we need more sit coms on tv

[Squirlz]

I spoke too soon. While Outsourced was doing very well last year, since returning from the holiday hiatus, it's done very poorly.

You mean the one time it's been on since then?

 

[bicker]

Just sayin'.

It did so much worse than before...

 

[ICF]

You mean the one time it's been on since then?

my thought too! One episode aired and at a different time slot.

I liked Outsourced ok and would like to see it moved to 8:30 or put 30 Rock back there.

That new show between Community and the Office was horrible...Perfect Couples I think it was called...not sure if I can watch that one again.

If they dont ax it soon, I'll probably end up watching the 8pm DVR'd version of Community or Big Bang Theory while waiting for The Office to start.

 

[hsmamato2]

I agree with OP haven't read whole thread yet-but we watch 'The Middle-Modern Family,The Office,Community,30 Rock,Parks and recreation,..they're all funny! I agree,too much dire doctor and murder shows on tv....................

 

[hsmamato2]

sorry Bicker...we tried to like Outsourced....hated that show! all ages in our house agreed on this one, and I don't understand why those CBS shows are supposed to be funny,I think they're awful,I know...different opinions and all.... usually whatever I like,gets cancelled pretty fast!

 

[hsmamato2]

The best comedy that no one is watching is Community. I am so afraid its going to be canceled.

teends agrees with you!

 

[labdogs42]

I think there should be more family friendly sitcoms on tv. Most of the ones now are funny, but adult funny and not appropriate for little eyes or ears. I do miss the days of Cosby, Family Ties, Silver Spoons, and Full House. Now with the Disney Channel there are shows for kids and tweens, but no shows the whole family can watch together (not that my parents really loved Full House or Punky Brewster, but they watched them with me when I was a kid anyway !) Oh yeah, don't forget Diff'rent Strokes, and Mr Belvidere! Classics! Say what you want about the lowest common denominator, but sometimes funny tv is just that -- fun and funny. And that's all I'm looking for some days.

 

[hsmamato2]

More to the point, we need more comedies that are not all about sex. With a 6th grader in the house there is very little TV that we can watch because of all the sex and I am *not* a prude.

ugh-I agree! talking about the 'lowest common denominator'- every once in a while,we are watching a 'fresh' show,and something comes out of a characters mouth that makes us shut it off completely. BTW.Glee is one I stopped watching b/c I couldn't take the content, adults playing kids who were completely oversexualized for the target market of that show (i.e. 11 year old girls)
again,not too much of a prude here,but when it comes to kids,we definitely screen episodes......

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Love Big Bang Theory (just got into it in the last year), Modern Family, The Middle, Raising Hope, 30 Rock, and 2 1/2 Men.

I CAN NOT stand the Office. I'm so tired of Steve Carell, he is uncomfortable to watch IMO. I have to leave the room.

Community is OK. The premise is too far fetched, that is NOT how college is, at least not when I experienced it.

Don't really care for Parks and Rec, I watched it the first few times but didn't really think it was all that funny.

 

[bicker]

Glee is one I stopped watching b/c I couldn't take the content, adults playing kids who were completely oversexualized for the target market of that show (i.e. 11 year old girls)

The target market for Glee is adults, 18-49 years old.

 

[robinb]

Is 'Glee' too racy for its tween target audience?

http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2010/05/21/life/srv0000008322967.txt?viewmode=fullstory

{snip}
Will the show get even edgier? Executive producer Brad Falchuk says no.

"That hot tub scene, and the Madonna episode — that's as edgy as it's gonna get," promises Falchuk, who created the show along with Ryan Murphy.

Falchuk says he came into "Glee" wanting to create something that his sister-in-law in Syracuse, N.Y., could watch with her 14-year-old daughter — together — "and not feel uncool."

"But we didn't know 9-year-olds would like it so much," he acknowledges. "We didn't know the geriatric set would like it so much, either. I wish we knew how we did it."

