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  • Sienna Guillory joins The BBC's Luther for series 3.

    The BBC's Merlin will end after it's current 5th series.

  • No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
    American sitcoms have went way downhill in the past 20 years. I haven't seen a truly funny sitcom on the broadcast networks in at least 10 years.
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    I heard that Fox News is quite funny.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    I heard that Fox News is quite funny.


    Funny in a "Wow people actually watch this for news" way. But really all of the three big news channels are almost equally full of shit. Reporting opinion like it is fact.
  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    dubbat138 said:

    No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
    American sitcoms have went way downhill in the past 20 years. I haven't seen a truly funny sitcom on the broadcast networks in at least 10 years.
    Since Friends the only sitcom i've really loved is Modern Family. That's the best out there for me at the moment. Closely followed by New Girl.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    luke52 said:

    dubbat138 said:

    No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
    American sitcoms have went way downhill in the past 20 years. I haven't seen a truly funny sitcom on the broadcast networks in at least 10 years.
    Since Friends the only sitcom i've really loved is Modern Family. That's the best out there for me at the moment. Closely followed by New Girl.

    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it. I have tried out Modern Family and while it isn't your normal run of the mill American sitcom. It also isn't something I make it a point to watch each week. The last must see American sitcom to me was My Name is Earl,King of the Hill and Arrested Development. But then I was never a fan of Seinfeld. I tried watching it many times and it never made me laugh.
  • chriswchrisw Posts: 792
    I find that at a certain age, if you've watched a lot of sitcoms over the years, they being to lose a lot of their appeal. I watch Community, Parks & Recreation, & 30 Rock, but those usually strive to avoid cliches. If a standard sitcom is on - like Two and Half Men - I find that I can almost predict every joke before it happens. I've actually annoyed my fiancee by saying virtually word for word what the next line is going to be.
  • My issue with sitcoms in general is simply that they aren't even funny by accident. I like Community and Parks & Rec, but that is all I actually search out. My sister watches Big Bang Theory. Occasionally, I get a chuckle out of that one, between moments of feeling like they are laughing at me instead of with me.
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    dubbat138 said:


    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it.


    :-O Details. Now. Please.
  • DoctorDoomDoctorDoom Posts: 2,586
    luke52 said:

    dubbat138 said:

    No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
    American sitcoms have went way downhill in the past 20 years. I haven't seen a truly funny sitcom on the broadcast networks in at least 10 years.
    Since Friends the only sitcom i've really loved is Modern Family. That's the best out there for me at the moment. Closely followed by New Girl.
    I love Modern Family as well.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    edited November 2012

    dubbat138 said:


    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it.


    :-O Details. Now. Please.
    Courtney Cox is my third cousin. Only met her once years ago when I was like 5 so she was 10 or so. It was at a huge family reunion. Sucks she divorced David Arquette cause I much rather be related to him than her.
  • dubbat138 said:

    No problem there. I didn't even need the reasons he gives for his dislike of his own show -- I just always thought it was a bad show.
    American sitcoms have went way downhill in the past 20 years. I haven't seen a truly funny sitcom on the broadcast networks in at least 10 years.
    Agreed, though I do like Big Bang Theory. Apart from that one show, I can't stand any of the sitcoms currently on the air.
  • dubbat138 said:

    dubbat138 said:


    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it.


    :-O Details. Now. Please.
    Courtney Cox is my third cousin. Only met her once years ago when I was like 5 so she was 10 or so. It was at a huge family reunion. Sucks she divorced David Arquette cause I much rather be related to him than her.
    I liked her in Misfits Of Science.
  • WetRatsWetRats Posts: 6,314

    dubbat138 said:

    dubbat138 said:


    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it.


    :-O Details. Now. Please.
    Courtney Cox is my third cousin. Only met her once years ago when I was like 5 so she was 10 or so. It was at a huge family reunion. Sucks she divorced David Arquette cause I much rather be related to him than her.
    I liked her in Misfits Of Science.
    Me, too.

    Dang, Chuck, we're old, y'know it?
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    dubbat138 said:

    dubbat138 said:


    Even though my distant cousin was a main star on Friends I could never get into it.


