Sitcoms

Spark Of Spirit · January 23, 2015, 01:03:32 PM

My grandmother's show was The Golden Girls. It took me a long time before I could enjoy it for what it is, but now I really like it.

Avaitor · January 23, 2015, 04:46:34 PM

Yeah, I've done the same thing to That 70's Show. I should probably get back to it at some point, but I'll probably have to skip over all of Fez's scenes.

Avaitor · March 02, 2015, 05:08:23 PM

With Parks over, I think I'll try to rank the last generation of NBC comedies.

Scrubs
Community
Parks and Recreation
30 Rock
The Office

Most people try to say that it started with The Office, but fuck you, it started with Scrubs.

Spark Of Spirit · March 20, 2015, 08:24:49 PM

John Lithgow was so good on 3rd Rock. The show was so over the top ridiculous, yet the four main characters always make it work.

Avaitor · May 15, 2015, 09:25:23 AM

Quote from: Avaitor on March 02, 2015, 05:08:23 PM
With Parks over, I think I'll try to rank the last generation of NBC comedies.

Scrubs
Community
Parks and Recreation
30 Rock
The Office

Most people try to say that it started with The Office, but fuck you, it started with Scrubs.

To expand-

Scrubs definitely has its problems (transphobia. Is. Not. Funny.), but I still admire the show's ability to combine comedy and drama tastefully. Lesser series couldn't deal with death shortly before or after seeing one of the main characters have their hand stuck in a vending machine, and not ruin the atmosphere, but Scrubs gets it. JD does get annoying, but whatever, Dr. Cox and Jordan are enough to balance that out.

Community has definitely peaked, even to the point that I'd say season 3 wasn't perfect. Then again, I don't think they'll ever find the right thing to do with Chang, and his arc at the end of the season was just tedious. But those first 3 seasons have some fantastic playing with tropes, while the show still reaches greatness today, despite too much of the cast being gone. I do think the show should end with season 6, but I eagerly anticipate the movie.

Here's a switch- I'm moving 30 Rock up a space. The show isn't always racially sensitive, which hurts it in the long run, but the cast is insanely talented when Fey's entitlement doesn't get in the way. It also easily has the best last season of any of these shows, which had a great way to make up for a couple of seasons of mediocrity.

Parks and Rec... honestly, I've lost interest in, because the show is just too damn nice for me. I just can't deal with a lack of edge in my comedy anymore, which is also why I dropped Bob's Burgers. It doesn't help that the finale was just tedious wish fulfillment to my eyes. But I do still really like Ron, April, and Ben when he isn't attached to Leslie.

And for the life of me, I just can't get into The Office. None of the characters do anything for me, and the jokes are just too familiar to me now. I also find Jim and Pam to be the most boring couple ever, but good on ya to those who like the show.

Kiddington · May 15, 2015, 02:54:48 PM

The Office is definitely not for everyone. It has a tendency to be way too deadpan for its own good, Michael is abhorrently unlikable at times (though as we seen from Carell's two post-departure seasons, pretty much necessary to steer the ship), and at this point I'd argue that, really, Seasons 2 and 3 were the only truly "great" seasons, with the cracks already beginning to show by the 4th.

It's still a good show though, at least the early stuff anyway. I liked it a lot more 5 years ago than I do now, but it definitely hasn't aged as poorly to me as some things. I still think Jim and Pam have a cute dynamic early-on, and it's best strength still comes from some of the secondary cast that aren't the spotlight players, but can come in at any moments notice and lighten things up (like Creed and Stanley). It's far from perfect, and frankly to me it went off the rails a lot faster than people care to take notice (Season 4 was fine but was very clearly starting to lose steam, and by the time Season 5 rolled around the classic-to-clunker ratio was heavily skewed towards clunker), but I'd still rather watch this over 30 Rock or Scrubs.

Speaking of Scrubs.....now there's a show I could never get into. Admittedly it's been years though, and I've actually flirted with the idea of giving it another shot, just to see if maybe if it works for me a bit more now.

Daikun · August 14, 2015, 02:31:21 PM

Fresh Prince is getting rebooted.

Spark Of Spirit · August 14, 2015, 03:03:47 PM

Only interested if Carlton is the new Uncle Phil character.

Avaitor · August 14, 2015, 03:32:37 PM

A lot of people want Jayden to be Will, but I think that he would make more sense as Carlton.

But yeah, this and Fuller House shows the impact that Girl Meets World has left. For better or for worse.

Spark Of Spirit · August 14, 2015, 04:19:45 PM

It really depends if they're any good. I would naturally prefer original family sitcoms, but they've been so awful since Raymond ended that I'm willing to settle with ideas like this as long as it's as funny as the original is. So far GMW proved it can be done, so I'd hope for the same here.

But Fuller House was just a brilliant idea from an exec standpoint. Full House has not been off the air in near 30 years. Making a sequel show is easy money, so I can't blame them for that.

Kiddington · September 15, 2015, 10:52:04 PM

Rewatching Parks and Rec is an interesting experience. This is probably the first time I've seen any of Season 1 in about 5 years, and while I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be, some of it (especially Leslie and Andy, and their early personality traits) is extremely jarring in comparison to how it all ultimately turned out. This is even more out in left field than the first season of The Office.

Also, I still think it's kinda weird how quickly Mark Brendanawicz was totally and forever erased from the series universe after Season 2, never again being even mentioned in a passing joke or reference. I know the actor didn't have any interest in coming back (and he was a boring character anyway), but for someone that did have a pretty central role in the series early groundwork, that's still a bit unusual to me.

gunswordfist · September 16, 2015, 12:50:59 AM

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on August 14, 2015, 03:03:47 PM
Only interested if Carlton is the new Uncle Phil character.

I'm so fuckign late, but yeah.

Daikun · October 10, 2023, 07:08:02 PM

https://twitter.com/Zellyanks/status/1711499681656697080

Avaitor · October 12, 2023, 02:19:26 PM

Is this going to be another Comedians Getting Coffee/Superbowl skit or something more substantive?

Also, I guess the new Frasier has started, and it's not sounding very good. It's a weird idea to send him back to Boston and all but ignore his history there, and even weirder to do the show without Niles, most people's favorite character. I doubt I'll get to it.

Dr. Insomniac · October 12, 2023, 07:19:04 PM

Watching the Frasier premiere right now, and it feels like seeing a revival of a TV show where most of the cast died and were replaced with last-minute doppelgangers. There's a new addition clearly meant to evoke Niles, yet he's an abysmal simulacrum and reminds me more of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.

At least it beats Money Plane.

Oh yeah, found out the kid who played Frasier's son in the old show is still acting, so why was he recast?

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Sitcoms