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What killed the popular network comedy?

6,970 Views | 115 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by et98
Seven Costanza
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9:49p, 1/9/21
AG
Obviously multiple factors have contributed to the decline, but Iowaggie's post stands out to me. In the 90s, on top of not really having anything else to watch on nights during the work/school week, we had lead-ins that introduced us to new shows. But with the way that my viewing habits have changed (and I assume a reasonable chunk of society), I wouldn't know if there was a good show on or not because I don't really watch anything at all. I can't blame it on the writing, lack of willingness to be politically incorrect, "woke-ism", or any of that because I haven't even seen any of the shows and largely don't know what exists. I often go days without even turning the tv on. The only new comedy that I've watched over the past year was Dave, and I don't have any idea how I was exposed to it to begin with. It might have been a thread on here.

I miss the era of water cooler, "appointment tv". Nowadays with DVR and the Netflix model, even zeitgeist shows have turned into "I'll get around to watching it later", which usually means that I won't watch it at all.
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Pahdz
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In reply to GiveEmHellBill • 9:52p, 1/9/21
Hold up....the WORST season of Parks and Rec was it's best ratings season?
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Madmarttigan
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In reply to AgGrad99 • 10:09p, 1/9/21
AG
AgGrad99 said:
Also, I know it's heresy around here, but The Big Bang is fun. (First season is terrible)

Never watched it when it was airing, it I enjoy the reruns


It's basically a nerdy version of Friends but gets hated on way more. All those other shows by the same guy are definitely god awful, particularly Two Broke Girls.
Formerly tv1113
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TCTTS
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In reply to Madmarttigan • 10:17p, 1/9/21
AG
Two Broke Girls might very well be the worst of the worst. I've caught a couple episodes here and there in syndication, after a Seinfeld rerun or something, and it's just so mind numbingly bad. The worst characters, the worst "jokes," the worst plot lines... to the point where it almost made me angry.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to Madmarttigan • 10:20p, 1/9/21
AG
Friends is the best sitcom of all time and the hatred for it is ridiculous.
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Fairview
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10:20p, 1/9/21
AG
The only one I DVR now is What We Do In The Shadows. It's genius and hilarious but not on a traditional network and not that widely watched.

I was also a big fan of Last Man on Earth but they canned that show on a cliff hanger. Still wish a streaming service would've picked it up.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to Seven Costanza • 10:22p, 1/9/21
AG
Honestly, The Mandalorian came about as close as anything has in a while to creating that zeitgeist-y, appointment TV feel.

I wish Disney+ would start dropping episodes at a good hour on Friday nights rather than at 3 AM ET. It would be huge for online discussions.
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In reply to YouBet • 10:56p, 1/9/21
YouBet
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In reply to [removed post] • 11:44p, 1/9/21
AG
third coast.. said:
YouBet said:
bigcat22 said:
Not to be "that guy" but I think "wokeism" is slowly killing comedy. I'm sure some writers might be gun shy on certain topics for fear of being cancelled. Just looks at the first few seasons of The Office, a lot of those episodes wouldn't fly in today's climate.
Valid point. See all of the stand up comedians who have publicly stated they no longer work on college campuses because of this.
i have comedian friends who cant get work anywhere because club owners have either found them offensive or their audiences have pressured them not to be booked due to their content being too "offensive"
Ridiculous.
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YouBet
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In reply to TCTTS • 11:45p, 1/9/21
AG
Modern Family is still on the air?
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In reply to YouBet • 11:46p, 1/9/21
TCTTS
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In reply to YouBet • 11:46p, 1/9/21
AG
No. Ended last spring.
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YouBet
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In reply to TCTTS • 11:47p, 1/9/21
AG
TCTTS said:
No. Ended last spring.
Still. I thought that show ended 6-7 years ago.
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TCTTS
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In reply to YouBet • 11:53p, 1/9/21
AG
It might as well have. I stuck with it 'til the end, and the last few seasons were a shadow of what the show once was.
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In reply to TCTTS • 11:56p, 1/9/21
TCTTS
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In reply to [removed post] • 12:00a, 1/10/21
AG
No doubt. It's definitely the way of most shows.
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YouBet
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In reply to TCTTS • 12:03a, 1/10/21
AG
TCTTS said:
It might as well have. I stuck with it 'til the end, and the last few seasons were a shadow of what the show once was.
The oldest daughter must have had kids by the time it ended. She was in high school when the show started.
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TCTTS
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In reply to YouBet • 12:15a, 1/10/21
AG
Yep. Twins.
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John Francis Donaghy
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12:32a, 1/10/21
1. Comedy is too risky in our current climate. The consequences for offending someone are too severe for networks to risk the bad publicity of a joke that doesn't go over well.

