Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The problem with sitcoms today

This is topic The problem with sitcoms today in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 03-31-2008, 10:12 AM:

/rant on
I was watching a few episodes of "The Jeffersons" and "The Andy Griffith Show" on TVLand last night. I realized that even though they were half hour sitcoms that they had really good stories that actually dealt with a real life issue, and that the humor had something to do with the story not just thrown in as an after thought.

It seems like sitcoms today have no real story. Maybe they will have a story where the husband does something dumb, then tries for 22 minutes to hide it from the wife. For good measure they will throw in a couple fart jokes or something. Lame. The Jeffersons dealt with a father feeling that his son is ashamed of him because he did not graduate high school or go to college and his attempt to try to earn his high school diploma to impress his son, we find out that his son is already proud of him for being able to do what hes done with out a degree. The second episode dealt with forced retirement. Andy Griffith dealt with how some people are happier being at each others throats and arguing all the time, that some people express thier feelings for others differently and that you can't change people. I just think you don't see anything of substance in sitcoms anymore. I call it the "Seinfeld" effect. Speaking of "Seinfeld" How can they say it is a show about "nothing" when every episode is clearly about something? Sorry for the rant I am just dissapointed with whats happening to entertainment.
/rant off

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 03-31-2008, 10:40 AM:

Well, Sean, I do agree with you. To me, Sitcom's today plainly Suck. I also liked Sanford & Son. The Andy Griffith Show was great to watch. Sheez, TV Entertainment is not as good as it used to be. Which is why I rarely, if ever, watch TV, except for DVDs.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 03-31-2008, 11:26 AM:

My biggest complaint is all the commercials on TV LAND. Its insane! The older shows are hacked to death. Have you tried watching The Beverly Hillbillies on TV land? Three minute show segments? They sure dont flow like they did when new.

I want a channel, considering we are PAYING for the service, that runs shows UNCUT and UNEDITED, like we did it in the independent TV business back in the old days of the 1970's!!!

These new shows generally stink. I watch the New Adventures of Old Christine on CBS occasionally. It was much funnier last season. This season, it seems to be awfully "fill-in-the-blank."

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 03-31-2008, 11:49 AM:

I do agree that the commercials are waaaaaaaayyyyyy to insane on TV Land. It's so damned ridiculous & annoying. [Mad]

That's another reason why I rarely watch TV is because of those commercials.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-31-2008, 05:46 PM:

I do not understand why anyone would ever pay for TV. Even if I lived out in the sticks with pygmies and couldn't get a signal, I still wouldn't pay for satellite or cable.

But hey, you're payin' so why do they have a reason to change? You are promoting what they are doing with your wallet.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 03-31-2008, 06:56 PM:

To quote George Costanza on sitcoms: "Every time you turn on the tv, it's 4 morons sitting on the couch, whining about the dates" [Smile]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-31-2008, 07:15 PM:

Without cable I'd have no reliable TV reception at all, analog or digital. That's not gonna happen.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 03-31-2008, 08:18 PM:

I don't recall who the made the following quote, famous older actor, but it fits.
"Used to, you watched television to see someone more intelligent than you. Now you watch to see someone dumber than you."

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 03-31-2008, 08:44 PM:

I've never liked laugh-tracks either. Even when there's a real live audience, it still sounds forced and you can tell someone's TELLING them when to laugh. Animated shows that had laugh-tracks used to confuse the hell out of me- were the cartoons really REAL, up on a stage in front of people??

I remember in early 1984 they had a TV show based on the movie "The Four Seasons". I thought it was pretty good, big reason being it had no laugh track. The show got put on hiatus a few weeks and when it came back- it had a laugh track. I turned it off right away.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-31-2008, 08:56 PM:

quote: David Stambaugh
Without cable I'd have no reliable TV reception at all, analog or digital. That's not gonna happen.

So you're saying that you NEED TV, and by god you'll pay to get it?

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 03-31-2008, 09:57 PM:

Note to self: Next time I'm bored, convert Jesse's forum photo to shockwave with a laugh track. [evil]

For the rare few current shows that I do follow, I usually download to watch; otherwise, I get my TV from Netflix.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 04-01-2008, 10:48 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
So you're saying that you NEED TV, and by god you'll pay to get it?

Heh heh. I was going to say, well, no I don't NEED TV any more than I NEED a new car, nice house, cell phone, broadband, dual monitors on my PC, memory foam bed, George Foreman grill, Sennheiser headphones, or a Seiko watch (ok, scratch the Seiko; Seikos aren't what they used to be).