Falchuk says the show hasn't gotten any angry calls or letters about its content. The Parents Television Council, though, recommends the show only for viewers above 16.

Falchuk says it's been tempting to get edgier, but the producers keep parents in mind.

"We've had moments in script meetings where we say, 'That's really funny, but you know what? That's more than we told people we'd give them,'" he says.

The bottom line, he says: "We want to give people something safe they can watch with their kids. Enjoy it! We have your back."

 

[bicker]

Yup, that's what happens when you let the PTC try to impose its own view of what a television show's target audience should be.

They are, of course, wrong. The network sets the target audience, and every scripted live-action drama and comedy on every major network during prime time is aimed at adults 18-49. To find shows that are deliberately aimed at children, you need to go to EI programming, or PBS, or to cable.

The FCC makes a list of EI programming available on its website:

http://reboot.fcc.gov/parents/KidVid

I was able to pull a partial list of options off that site: 3-2-1 Penguins, Adventures From The Book Of Virtues , Angel Friends, Angel's Friends, Animal Atlas, Animal Rescue, Aqua Kids, Aqua Kids Adventures, Awesome Adventures, Babar, Babar , Beta Records Tv, Boo , Busytown Mysteries, Country Mouse & City Mouse Adventures, Critter Gitters, Cubix-Robots For Everyone, Cybercutes, Did You Ever Wonder, Dog Tails, Dog Tales, Doodlebops Rockin' Road Show, Dragonfly.Tv, Eco Company, Edgemont, Green Screen Adventures, Hannah Montana, Horseland, In The Zone, Jack Hanna's Into The Wild, Jacob Two Two , Jane And The Dragon , Kid's News, Kids Cooking For Kids, Liberty's Kids, Made In Hollywood: Teen Edition, Magical Doremi, Missing, Mustard Pancakes, My Friend Rabbit , Noonbory And The Super 7, Patrulla De Sapitos, Pets Tv, Plaza Sesamo, Postman Pat , Real Life 101, Reino Animal, Sabrina: The Animated Series, Saved By The Bell, Shelldon, Sports Stars Of Tomorrow, Strawberry Shortcake, Superlibro, Swaptv, Teen Kids News, That's So Raven, The Emperor's New School, The Outdoorsman, The Real Winning Edge, The Replacements, The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody, This Week In Baseball, Toonturama Presents: La Vida Animal, Turbo Dogs, Vj-Iam.Tv, Whaddyado, Wild About Animals, Wild America, Willa's Wild Life, Wimzie's House, Winx Club, Young Icons, Zebby's Zoo, Zodiac Island, Zula Patrol.

 

[ICF]

Don't really care for Parks and Rec, I watched it the first few times but didn't really think it was all that funny.

IMO, it has gotten better as it's gone on. It's not my favorite, but it's a lot better then it was.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Is 'Glee' too racy for its tween target audience?

http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2010/05/21/life/srv0000008322967.txt?viewmode=fullstory

This struck me as funny that the article you pulled comes from a small town newspaper that is near my house, and you're in Wisconsin.

to "The (Dis)torter" (as the Reporter is called in these parts) for making it to the DIS!

 

[robinb]

This struck me as funny that the article you pulled comes from a small town newspaper that is near my house, and you're in Wisconsin.

to "The (Dis)torter" (as the Reporter is called in these parts) for making it to the DIS!

I just googled "Glee target audience" and that's one of the links that came up. I posted it because I thought the quote from the Executive Producer was interesting and indicates that the producers of the show feel the target audience may be younger than Bicker believes it to be.

 

[bicker]

I don't just "believe"... I know what the network is looking at. I get their press releases every week.

There is a big difference between one executive producer feeling comfortable watching certain scenes with her 14-year-old daughter (which she implied she is), and actually targeting a 14-year-old audience (which she is not). The target audience is most assuredly adults 18-49.