    :-O Details. Now. Please.
    Courtney Cox is my third cousin. Only met her once years ago when I was like 5 so she was 10 or so. It was at a huge family reunion. Sucks she divorced David Arquette cause I much rather be related to him than her.
    I liked her in Misfits Of Science.
    She was good in that. But Friends was just another generic American sitcom. All I ask for from a sitcom is at least 3 good laughs an episode. I have seen at least 10 episodes of Friends and never laughed once.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    chrisw said:

    I find that at a certain age, if you've watched a lot of sitcoms over the years, they being to lose a lot of their appeal. I watch Community, Parks & Recreation, & 30 Rock, but those usually strive to avoid cliches. If a standard sitcom is on - like Two and Half Men - I find that I can almost predict every joke before it happens. I've actually annoyed my fiancee by saying virtually word for word what the next line is going to be.


    Exactly,and sadly it seems most of the sitcoms in the past 15 or 20 years are following the same patterns over and over again. How many fat husband with hot wife sitcoms has there been in the past 10 years. Or family based sitcom where the youngest son is super smart. The daughter is shallow and the oldest kid is dumb as a post.
  • dubbat138 said:

    chrisw said:

    I find that at a certain age, if you've watched a lot of sitcoms over the years, they being to lose a lot of their appeal. I watch Community, Parks & Recreation, & 30 Rock, but those usually strive to avoid cliches. If a standard sitcom is on - like Two and Half Men - I find that I can almost predict every joke before it happens. I've actually annoyed my fiancee by saying virtually word for word what the next line is going to be.


    Exactly,and sadly it seems most of the sitcoms in the past 15 or 20 years are following the same patterns over and over again. How many fat husband with hot wife sitcoms has there been in the past 10 years. Or family based sitcom where the youngest son is super smart. The daughter is shallow and the oldest kid is dumb as a post.
    For me, my favorite comedies of all time have actually debuted in the last 12 years. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs, Arrested Development and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

    I guess it depends on what you watch. I actually think comedies, or at least the ones I watch and enjoy, have actually been breaking away from the molds we'd previously seen since the 50s. I prefer the character driven shows of today, as opposed to the episode to episode plot/joke based shows of the past. It makes the characters and the jokes less interchangeable.

    And the laugh tracks in multi-camera comedies just kill me. I don't know what it is. Growing up, every comedy had that setup and I enjoyed them. Now I don't even bother with it. I'm a big fan of FX and since the Shield, I have given every show they develop a shot. And I've liked most, if not all of them. But when Anger Management debuted and I heard laughter after the first few jokes, I was done. Didn't even finish the episode.

    Those are my thoughts. Like I said, I guess it depends on what you watch. I don't think I've been watching the same shows you've been watching, so my take on it appears to be completely different.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    tazmaniak said:

    dubbat138 said:

    chrisw said:

    I find that at a certain age, if you've watched a lot of sitcoms over the years, they being to lose a lot of their appeal. I watch Community, Parks & Recreation, & 30 Rock, but those usually strive to avoid cliches. If a standard sitcom is on - like Two and Half Men - I find that I can almost predict every joke before it happens. I've actually annoyed my fiancee by saying virtually word for word what the next line is going to be.


    Exactly,and sadly it seems most of the sitcoms in the past 15 or 20 years are following the same patterns over and over again. How many fat husband with hot wife sitcoms has there been in the past 10 years. Or family based sitcom where the youngest son is super smart. The daughter is shallow and the oldest kid is dumb as a post.
    For me, my favorite comedies of all time have actually debuted in the last 12 years. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs, Arrested Development and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

    I guess it depends on what you watch. I actually think comedies, or at least the ones I watch and enjoy, have actually been breaking away from the molds we'd previously seen since the 50s. I prefer the character driven shows of today, as opposed to the episode to episode plot/joke based shows of the past. It makes the characters and the jokes less interchangeable.

    And the laugh tracks in multi-camera comedies just kill me. I don't know what it is. Growing up, every comedy had that setup and I enjoyed them. Now I don't even bother with it. I'm a big fan of FX and since the Shield, I have given every show they develop a shot. And I've liked most, if not all of them. But when Anger Management debuted and I heard laughter after the first few jokes, I was done. Didn't even finish the episode.

