Word: sitcoms
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...years ago, everybody knew how to make a sitcom. You'd get a few cute actors, maybe a stand-up comic, a nice couch and some of those big cappuccino mugs from Pottery Barn. Take a few meetings, punch out a few scripts--then sit back and wait for the Brinks truck to pull...
...wrong idea: those erstwhile viewers are not spending that time doing anything crazy like reading novels, making love or helping the kids with their homework. By and large, they're watching dramas or reality shows instead. But having strong sitcoms is still important to networks. Comedies rate far better than other shows in reruns--Is anybody really interested in catching a repeat of The Mole?--and sell more easily to syndication. Which may explain why some programmers and sitcom producers are resorting to a desperation move, somewhere between getting Vince McMahon to start a new football league and formally declaring...
They'll have help. Fox has had a mini-streak of sitcom success in the past couple of years with risk takers like Malcolm and Titus (as well as with That '70s Show, laugh track and all). And it has two appealingly unusual and very different sitcoms on the way. Undeclared, from producer Judd Apatow (another Sanders alum), is a laugh-track-less coming-of-age comedy that, like Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, relies less on zingers than low-key humor and well-drawn characters. The Tick is an outlandish spoof (based on a comic-book series) about...
...networks have nontraditional-comedy pilots in contention for next fall. NBC is considering a live-improv sitcom. Dharma & Greg creator Chuck Lorre is working on an interactive sitcom, whose viewers will vote on plot twists, for Fox, which is also developing a series about a bunny puppet who lands a starring role in a children's show. But the networks are hardly abandoning the traditional sitcom. ABC is hedging its bets this spring with two very conventional-looking ones, starring Damon Wayans and Joan Cusack. Even Apatow says, "I like cinematic comedy, but I still think the best show...
...what point can you say that gays have gone mainstream? When Will & Grace hits the top 20? When Ally kisses a girl? When ABC airs a Judy Garland mini-series? For our money, it's when a network airs a gay-straight odd-couple sitcom that's not just bad, but boringly so. Batting for the gays, Jason Bateman is adequate as a poor man's Eric McCormack, but Danny Nucci plays a straight Italian stereotype who's like Joey from Friends' dumber brother. Add predictable storylines (I think my roomie has a crush...