Oh WTF. Yes, I NEED TV and by god I'll PAY to get it. There, I've said it.

There are enough good shows on TV that I'm willing to pay for cable. Actually there are far more good shows on than I can keep up with. And I don't have any premium channels, so I've never seen The Sopranos, or Weeds, or that western I can't remember the name of.

Good sitcoms are a rare breed. The Office is good. I can't think of another one right now. Do animated shows count? If they do, then King of the Hill is a good sitcom.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 04-01-2008, 11:20 AM:

If Turner Classic Movies was to leave my satellite system, I'd drop the whole she-bang in a heartbeat. Commercial TV is at an alltime new low.

Posted by Robert W. Jones (Member # 4228) on 04-01-2008, 12:25 PM:

I think all sitcoms today need to dump the laugh tracks. Then you could really tell how hard they suck.
"Mom, I'm late this month!"
"Don't worry honey, the Turkey is in the oven. We eat at five."
"Mom?..."

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 04-01-2008, 02:42 PM:

The lack of quality in sitcoms now makes me realize how one of my younger co-workers caught my joke and started laughing. I just knew this would go over his head...
Cody drives into the parking lot in his 1950 Ford Pick-up truck.
I start humming the Sanford and Son theme.
Brian cracks up laughing.
Brian had resorted to watching classic sitcoms as the current ones are not funny...thus he had seen Sanford and Son and it's opening credits with Lamont Sanford driving up in old pick-up truck...

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 04-01-2008, 03:50 PM:

About TV Land. It used to be a safe refuge from the lame programming choking the airwaves today. So what do they do with that reputation? CREATE ANOTHER DAMN REALITY SHOW! [puke]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-01-2008, 04:30 PM:

Sanford and Son rules. LOLOL when Son got down to propose to his woman he put his knee in some kind of food LOLOLOLOLOL!!! Laugh riot x10000

Seriously though, the theme should be the theme music to some of the junky theaters out there. Do TV shows even have theme music any more? By that I mean "memorable"?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-01-2008, 06:43 PM:

I think the last memorable theme song was Seinfeld, but more for the way it sounded than the melody. And it's still not as memorable as "Greeeeeeeeen Acres is the place to be" or "Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed" or "Boy the way Glenn Miller played...songs that made the hit parade!" or "Well, we're movin' on up, to the east side, to a deeeeeeluxe apartment in the sky!" or "They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky" or "Baby, if you ever wonder, wonder whatever became of me" or "Who can turn the world on with her smile" or BOMMMMMM BA BOM BOM (the Dragnet theme) or about a zillion others. Old TV rocks.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 04-02-2008, 06:16 PM:

Mike, DRAGNET was Dum Dee Dum Dum... [Big Grin]

Listen to the theme of WILL AND GRACE. It's like listening to a piano that is having a seizure!

TV LAND sucks. Hacked up old shows suck.

No wonder none of the kids at work like old TV.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 04-02-2008, 06:35 PM:

Seinfeld had a theme song? Well I always thought the Magnum PI tune was pretty badass, and the Miami Vice one as well.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-02-2008, 07:12 PM:

Many broadcast network TV shows have such abbreviated opening sequences that there's really very little opportunity to even have any theme music, much less deliver anything remotely memorable.

Guess you have to go to premium cable networks like HBO for original series with full opening credit sequences and theme music. The Sopranos had a fairly memorable opening song. The late Michael Kamen did some of his best work with the opening music to Band of Brothers. I like the theme music for John Adams, currently playing on HBO.

It has been quite a while since a broadcast network TV series had even a somewhat popular theme song. The Seinfeld theme music is very unique and easily identifiable. The theme for Friends got some fairly heavy top 40 radio airplay in the mid 1990s. I think The X Files had a reasonably catchy theme song.

But bring up any modern TV series -anything on network TV made in the last 10 years and I'll probably have a hard time thinking of its theme song tune.

