Sitcoms

[Guest cfif]

Is it just me, or since Everybody Loves Raymond got canceled, all the recent sitcoms at revolve around single people and sex? Two and a Half Men used to be watchable, but now every single plotline revolves around sex! I'm not saying plotlines about sex are bad, but it seems that all the sitcoms made in this decade revolve around sex! Seriously, there's funnier plotlines than sex. What happened to sitcoms like the aforementioned Raymond, Still Standing, or even earlier ones like M*A*S*H and The Cosby Show (which were both hilarious BTW) which didn't have to use sex to get cheap laughs? It's just OLD.

 

I'd like to hear others' points of view on this.

 

/rant

[Sam Horn 78]

Basing myself off of your time frame of "since Everybody Loves Raymond got canceled"...

 

First, I thought King of Queens was all right, and that show certainly didn't revolve around sex.

 

Second, it kind of tells me (at least) something when I can't even tell you another sitcom that I watch.

 

Seriously.

[Blargh 2]

I never really got into King of Queens. 'Til Death is pretty funny, and Carpoolers sounds good.

 

NBC has tasteful comedies. They do have sex-based storylines at times, but it takes a back-seat to other plots mostly. Scrubs is the best sitcom on television.

[Sam Horn 78]

NBC has tasteful comedies. They do have sex-based storylines at times, but it takes a back-seat to other plots mostly. Scrubs is the best sitcom on television.

 

I'll give you tasteful, but for the most part they're horridly dumb -- 30 Rock is "meh" and My Name is Earl hurts to watch.

 

I *did* forget the Office, though. There's a good one without the sex.

 

And Scrubs, I forgot Scrubs. BUT there usually always a sex subplot in each episode, so for the sake of this discussion we can't really count it.

[Blargh 2]

I like 30 Rock. The final episode with the Cleveland montage was pure comedy gold.

[WAVY 10 Fan 232]

Is it just me, or since Everybody Loves Raymond got canceled, all the recent sitcoms at revolve around single people and sex? Two and a Half Men used to be watchable, but now every single plotline revolves around sex! I'm not saying plotlines about sex are bad, but it seems that all the sitcoms made in this decade revolve around sex! Seriously, there's funnier plotlines than sex. What happened to sitcoms like the aforementioned Raymond, Still Standing, or even earlier ones like M*A*S*H and The Cosby Show (which were both hilarious BTW) which didn't have to use sex to get cheap laughs? It's just OLD.

 

I'd like to hear others' points of view on this.

 

/rant

 

Accidentally had my post wind up in cfif's

 

Or (since I grew up during the 90s) the TGIF block. Granted, none of the shows were exactly the epitome of great writing, but they (for the most part) didn't have to stoop to sleaze to get the laughs.

 

As for Two and a Half Men, I never watched it...or much else on the networks these days, but I remember a big controversy last year over Charlie Sheen's character singing a song with heavy sexual references to the tune of "Joy to the World".

[tvpirate05 1]

NBC has tasteful comedies. They do have sex-based storylines at times, but it takes a back-seat to other plots mostly. Scrubs is the best sitcom on television.

 

I'll give you tasteful, but for the most part they're horridly dumb -- 30 Rock is "meh" and My Name is Earl hurts to watch.

30 Rock took time for me to pick up on, but I will say it is very well-written. I'm glad NBC gave it a chance. Dunno if you saw the first season, but My Name is Earl's second season fell off in quality. NBC's other two Thursday night sitcoms are good.

 

However, I do miss the days when sitcoms were quality, well-written shows, like stuff from the mid-80s. Four good shows on one network does not equal quality. A lot of the shows are lazily-written, no plots, no direction, no revision. It's like someone cranked out a script in 20 minutes, and was done. Didn't look it over or anything.