    Those are my thoughts. Like I said, I guess it depends on what you watch. I don't think I've been watching the same shows you've been watching, so my take on it appears to be completely different.

    I have enjoyed Arrested Development and Sunny in Phillie. But can not get into Scrubs or Curb. Curb to me feels like Seinfeld lite and I hated Seinfeld. I also hate laugh tracks. A good sitcom has no need to use a laugh track cause the audience will laugh when it is needed.
  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    I love curb and also arrested development. I have to agree I prefer sitcoms without the laugh track. Like you said @Dubbat183 the audience will laugh at the funny bits and turn over if/when they don't laugh.

    I also really love the office. Haven't seen any episodes since Steve carell left but I'm sure it's high standard will have continued.

    It seems all these sort of sitcoms have a more 'real' feel. Whether that be handheld cameras, documentary style filming, lack of laugh/music track etc... And I think that's what I prefer about these type of sitcoms. They don't feel forced.
  • I enjoyed Seinfeld when it was on, if only for the genius of the character of George Costanza, one of the best 'everyman' characters I've ever seen on the small screen. Apart from that, I miss the days of Norman Lear and MTM. I think the last gasp of truly funny sitcoms were Cheers and Frasier.
  • DoctorDoomDoctorDoom Posts: 2,586
    I, too, miss Constanza.

    "It's not a lie if you believe it."
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    I enjoyed Seinfeld when it was on, if only for the genius of the character of George Costanza, one of the best 'everyman' characters I've ever seen on the small screen. Apart from that, I miss the days of Norman Lear and MTM. I think the last gasp of truly funny sitcoms were Cheers and Frasier.

    Change Frasier to Night Court and I agree with that last sentence. Just got in the second season of Night Court on DVD. Had forgotten how great that show is.

  • Right! Forgot about Night Court!
  • chriswchrisw Posts: 792

    I enjoyed Seinfeld when it was on, if only for the genius of the character of George Costanza, one of the best 'everyman' characters I've ever seen on the small screen. Apart from that, I miss the days of Norman Lear and MTM. I think the last gasp of truly funny sitcoms were Cheers and Frasier.

    I think the big difference is that back in the 70s-80s, sitcoms weren't trying to generate a laugh every ten seconds. They were telling stories that leaned toward humorous situations, not creating joke machines.

    Rapid fire jokes can work, but I think they're best developed in editing, not in front of a studio audience. Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, etc work because the fast pace comes from the editing style, not from actors standing around shouting one-liners at each other. I keep going back to Two and a Half Men, because it's one of the few studio audience sitcoms I've seen in the last year, but the main problem I had with it was that it felt like nothing but people standing around and talking more like a comedian setting up the next punchline than people having an actual conversation.
  • tazmaniaktazmaniak Posts: 733
    edited November 2012
    Stephen King's Under the Dome, written by Bryan K. Vaughan, has been given a 13-episode straight-to-series order by CBS. Originally set up at Showtime last summer, the project was released from the network after not picking up any steam and landed at sibling network, CBS.

    CBS and Steven Spielberg's Amblin TV will produce the show, with Neal Baer (ER/Law and Order: SVU) serving as showrunner. The supernatural/sci-fi thriller is a departure from CBS' usual crime procedurals. The series will air in the summer, along with Unforgettable.

    Deadline
  • luke52luke52 Posts: 1,392
    tazmaniak said:

    Stephen King's Under the Dome, written by Bryan K. Vaughan, has been given a 13-episode straight-to-series order by CBS. Originally set up at Showtime last summer, the project was released from the network after not picking up any steam and landed at sibling network, CBS.

    Deadline

    Fingers cross BKV can improve the ending! Couldn't have picked anyone better to adapt this. Should be good.
  • David_DDavid_D Posts: 3,884
    BKV is my favorite, so of course I will watch it wherever it is, but the switch from Showtime to CBS rates an "UGH".
  • John_SteedJohn_Steed Posts: 2,087
    I liked The Simpsons' take on Under the Dome - and it had the spider pig :@)
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