Back on the laugh track
We've been talking about "Nobody's Watching," the YouTube sensation from three sitcom veterans, for a while here on TV Barn (unlike some places I know...). And it's gotten me thinking. Derrick and Will have a point about most present-day sitcoms: "They suuuuuuck!" But what about the future of TV comedy? It's gotta come back sometime ... right?
Read on. I've found four shows that suggest it was just a matter of time before TV comedy regained its equilibrium. They may not be your cup of tea, but they are indicators of where the genre is going -- toward more self-knowingness and irony than you thought you could handle, more experimentation with the old sitcom format, and oh yeah: lots of swearing.
IS TV BACK ON THE LAUGH TRACK?
Four new shows, including one only on the Web, suggest sitcoms are rebounding.
The producers of “Nobody’s Watching” swear they had nothing to do with it. But last month somebody dusted off their year-old failed TV pilot and uploaded it to YouTube, the wildly successful video-sharing Web site.
Within days 100,000 people had watched — thus putting the lie to the show’s title.
“Nobody’s Watching” was written by three sitcom veterans, including the creator of “Scrubs.” It’s an admirable attempt to solve one of television’s most perplexing puzzles: how to make situation comedy funny again.
The comments posted to the “Nobody’s Watching” Web page by YouTube’s youthful users are overwhelmingly positive, even effusive.
“I never watch sitcoms,” read a typical comment, “and I’d watch this.” Another wrote, “Compared to what’s on TV right now, this show’s brilliant.”
A show within a show, “Nobody’s Watching” is more complicated to explain than it is to watch. The pilot is breezy, original and funny. And thanks to YouTube, the producers are fielding offers to re-pitch the show to a network.
“We always thought it was better than the (network) focus groups said it was,” said Garrett Donovan, a “Family Guy” writer who collaborated on the pilot. “Now that it’s playing out that way, it’s very rewarding.”
So it appears the WB network missed the boat when it passed on “Nobody’s Watching” (instead it aired a conventional sitcom, “Twins,” which bombed).
But the more profound lesson is this: Viewers, especially younger viewers who have grown up on a harsh diet of crime dramas, are ready to laugh again. Indeed, Goldman suspects that one of his fresh-out-of-college assistants on “Nobody’s Watching” was the one who uploaded the pilot to YouTube.
Even the modest amount of buzz created by “Nobody’s Watching” is a rarity among sitcoms today. The best comedies on TV are airing in repeats. It wasn’t always so. In 1992, 13 of the 20 top-rated shows in prime time were sitcoms, including “Cheers,” “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement.” (And “Seinfeld” was No. 25 that season.) By 1999 the number was down to seven out of 20. For the 2005-06 season just ended, a single comedy — “Two and a Half Men” — was listed in the top 20.
I can’t say for sure that comedy will ever make a comeback in prime time. But I do see glimmers of hope. “Nobody’s Watching” is one of a handful of shows I’ve seen in recent weeks that make me believe the form is turning the corner.
What they all have in common is a willingness to experiment with the dusty sitcom format imitated by every TV comedy from our childhoods. “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” was originally shot by improv actors in their living rooms for $200. “Lucky Louie” is “The Honeymooners” with curse words, while “Let’s Rob…” marries goofball comedy to the cliffhanger approach of shows like “24.”
None of these new-generation comedies is perfect, but all of them have found a way to my funny bone that traditional sitcoms just don’t anymore. And anyway, it’s time TV learned to lighten up again.
Airing: 24/7 on YouTube.com. (Type Nobody’s Watching in the search box; look for all three parts.)
What it is: Two pals from Ohio are flown to L.A. to make the next great sitcom, only to find themselves in a reality show as a studio audience watches their every move.
What’s different: Though very meta, the concept works because the show is fast-paced and the show’s writers (two of whom write for “Family Guy”) have a lot of fun with haggard sitcom conventions. On this show, “Yes, Dear” is a verb for what you do in the loo, and Alan Thicke drops by to lampoon his “Growing Pains” character.
But … People are used to cartoons that make fun of pop culture. Are they ready for a live-action comedy that does the same thing? Some YouTubers complained that “Nobody’s Watching” was a little too “Growing Pains”-ish for their tastes. The producers say the feedback will help them make the show better … if it’s picked up.
‘Let’s Rob … ’Airing: This fall on ABC (8 p.m. Tuesdays)
What it is: Donal Logue plays a schlub who decides he’s going to get rich by robbing Mick Jagger’s New York apartment. He recruits a gang of fellow losers to carry out his plan. “Ocean’s Eleven,” meet “My Name Is Earl.”
What’s different: It’s a comedy serial, playing out over a whole season as Logue’s rogues (they even have an intern) try to bumble their way into the rock icon’s million-dollar pad. The pilot was a hoot from start to finish.
But …
Show creators Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman also were responsible for NBC’s “Ed,” which like “Let’s Rob…” was sometimes a little too cute for its own good.
‘Lucky Louie’Airing: 9:30 p.m. Sundays on HBO this summer
What it is: Comedian Louis C.K. plays a working-class dad in a scatological sitcom that makes “Roseanne” look like “Leave It to Beaver.”
What’s different: At first glance, “Lucky Louie” appears to be a traditional four-camera situation comedy, shot on video in an average working-class apartment. But soon you’re reminded that this is HBO: Louis C.K.’s mouth is as dirty here as on his standup comedy specials and just as funny. Early episodes explore orgasms, racism and infidelity.
But …
It’s unnerving to watch what looks like an ordinary sitcom and suddenly F-bombs start dropping. “People are totally wedded to a signal in their head that says: There shouldn’t be swearing here,” admits the show’s executive producer Mike Royce. Viewers may decide raunchy humor belongs on the stage.
‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’Airing: 9 p.m. Thursdays on FX this summer
What it is: Four friends (two of them siblings) manage the least successful pub in Philly while making each other’s lives miserable in this over-the-top adult sitcom. This season Danny DeVito joins the cast as the sibs’ malevolent and freshly divorced dad.
What’s different: Though structured like a sitcom, it cleverly explores one topic a week in a tightly woven set of storylines that build to a laugh-out-loud ending. Rated TV-MA, it has more swearing than a typical comedy, though nowhere near as much as “Lucky Louie” (and unlike “Louie,” it’s a modern-looking, single-camera comedy).
But …
Nobody on this show is remotely likable, which is usually toxic for comedies.