 

[Robinrs]

My son is a BIG sitcom fiend, has full series copies of all the big shows. I, personally, don't really care for them. The only one on TV nowadays I can even stomach is Hot in Cleveland and it's second season opener was an abysmal writing failure. I have some hope for Retired at 35... hopefully it gets better, I really like George Segal.

Two and a Half Men was good till this season. Looks like they paid Charlie's suppliers and women all the money they should be spending on good writing. Chuck Lorre should be ashamed.

I cannot STAND any of the NBC Thursday shows, and I tried. I had to view them for my job and I was appalled. I cannot get into their form of "comedy", I guess it's someone else's taste. Community starred lots of people I liked in other things but don't like in this. Parks and Rec is horrible, and I LOVE Amy Poehler. Outsourced's whole premise gives me the creeps.

I cannot get thru one episode of Mike and Molly without grimacing.

$#! My Dad Says had promise... they just need to get rid of Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan.. they are BAD.

Did like Modern Family but will have to keep up online or in a series dvd set. Never watched Glee, musicals make me sick and YES, I have a degree in Theatre!

I think comedies will be a big part of the network scheduling once they prove themselves profitable and worth it. The days of Frasier,Seinfeld and Friends are over.

 

[purplegirl247]

Bicker, can you clear up the difference between a sitcom and a character-driven comedy? I thought maybe it was that the sitcom "world" remains largely unchanged from week to week (a la Simpsons) but that character-driven somehow shows story progression (a la HIMYM). But even the storylines of Friends and Seinfeld had arcs from show to show, and those are definitely sitcoms, so I guess that's not true...

 

[bicker]

Bicker, can you clear up the difference between a sitcom and a character-driven comedy?

ATAS doesn't draw a distinction, so it is a matter of the context of the discussion. The distinctions vary, but from what I've seen, when people refer to a sitcom they're talking about a show focused just on presenting humorous circumstances, within a specific context (the "situation"), where the characters serve the humor, even if it means putting continuity and character development into the back seat. A character-driven comedy, by contrast, will sacrifice humor, at times, just to serve character development.

I thought maybe it was that the sitcom "world" remains largely unchanged from week to week (a la Simpsons) but that character-driven somehow shows story progression (a la HIMYM).

The Simpsons is actually a great example of a sitcom, because they often totally change the world to fit the specific humor they're trying to project. So "world remaining unchanged" is not the metric I see used; rather it is a matter of "Is there character-development integrity? Yes/No"

But even the storylines of Friends and Seinfeld had arcs from show to show, and those are definitely sitcoms, so I guess that's not true...

Indeed, but Friends and Seinfeld are a bit different and demonstrate something else: It's not either/or. It's a spectrum. The Simpsons is the ultimate sitcom: 100% sitcom; practically 0% character development. Seinfeld isn't that different from The Simpsons. Friends, however, did have very significant character development over time. So it wasn't 100% sitcom. Pick a number... 70% sitcom? 30% sitcom? Somewhere in there.

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

Not sure why Outsourced would give anyone the creeps. It's kind of a riot "fish out of water story" (spin off of a movie by the same name, which is actually a very sweet story about Todd's learning to love another culture) about two cultures clashing and the hilarity that ensures. If anyone reads anything more than that into it, they need to step back and take a deep breath and say "it's only a show".

I suppose there is an underlying story line that outsourcing jobs to India is probably not the best idea, given the cultural differences, but the BIG part of the story is that Todd is in India, trying to cope with a culture he's not familiar with while they try to figure him out. It's a story about cultural differences and finding common ground with people in another country. I suppose one could argue that there is some racism in it, but considering that most of the actors are Indian, I think most people realize it's not meant to be taken seriously. It's a bit twisted, like Sunny in Philly, or Arrested Development and pushes the envelope a little bit.

I personally am a big fan of Bollywood movies and the last episode where Gupta wants to be a Bollywood star is really funny. That scene where he just randomly breaks out into song with the costume and dancers is SO what those movies are like.