Why Aren't Sitcoms Allowed To JUST Be Funny Anymore?

[theemii]

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Sitcoms have been around for nearly a century. Shows like I Love Lucy, All in the Family, Friends, The Office, Parks and Rec, It's Always Sunny, Scrubs, 30 Rock and countless others have entertained audiences on TV for nearly a century. Though with recent trends in awards voting, it seems the typical sitcom has fallen off for more subversive shows

Comments

[miharu]

Counterpoint: Sitcoms from any era have rarely actually been funny.

You have your classics like I Love Lucy, etc., but just try to sit down with the sitcoms that powered your youth - they're mostly unwatchable.

[angriest_girl]

The Golden Girls mostly holds up.

[andisprohi]

Counterpoint, coming from a fan: The dropped storylines (Rose's addiction), characters who only visit once, continuity (ex. Dorothy & Michael's ages), outdated jokes (the little person episode, the constant jokes about Dorothy's looks), too many clip show episodes.

[angriest_girl]

I think the dropped storylines thing is to be expected in a sitcom, as well as characters never seen again and inconsistent relatives / backstories. I mean, they all run on the same basic formula and each episode is “of the moment”, so continuity isn’t really considered that important.

There are definitely some jokes that don’t play well today, but compared to a lot of other 80s and 90s sitcoms, a lot of it is still pretty progressive and also funny.

[angriest_girl]

Is anyone calling these shows sitcoms? I mean other than them being classed as comedies (which I don’t think is even the same thing as sitcom?) for awards purposes.

[flyingpigs_live]

Exactly. None of those shows are sitcoms.

Re: Ariana DeBose

[bakemonos]

Mte. This person (not OP, mwah!) doesn't know what a sitcom is so I stopped reading.

[automaticpeople]

I don’t watch tv. I’m too Intilectual.

[hallyujah]

I used too but its to lo-brow for me, so now i'm into reeding and short-storey wrighting

[automaticpeople]

Let’s not brag too much. We’ll make the plebs here jellus.

[hallyujah]

to* wheel* hear*

starting to think ur not that intilectual you'reself tbh

[genbu_no_miko24]

I'm assuming cause they want prestige and be considered art or ahead of its time.

Do people talk about comedies in depth and as an art-form they way they talk about The Sopranos and the like. I think they want more of that recognition than being simply seen as funny shows cause that's not enough for some?

[sorryeden]

I think sitcoms have declined in quality. They're really cheesy or try hard. They basically say, "CANCELLED AFTER ONE SEASON."