2. I know it's a cliche, old-man-yells-cloud, everyone says that as they get older thing to say, but SNL being in the dumps for the last decade hasn't helped either. SNL has long been a springboard of comedic writing and acting talent (including a number of the greats TCTTS listed in this thread), and they just aren't turning out much talent these days. The cast is old, and stale. They try to bring in new blood, but they just haven't been working out. Many if the cast member have been there for 5 or more years at this point, and they're still bringing in outside talent to play the most important parts. Not a good sign.

[1B: point 1 is also killing the older shows. I tried to watch my favorite 30 Rock christmas episodes this year only to find that one has been pulled from all streaming services for being too offensive in today's climate. After looking online it seems a number of 30 Rock episodes have been scrubbed and are no longer accessible anywhere. Can't even enjoy reruns of shows from when laughter was socially acceptable. Sad day.]
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Max Power
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In reply to TCTTS • 6:43a, 1/10/21
AG
TCTTS said:
Good call on Earl. That said, I have no idea what Raising Hope is.
Raising Hope was a sitcom on Fox, made by the same people as Earl. Basically it's about a young guy that has a kid with a girl who goes to prison for murder, he raises the kid with his family. His family is a train wreck. I didn't catch it when it was on the air but I did years later, it's really entertaining and if you enjoyed Earl then odds are you'll like Hope as well. Everyone in Earl shows up on Hope, Jason Lee makes an appearance as a washed up rock star in a couple of episodes. Cloris Leachman plays the grandmother and she's awesome.
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Saxsoon
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In reply to ThatOneGuy • 6:46a, 1/10/21
AG
ThatOneGuy said:
The Good Place was a quality show with stars in the cast on NBC. It ran from 2016-2020. It fits the mold of big network comedy. It didn't become a huge cultural hit like the others mentioned though.

The good place I would rank up there in quality of some of the greats it just never quite took off the same
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Fat Bib Fortuna
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 7:19a, 1/10/21
Brian Earl Spilner said:
Friends is the best sitcom of all time and the hatred for it is ridiculous.






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In reply to Fat Bib Fortuna • 7:21a, 1/10/21
$3 Sack of Groceries
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8:40a, 1/10/21
AG
I've seen Seinfeld, Cheers, and Friends all mentioned when the conversation turns to laugh tracks.

All three of them were filmed in front of studio audiences.

I think I read that Friends "supplemented" the audience laughter with a laugh track at times but never heard that about Seinfeld and especially Cheers.

Am I missing something?
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YouBet
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In reply to John Francis Donaghy • 8:45a, 1/10/21
AG
That's happened to 30 Rock, Community, and South Park that I know of. I'm sure many others as well. The Community one seems especially ridiculous since one of the characters was dressed up as a Dark Elf from fantasy lit and not a black guy. Haven't seen it but that's what I read.

It's insanity.
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In reply to YouBet • 8:51a, 1/10/21
Bruce Almighty
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In reply to $3 Sack of Groceries • 8:55a, 1/10/21
AG
SWC Ag said:
I've seen Seinfeld, Cheers, and Friends all mentioned when the conversation turns to laugh tracks.

All three of them were filmed in front of studio audiences.

I think I read that Friends "supplemented" the audience laughter with a laugh track at times but never heard that about Seinfeld and especially Cheers.

Am I missing something?


