Paula-Abdul-Jabbar OP t1_jdwdgac wrote on March 27, 2023 at 6:00 PM

Reply to comment by solivia916 in What do you think the issue with modern sitcoms is? (Discussion) by Paula-Abdul-Jabbar

I've seen this and totally agree. Nothing about the characters seems organic, which makes it hard to see them as real people.

What I wonder, is why is this such an issue for modern sitcoms? Many of these are being written by writers of former, better shows, but suffer serious issues that those shows lacked.

solivia916 t1_jdwelg1 wrote on March 27, 2023 at 6:07 PM

It is not a unique problem to modern sitcoms, there is an intangible “it” factor those shows had or were given proper time to find (I refer to it as the soul, or heart) modern sitcoms have the advantage of knowing that thing exists, that doesn’t mean they have the time or even ability to find it. I thoroughly enjoy looking back at failed pilots and wondering what could have been. Today there is just a higher volume of content being produced so it seems like there are more failures, when I would gather it is probably about the same percentage of successful shows to failures.

Paula-Abdul-Jabbar OP t1_jdwu1cq wrote on March 27, 2023 at 7:45 PM

But even the successful shows now aren't typically considered to be as good as the successful shows then. Are there that many people who find American Auto, Welcome to Flatch, How I Met Your Father, Call Me Kat, Bob Hearts Abishola, etc. hilarious? Enjoyable, maybe. But hilarious the same way that audiences found 30 Rock, The Office, or even shows like That 70s Show or Everybody Loves Raymond to be hilarious? Even if you don't like a show like Raymond, I think it's clearly better in most ways to a show like Call Me Kat or The Neighborhood.

solivia916 t1_jdwvdve wrote on March 27, 2023 at 7:54 PM

Humor is so subjective. But I think “what we do in the shadows” is on par with the office or parks and recs, there are still game changers and successful sitcom type shows being made. Part of it is also nostalgia, that era of television was a special one, a renaissance.

lilykitsune t1_jdx3nzs wrote on March 27, 2023 at 8:46 PM

I find the setting similarities to be a large issue. Office type comedies remind us of what we've seen before, and everything has a muted effect as a result. Personally one of the funniest sitcoms in recent history for me has been WWDITS, which obviously has a unique setting. They're able to adapt old sitcom tropes to that absurd setting, and that made them feel new. Going from a government office to a government office, or from a bland group of friends to another bland group of friends will leave things feeling too similar, as if hearing the same joke twice. Viewers who haven't seen those older shows will end up appreciating the newer ones, but you won't get the same universal acclaim until there's a bit of time without them..