What Has Happened To The Sitcom?

First off...I'd like to also say that our 2 month hiatus was inexcusable and unnecessary, but I will do my best to keep this blog going strong and better than ever. So with that Let's start this blog up again for the second time!

i'm 30 years old...I was born in 1976 that means I was I was around during what I consider the golden age of the sitcom...let's say between the mid 80's and the mid 90's...Back in those days you could count on a steady diet of great 30 minute blocks of comedy, back to back pretty much every night of the week. Let's look at a typical weekly schedule on the 4 networks...every night there were at least two great sitcoms on. For example in 1988/1989 here were the Sitcoms on every night of the week:

Sunday Nights: Family Ties, Married With Children, My Two Dads

Monday Nights: Alf, Valerie's Family, Kate And Allie, Newhart, Designing Women (I'm not saying I liked them all mind you, but hey it's a sitcom)

Tuesday Nights: Who's The Boss, Growing Pains (the Wonder Years was added mid season)

Wednesday Night: Perfect Strangers, Head Of The Class

Thursday Night: Sledge Hammer, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, Night Court

Friday Night: Full House, Max Headroom

Saturday Night: My Sister Sam, Everything's Relative, Amen, 227, Golden Girls, Facts Of Life.

That's about 30 Sitcoms over the course of the week, and of those I'd say I watched about 15 of them pretty regularly...Let's compare that to 2006/2007.

Sunday Night: The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, War at Home (only one of which is live action!)

MOnday Night: The Class, How I Met Your Mother, New Adventures of the Old Christine, Two And A Half Men

Tuesday Night: None

Wednesday Night: 30 Rock originally aired on Wednesday, but I'll include that on Thursday cause that's where it ended up...so NONE.

Thursday Night: My Name Is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, The Afforementioned 30 Rock. Til Death apparently is on Fox, but I don't think anyone has ever watched this.

Friday Night: None

Saturday Night: None.

So basically 4 nights a week, there isn't a single Sitcom on the air. One night a week there is exactly one sitcom that uses actual actors...all the others are animated. So we'll say basically 4.5 nights a week, there isn't a single sitcom on the air. I figure that makes for 9 maybe 10 sitcoms per week...compared to 3o. Where have they all gone? Why are they not popular anymore.

I realize that there is so much to do these days, with cable, internet, dvd, etc...but back in the day...Thursday night was an event, everyone watched The Cosby Show and Cheers...Everyone! People still make an effort to watch hour long reality shows, or dramas, but not 30 minute comedies? Are they too expensive to make? Are struggling comedians asking for too much money these days?

Sometimes I don't want to invest 1 hour into a show, I want to laugh, and be done with something quick, which is why I love How I Met Your Mother, and the Thursday NBC lineup. but apparently no one else does because the only comedies even in the top 20 of the ratings per week are Two and A Half Men (unwatchable), and King Of Queens (not even on anymore!). I find this so hard to believe, EVERYONE talks about the office. I know for a fact that I will talk to people tomorrow about Pam and Jim going out to dinner! I'm going to talk about The Temp breaking up with Kelly, I'm going to talk about Shrute Bucks, and people are going to know what I'm talking about, yet it's not even in the top 20 of the ratings!

It just bothers me that good quality programming isn't getting made, because it's easier to win in the ratings with a 4th Law and Order, or a different quiz show hosted by a has been actor, or a show where people Sing or Dance and get judged. I may have failed in my attempt to make PBR the number one beer in America for the first time since 1893...but I won't fail in my attempt to bring back the Sitcom to the American Airwaves...