I can't speak for the others, but Seinfeld did both. The only live parts were in the apartments. From what I've read, they also added laugh tracks to the live audience laughter, but I think that was pretty common with all live shows.
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tysker
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9:04a, 1/10/21
AG
I also think the industry is simply responding to market pressures. Comedy requires being able to laugh at yourself and at the awkwardness of the human condition and frankly there is a large enough segment of very loud consumers out there who 'cannot take a joke' and/or express feigned outrage. And with this groups volume and access to literally damage a persons or groups career, it's not worth entering into the market.
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ChipFTAC01
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In reply to GiveEmHellBill • 9:51a, 1/10/21
AG
One of the saddest things about Arrested Development is Fox dumped the last 4 episodes of the series in a block opposite the opening ceremonies of the winter Olymp on a Friday night. Such an inglorious end to a glorious show.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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In reply to $3 Sack of Groceries • 11:09a, 1/10/21
AG
Friends often used canned laugh in place of audience laughs which went on too long.
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Lathspell
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In reply to Brian Earl Spilner • 11:28a, 1/10/21
AG
Brian Earl Spilner said:
Friends is the best sitcom of all time and the hatred for it is ridiculous.
This.

The hatred against Friends from some seems to be simply because of its popularity. I cannot put into words why, but any one who watches Friends from beginning to end, then watches the Big Bang Theory can tell there is definitely a quality difference between the two.

I think Seinfeld is hilarious and is obviously a genius show (I've seen it through twice). However, it will never be in my top 5 shows because I require characters I love. The characters in Seinfeld are horrible people who I can laugh at, but can never actually love.

I wonder if the decline in network comedies could be because we have so much more content on youtube and other platforms to watch, and allow our brains to turn off. The hour long drama is still at its height of popularity because that is not something we can get in small snippets, but comedy is.

I also liken sit-coms to music. Most people seem to grow attached to certain music at formative years in their lives. TV shows seem to do the same. The shows I watched in my teens and early twenties are still my favorite shows, to this day. I have liked others, but they will never displace the older ones for me. This is the same thing when it comes to my taste in music.

I will say, I believe comedy itself is on a downturn. Look at every late-night snippet I see pop up in my youtube feed. All I see are little windows with Seth Meyers' or Stephen Colbert' smug face with some spiffy title about how one side of the political aisle is bad. I don't turn to comedy to get inundated with politics. This is one of the reasons I believe SNL's quality suffered when Tina Fey stepped down as head writer and Seth Meyers took over (my own opinion, of course).

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Bob Loblaws Law Blog
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In reply to Lathspell • 12:26p, 1/10/21
AG
DallasTeleAg said:
Brian Earl Spilner said:
Friends is the best sitcom of all time and the hatred for it is ridiculous.
This.

The hatred against Friends from some seems to be simply because of its popularity. I cannot put into words why, but any one who watches Friends from beginning to end, then watches the Big Bang Theory can tell there is definitely a quality difference between the two.


You know it is possible for people to think Friends is several notches below Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Curb, etc. and still think it's several notches above Big Bang Theory?
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TCTTS
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In reply to Bob Loblaws Law Blog • 12:31p, 1/10/21
AG
This.
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AgsMnn
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In reply to tysker • 1:17p, 1/10/21
AG
tysker said:
I also think the industry is simply responding to market pressures. Comedy requires being able to laugh at yourself and at the awkwardness of the human condition and frankly there is a large enough segment of very loud consumers out there who 'cannot take a joke' and/or express feigned outrage. And with this groups volume and access to literally damage a persons or groups career, it's not worth entering into the market.


This. People get too butt hurt now and too much virtue signaling for comedies to be funny and keep viewers coming back.
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Chipotlemonger
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In reply to John Francis Donaghy • 1:18p, 1/10/21
AG
That is extremely frustrating to have episodes scrubbed or fully pulled like that. What's the end game there? What's the point?

Wonder if there is a list somewhere of all of the "pulled" or "scrubbed" sitcom show episodes on the streaming services.
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