser -- scathing British humor, filthy one-liners and character-driven borderline farce in one delicious 22 minute package. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79371958476081438432014-09-26T11:06:52.028-07:002014-09-26T11:06:52.028-07:00I still can't believe that show Happy Endings ...I still can't believe that show Happy Endings lasted more than 5 episodes. Maybe because the majority of the cast was good looking. It was terrible, the jokes were terrible, it was just plain bad. Most of the actors, in my opinion had bad comedic timing. It was so bad I couldn't even hate watch it. - RonnieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52439618337857884402014-09-26T09:39:58.978-07:002014-09-26T09:39:58.978-07:00Uh huh. A few years ago the complaint was that pe...Uh huh. A few years ago the complaint was that people don't watch sitcoms anymore. No. We just didn't watch <i>their</i> sitcoms because they were lousy. People will watch good tv if it's there and the network suits aren't idiots who yank the show before the audience can find it.<br /><br />"3. Recent sitcoms are not funny."<br /><br />Yes!!! That's it, on the nose. <br /><br />I also think, and this kind of goes along with what you said about all the actors being good looking, that the best shows include <i>characters</i>. You mentioned MF and TBB, and those clearly are character driven. Instead today what you get are a lot of pretty people using potty language and being painfully trendy in the way people never are in real life. And I don't get targeting a specific age group for your audience. Don't you want the biggest audience possible? Why limit it to twenty-somethings who are also the least likely to be home watching sitcoms at night? Golden Girls ended up with a huge audience beyond the obvious because it was simply brilliant. <br /><br />McAlvienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27507425409793644552014-09-26T08:43:31.016-07:002014-09-26T08:43:31.016-07:00@Wendy: You make a great observation. It seems the...@Wendy: You make a great observation. It seems there always comes a point a few seasons later where every really-popular sitcom just becomes a parody of itself or veers so far off the original mark that made it great in the first place, where you go, "OK, now this is just dumb". <br /><br />It's almost like they do it on purpose.ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-75394463771224621592014-09-26T08:05:32.811-07:002014-09-26T08:05:32.811-07:00Greg Ehrbar: Well, I turned 60 in January and I lo...Greg Ehrbar: Well, I turned 60 in January and I loved TBBT from the beginning just because for once here was a TV show about very, very smart people who were very, very passionate about solving the mysteries of the universe *and* who as a result of both those things had been poorly socialized and lacked emotional maturity. I know these people from real life. How often can you say that?<br /><br />I like the show much less now that it's becoming much more like FRIENDS (even some of the plots are recycled...) and there's a lot less science-related stuff (like the guys watching a mix of cornstarch and water dance on an upturned speaker a few seasons back).<br /><br />wgWendy M. Grossmanhttp://www.pelicancrossing.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-9757150831613407242014-09-26T07:11:46.300-07:002014-09-26T07:11:46.300-07:00Oops, "This isn't an old concept" wa...Oops, "This isn't an old concept" was supposed to be "This isn't a new concept".ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69643162896598126142014-09-26T07:09:41.432-07:002014-09-26T07:09:41.432-07:00@Nerkul: Thing is, network TV doesn't *have* t...@Nerkul: Thing is, network TV doesn't *have* to be dead, just like newspapers or terrestrial radio don't *have* to be dead, either. There needs to be a sea-change at the top regarding how you're going to compete and be relevant in a landscape and world that has clearly changed from the way they used to do things. After all, the whole world's not a fan of Netflix, and not everyone is a TV-cable subscriber -- and those people aren't just old senior citizens and Luddites.<br /><br />Dedicate yourself -- I mean *really* dedicate yourself -- to airing damn-good product, and people will come back. This isn't an old concept, just one that's been continually ignored by the networks.ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-83646175851808573482014-09-26T06:39:58.851-07:002014-09-26T06:39:58.851-07:00Well said, Ken.
It is long past time to disregard...Well said, Ken.<br /><br />It is long past time to disregard the opinions of anyone who says "I happen to love THE MINDY PROJECT..."<br /><br />If you do, you have poor taste in television, and no taste in comedy.<br /><br />Either improve your critical faculties, or go away.Ulsteriannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-16358218862052573382014-09-26T06:17:51.056-07:002014-09-26T06:17:51.056-07:00Who even cares about network sitcoms any more? Thi...Who even cares about network sitcoms any more? This is a golden age of television but networks are dead, and niche, quality writing is everything. Deal with it.nerkulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04927301561819474314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-14783743612476781102014-09-26T05:40:31.815-07:002014-09-26T05:40:31.815-07:00Big Bang Theory strikes me as a grown-up version o...Big Bang Theory strikes me as a grown-up version of the tween comedies on cable. Same volume, energy level, audience laughs per minute.<br /><br />Maybe part of the success is due to the fact that the tweens raised on Hannah Montana and such are older and have gravitated to a similar kind of show with content that is skewed to young adults.<br /><br />My Big Bang Theory theory.Greg Ehrbarhttp://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/category/animation-spin/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-46499397380191399902014-09-25T21:19:05.863-07:002014-09-25T21:19:05.863-07:00I always thought that Larry Linville was the funni...I always thought that Larry Linville was the funniest one on M*A*S*H. His characterization of Frank Burns stole every scene he was in. When a rerun of the show is on I'll only watch it if it is from the early seasons with Larry Linville. I realize that he felt that his character was limiting, but he wasn't just funny, he was extremely funny. After he left the show he never found his footing again as an actor and wound up doing dinner theater in Canada. I thought that AFTERMASH would have succeeded if they'd brought back Larry Linville, since the Frank Burns character wasn't killed off, but just sent stateside, with a promotion. And M*A*S*H is a show which works fine without a laughtrack as the dvds were released with an option to turn off the laughtrack and the show plays better without it.James Van Hisenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26722281695438816282014-09-25T20:30:56.558-07:002014-09-25T20:30:56.558-07:00I'm going to backup Darth Weasel on this one.
...I'm going to backup Darth Weasel on this one.<br /><br />Today's "funny" shows all to often take cheap shots at Red State/Conservative points of view.<br /><br />An example of left coast stupidity is when Cobert was pitched to replace Letterman. Ok... conservatives are going to tune this show out now. <br /><br />Ratings get bad and network "geniuses" all wonder where the viewers have gone for these shows. No one ever thinks to read through the scrips and check for Red State idiot jokes. Everyone checks for ethnic slurs ... but any quip that might anger anyone with serious western religious beliefs... gee that's fair game right?<br /><br />The Rubes in the Red States are not stupid. We do know when snappy lines are meant to be a left coast "in joke" about a topic we care about. <br /><br />And let's face it folks... the divide between Red and Blue has gotten so wide that Blues don't even bother to wonder if they are offending anymore. (yeah Ken love the reflexive Republicans are no culture cavepeople love it! tell me another one. har har) <br />Hey it's funny to an LA studio audience Right? Right? it's funny to them so it must be funny to people in fly over right?<br /><br />Now combine this with the comment above about having PAID studio audience members. PAID people who are certainly from LA AND most likely in entertainment... AND voila you have the makings of a very skewed idea of whats funny the majority of America.Angry Gamernoreply@blogger.com