Redux: Sitcoms Am Bad
I actually wrote this three years ago. Apparently my rage did not change the industry one bit...
Looking over the New Fall Season is usually like sneaking a peek at Xmas presents for me. So imagine my surprise when I looked into the back of the closet to find that i am getting the same presents that I got last year!
I can't believe I am saying this but WHAT HAPPENED TO MAKING SITCOMS???
Used to be that networks knew what a sitcom was. It was a COMEDY
derived from a SITUATION. Now I know the pendants among you will
bristle at my next comment but BEING AT WORK OR HOME WITH FAMILY IS NOT A SITUATION...unless one of the family is a robot, monkey or alien.
We used to watch shows about martians and witches and genies living
among us. We would stand around the water cooler discuss the folly of
liberals living in peace with bigots and how similar the slob on TV
was to the husband of the neat freak we know. I admit I never knew any
hillbillies that hit it rich nor reading about the leading scientist of
coconut technology being stranded on an island with the 3rd richest man
in the world but it was fun to watch. Now we have gotten to uppity to enjoy the weekly antics of one ethnicity living with another richer ethnicity.
Personally I blame the Bradys for blurring the line. I mean, yeah it is crazy bananas to see kids and a maid in a house with one bathroom and four bedrooms, but beyond that nothing was really happening that you couldn't do with just two or three kids. I mean look at Diff'rent Strokes, which continued to erode the comedy barrier while setting a record for the damage an innocent entertainment could do to the lives of children. You have to admit it was life changing. At least for some kids who had nothing but a dream. Meanwhile the rest of us learned to NEVER GO NEAR A BICYCLE SHOP! But the next thing you know we are watching Cosby and Seinfeld and people forgot that people really want to see folks put into wacky, yet slightly plausible situation to comfort them in their own grey lives.
How do I know this? Because the oneline for every reality show is frighteningly similar to a sitcom description. Dammit stop wasting all the good set ups on Paris Hilton and people named Fantasia and let's get back to answering the question of how to live with talking animals or inanimate objects!!!
