Weekly Discussion: Multi-camera Sitcoms • Page 2

Does anyone watch Mom? I have generally heard good things about it, it and The Carmichael Show seem like the only critically liked multi-cam shows on the air right now.

 

I've seen bits of Mom and did not enjoy it. I wanted to, because of Faris and Janney

 

After looking through multi-cams currently airing I found that there are only 7 still airing on the big 4 networks. Fox doesn't even have any currently in their roster. That has to be an all time low in TV history.
CBS
Big Bang Theory
Mom
2 Broke Girls
The Odd Couple
ABC
Last Man Standing
Dr. Ken
NBC
The Carmichael Show

It should be noted that the place where the multi-cam sitcom is still very much alive is in kid/tween centered cable networks. There are nearly twice as many multi-cams on channels like Disney, XD, Freeform, and Nickelodeon than there are on the big 4.

 

There are also a bunch of new ones premiering this fall I'm sure. Kevin Can Wait and The Great Outdoors are two I keep seeing advertised.

 

Good god, that is a horrendous lineup.

 

I never notice whether a show is multi or single cam, so most of the distinction for me comes down to the laugh track.

Roseanne is probably my favorite of these, and it more than holds up. It's distinguished from most other series by the realism of the characters and their problems. There's never really any resolution, just a family struggling to stay together and struggling to pay their bills.

I was introduced to sitcoms by Nick at Night, which in the 90s meant The Brady Bunch, The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, and Happy Days. Of course I also watched Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, Fresh Prince, and Sabrina The Teenage Witch, as well as lesser shows like Step By Step and Family Matters. I loved Growing Pains for a while, and later on, The Drew Carey Show.

HIMYM and That 70s Show were of course later favorites.

I used to enjoy The Big Bang Theory, always thought the backlash was overblown. Two Broke Girls is truly awful though. Kat Dennings deserves better.

 

Big Bang Theory is lowest common denominator, but at least for its first 5 seasons or so it was pretty well executed by actors who could land jokes

 

Kaley was great on 8 Simple Rules, the clips of BBT I've seen have just been unpleasant/condescending

 

Kaley is probably the most consistent part of the show. Her ability to play straight man is what lands a majority of jokes on the show

 

I know Married With Children was considered a revolutionary sitcom for being one of the first to use explicitly lowbrow humor, and as one of the first sitcoms where no main character had any real redeeming qualities, and as the show that put Fox on the map along with The Simpsons and Cops, but looking back on it I don't know if it's humor holds up really as much as the other "great" sitcoms the last 30 years do.

I think in hindsight that possibly it's subversiveness was really all it had going for it.

 

Taxi is probably my favorite sitcom that aired before I was born

 

8 Simple Rules needs more love. John Ritter's performance on that show is fantastic

 

I felt this way too when I've seen it on television recently. The jokes are awkward and kinda obvious sometimes, but I remembered it being great all those years ago. It was just probably so different than anything else back then that it really stood out.

For some reason, I also remember my parents always watching Just Shoot Me and Home Improvement back in the day. Can't even remember if either of those were any good.

 

Cheers and Friends are my favorite. Cheers operated at such a high level for so long.

Haven't seen anyone mention King of Queens. I think the first few seasons are pretty good and some of Kevin James' best work.

 

Horace and Pete?

 

The good thing about multi-cam sitcoms is that they're easy to watch. Don't require a lot of brainpower and you can just zone out, have a beer and laugh at some silly, cheesy shit. Shows like Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Parks And Rec (while all brilliant) rely on a lot of subtle jokes, attention-to-detail and quick dialogue parts. While this style of comedy is better and makes for better writing, multi-cams appeal to the general public because the jokes are easy to pick up, hence why The Big Bang Theory kills it in the ratings, and shows like Community and Arrested Development are cancelled by their networks. While these shows are better, people can't be fucked paying attention to shows that require a bit more thought. This isn't a dig at multi-cams btw, because some of them are awesome, but it's just the way it is.

As far as the golden age, yep...it was the 90's/early 2000's. Seinfeld, The Drew Carey Show, That 70's Show...all fucking amazing. Lucky Louie was quite good for its short stint too, and The Ranch on Netflix is good for some easy laughs.

 

That's what I've found about Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, etc. It's always easy to put it on in the background or pay attention to it every once in a while because you almost never have to know the "story line" from previous episodes. You can just throw it on and only pay attention when you feel like it while still catching some jokes. Easily digestible, I guess. Totally get why it's not most people's style, but I can also see why they do so well.

As big/successful as shows like Always Sunny are, probably half of the people I meet have never seen it and about a quarter have tried to get into but couldn't... It takes a little more time to learn the personalities and appreciate the "weird" episodes than something like How I Met Your Mother.

 

Thank you. King of Queens is one of my all-time favorite shows.

 

Looks like they are trying again, this time under How I Met Your Father. At the least, I think it sounds better than How I Met Your Dad.