Sitcoms are tricky shows to invest in. They need a little time and a few episodes to grow into the shows they’re meant to be — for 30 Rock to find its manic energy or Community to really let itself be weird. On rare occasions, a comedy’s auspices are clear and realized enough that the tone and thrust of its run makes itself clear from the get go: Modern Family — the overtly affluent, opaquely progressive, and broadly slapstick ensemble that debuted in 2009 — is ABC’s proudest, most lucrative example.
The network sitcoms that survived the initial ratings bloodbath and its subsequent wave of early cancellations, specifically [...]
Hot on the heels of today's news that NBC finished first with viewers under 50 for premiere week for the first time in nine years, the execs at the Peacock Network have gone ahead and ordered up full seasons of two of their most popular comedies, the Matthew Perry grieve-fest Go On and the controversial-for-Utah adoption sitcom The New Normal (NBC's freshman drama Revolution also got renewed, but the dramatic arts don't concern us here). Both comedies benefited from having the wildly-popular singing competition The Voice as a lead-in, an advantage that the rest of the networks' sitcoms haven't had (and have been suffering for), but it's good to see that [...]
NBC has started fall TV slightly early, so for at least one week they can pretend to be the kings of television once again. Their plan worked last night. Did you watch Go On and The New Normal last night? Both had moments that were good, solid, and rough. Ratings wise, Go On did quite well for itself. (That's right, an NBC comedy doing well.) It was watched by a little over 9.5 million people, with a 3.4 rating 18-49. This was partly the result of having The Voice as its lead in, but, to its credit, Go On was able to hold a large majority of the [...]
Utah, bastion of Mormonism and tolerance, is home to KSL, the single NBC affiliate refusing to air upcoming comedy The New Normal. The show centers on a gay couple conceiving via a surrogate, and the wackiness that naturally surrounds such endeavors. And clearly, that will not stand. Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, justified the exclusion by saying that "For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time." Of course, all the rape-and-murder-filled Law and Order franchise is fine. Naturally, this didn't sit well with GLAD, who released a statement that said in part: “We invite Jeff Simpson [...]
The first episode of a comedic television series is a good indicator for what the show can become. They are also almost always not particularly funny, needing to spend the majority of their time giving the viewer a tour of their expansive house that isn't completely constructed yet. On the other hand, we were bombarded with news from the upfronts about the new shows that are going to change the way we live and breathe, so it's only fair that we unfairly judge them based on three minutes of footage.
There are eight comedies premiering this fall on the four major networks. They are listed in order of how [...]
