Sitcoms

[Spark Of Spirit]

Well, not nobody. The non-traditional sitcoms like Community or Modern Family are doing it right. It's just that no good American writer besides the HIMYM staff want to try their hand at old-style sitcoms.

That's pretty much my issue. The old style sitcom is just a valid genre as any other, and any writer worth his salt can make something good in its format.

That it's been relegated to being made by people who clearly have no respect for the format, the audience, or the history behind it is frustrating.

I may have issues with HIMYM, but I would rather watch that than pretty much anything else CBS or NBC runs these days.

[Foggle]

When pressed further on whether it's appropriate for him to be writing those jokes, King argued, "I'm gay! I'm putting in gay stereotypes every week! I don't find it offensive, any of this. I find it comic to take everybody down, which is what we are doing."

    [Critic Dan] Fienberg leaped in at this point and asked whether being a member of one oppressed minority gave him license to make fun of every other oppressed minority.

    "Being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people," King said.

    -

    Things took a particularly uncomfortable turn when the reporter who had initially asked about Tassler's comments again tried to get King to clarify his remarks, reading the exact quote from the transcript of Tassler's executive session.

    King asked the reporter for his name. The reporter gave it.

    "So you're Irish?" King asked.

    "Yes," the reporter replied.

    "So we've identified your sexual problem," King said."

This is easily the worst thing I've read in quite awhile. Fuck this guy and fuck his shitty idea of what constitutes "comedy."

[Dr. Insomniac]

Guy sounds like a fucking Family Guy writer.

[Avaitor]

That's too much of an insult towards Family Guy.

Ick.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Modern 'edgy' humor in action.

No taste whatsoever.

[Avaitor]

I may have issues with HIMYM, but I would rather watch that than pretty much anything else CBS or NBC runs these days.

I've been meaning to ask, what problems do you have with the show exactly? You mention them but never really seem to point them out.

[Commode]

Barring the local news(and it's only one channel, the NBC station), I don't watch anything on the major networks anymore, so I don't know what they air or how mediocre it is.

[Kiddington]

When pressed further on whether it's appropriate for him to be writing those jokes, King argued, "I'm gay! I'm putting in gay stereotypes every week! I don't find it offensive, any of this. I find it comic to take everybody down, which is what we are doing."

    [Critic Dan] Fienberg leaped in at this point and asked whether being a member of one oppressed minority gave him license to make fun of every other oppressed minority.

    "Being a comedy writer gives you permission to be an outsider and poke fun at what people think about other people," King said.

    -

    Things took a particularly uncomfortable turn when the reporter who had initially asked about Tassler's comments again tried to get King to clarify his remarks, reading the exact quote from the transcript of Tassler's executive session.

    King asked the reporter for his name. The reporter gave it.

    "So you're Irish?" King asked.

    "Yes," the reporter replied.

    "So we've identified your sexual problem," King said."

This is easily the worst thing I've read in quite awhile. Fuck this guy and fuck his shitty idea of what constitutes "comedy."

Wow, that last line... what a douche.

Who is this guy anyway? Does he have an actual resume pre-Two Broke Girls?

Edit: it appears as though he does. His credits before this include Sex and the City, Will and Grace, and Cybill.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Don't you see, Kidd? He's a comedian! That means everything he writes is funny!

I may have issues with HIMYM, but I would rather watch that than pretty much anything else CBS or NBC runs these days.

I've been meaning to ask, what problems do you have with the show exactly? You mention them but never really seem to point them out.

Mostly character related. Marshall gets on my nerves (most of Siegal's wishy-washy characters do with me, though), and Ted just... I dunno what it is, but I just don't really like him all that much.

The plots and jokes are fine enough, but sometimes I just sit down and can't get into it because certain characters just don't click for me.

[Foggle]

Modern 'edgy' humor in action.

No taste whatsoever.

I could tolerate stuff like that if they actually knew how to make such humor funny. Some of the jokes in In Bruges are pretty damn tasteless, and yet they end up being hilarious because they have a place in the script and fit with the characterization perfectly. Setup, proper characterization, timing, and delivery are all key elements of humor, but modern comedies are lucky to get even one of those things right.

[Avaitor]

Ted's kind of an asshole, yeah. He was a pretentious hipster student that's still transitioning beyond that phase, but he still can be obnoxious. I think one of the biggest parts of the show is how we him outgrow his old instincts and grow up to become the man that narrates, since he also still acts like a kid. Why he grows into Bob Sagat is beyond me though.

But Marshall? He's cuddly, bitch. Deal with it!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Marshall is fine if I watch like one episode at a time, but he gets a bit much if I try to watch more than that. Ted is fine when he's the straight-man, but when he is the one making jokes he grates.

Modern 'edgy' humor in action.

No taste whatsoever.

I could tolerate stuff like that if they actually knew how to make such humor funny. Some of the jokes in In Bruges are pretty damn tasteless, and yet they end up being hilarious because they have a place in the script and fit with the characterization perfectly. Setup, proper characterization, timing, and delivery are all key elements of humor, but modern comedies are lucky to get even one of those things right.

Yeah, with me tasteless humor comes in two forms. One is when it generally comes out of nowhere as a throwaway joke in an unexpected situation. The other is when it's from a character how is trying to be funny by being tasteless and just plain fails at it which is where that humor mostly used to come from.

When it's sprayed all over a script it not only comes off as completely fake (Which Kevin Smith sort of made fun of in Chasing Amy with Jay "Who talks like that?") but it wears thin very fast since there's no depth or heart to it. Like imagine if every character in Clerks was like Randal or Jay. That's when it just doesn't work.

[Foggle]

When it's sprayed all over a script it not only comes off as completely fake (Which Kevin Smith sort of made fun of in Chasing Amy with Jay "Who talks like that?") but it wears thin very fast since there's no depth or heart to it. Like imagine if every character in Clerks was like Randal or Jay. That's when it just doesn't work.

Agreed completely. When used sparingly and sensibly, offensive jokes can be very funny. But when all of the humor in your production is tasteless, your writing is fucking terrible.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sitcoms are basically supposed to be stage plays performed in front of an audience, anyway. That's how they were conceived. So like any play, good characters and a story that involves their interactions is key. It's how they lasted for over 50 years, with high concepts, low concepts, family-oriented, edgy adult oriented, kid-coms, and eventually animated. There's a lot that can be done in such a framework, as testament to its longevity.

That's why I enjoy them. They're simple and straightforward, but have tons of potential for originality. Obviously not everything can be done in this style which is why the multi-camera format was also invented, but I don't think one renders the other obsolete. and I think traditional ones should at least be made by people who, you know, like the genre.

Not comedians who are so vain they think everything they say is funny. Those people already ruined stand-up comedy, and its a shame to see them infecting sitcoms.

[Foggle]

Going to be honest, my favorite sitcom is The Addams Family. Don't give a damn what anyone says, that show is hilarious. Just wish it didn't have a laugh-track... I hate that crap.