Between the late 1960s and early 1980s lots of TV series had pretty memorable theme music. Some theme songs were big hits. Here's just a few TV series with memorable theme music I just thought of from memory (I'm sure there's a lot more):

All in the Family
The A Team
Baretta
The Brady Bunch
Cheers
Dallas
Gilligan's Island
Happy Days
Hawaii Five-0
Laverne & Shirley
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Greatest American Hero
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
M*A*S*H
Mission: Impossible
Space 1999
SWAT
Taxi
Welcome Back Kotter

Even some end title music was pretty cool. I really liked the rock guitar oriented end title music to WKRP in Cincinnati, especially if they played the music to its end (cool power chord at the end of it). Modern TV series stomp all over the end credits of any TV series or movie with all their audio cut in promos and other bullshit for other programs. Just another reason to not even watch the damned shows when they originally air. More convenient to rent/buy the DVD box set and watch without all the spam infection.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-02-2008, 08:14 PM:

Let's see how well I remember those themes:

quote: Bobby Henderson
All in the Family

Hated this show. I do not recall any theme music and it'd not likely sound familiar if I heard it.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The A Team

I'd surely recognize the theme if I heard it.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Baretta

Never saw it or even heard of it.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The Brady Bunch

This theme makes me want to go on one of those mass-shooting sprees.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Cheers

I remember the theme. One of the last of the "Lite and lazy" themes.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Dallas

I remember this show being stupid. There's no way I'd recognize its theme music.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Gilligan's Island

Instantly recognizable.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Happy Days

Instantly recognizable even if you've never seen the show since the name is actually mentioned in the lyrics more than once.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Hawaii Five-0

Even though I don't think I've ever seen this, I bet I'd recognize the theme music.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Laverne & Shirley

I'd probably recognize it if I heard it again.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The Dukes of Hazzard

I *might* recognize the theme. Maybe. Not sure.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The Greatest American Hero

I remember more about the theme than the show, and I can only vaguely recall the theme. All I know is that the show was about some frizzy-haired loser and wasn't very exciting.

quote: Bobby Henderson
The Mary Tyler Moore Show

I am male, so I never saw this show. I didn't want to get beaten up by my friends.

quote: Bobby Henderson
M*A*S*H

This is one of those super-lite and lazy themes which can induce coma... or maybe it's like being under the influence of something.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Mission: Impossible

Instantly recognizable, mainly due to the recent movies.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Space 1999

Never heard of it until right this second.

quote: Bobby Henderson
SWAT

Never heard of it. Is it as awesome as The Equalizer or Quincy?

quote: Bobby Henderson
Taxi

The ULTIMATE lite and lazy under-the-influence/comatose theme. It goes perfect with some live action Garfield.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Welcome Back Kotter

I can't remember this, but I know I'd instantly recognize it.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-02-2008, 09:36 PM:

quote: Bruce McGee
Hacked up old shows suck.

Yeah. Don't even get me started on what they did to WKRP for the DVD release.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-02-2008, 10:29 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Hated this show. I do not recall any theme music and it'd not likely sound familiar if I heard it.

Edith Bunker shrieking the high notes of Those Were The Days is tough to forget, even if you despised All in the Family.

quote: Joe Redifer
Never saw it or even heard of it.

Never heard of Baretta? Robert Blake's TV series? Joe, you may be too young to remember that one. Pretty big hit in the 1970s. Sammy Davis, Jr. had a pretty big hit with the show's theme song.

quote: Joe Redifer
Instantly recognizable even if you've never seen the show since the name is actually mentioned in the lyrics more than once.

I think Weezer helped Happy Days even further with their music video for Buddy Holly. It was one of the few cool things on those Windows95 upgrade discs.

quote: Joe Redifer
I am male, so I never saw this show. I didn't want to get beaten up by my friends.

Had I been an adult, I probably wouldn't have watched much of the Mary Tyler Moore Show either. As circumstances would have it, I was in elementary school at that time which also meant I didn't have control of the TV clicker. Mary Tyler Moore looked pretty hot in the Dick Van Dyke show.

quote: Joe Redifer
This is one of those super-lite and lazy themes which can induce coma... or maybe it's like being under the influence of something.

Funny you should mention that, Joe. The song title for the theme to M*A*S*H is: Suicide is Painless.

quote: Joe Redifer
I can't remember this, but I know I'd instantly recognize it.

Welcome Back was a pretty big hit in the 1970s. Pretty decent song. Too bad the show played it so much to the point of driving it into the ground.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 04-02-2008, 10:44 PM:

Actually the theme of NCIS isn't bad their credit music is used all through the show. It is one of the few crime shows on TV right now I like well wait there is MONK I like that one and the theme on it is pretty good but then I like Randy Newman!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-02-2008, 11:50 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
I think Weezer helped Happy Days even further

WHO?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-03-2008, 12:27 AM:

Weezer - Buddy Holly

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 04-03-2008, 12:35 AM:

It's a rock band. They're great.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-03-2008, 12:39 AM:

I agree with the first part of that statement, anyway.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 04-03-2008, 01:09 AM:

John Sebastian's "Welcome Back", the theme from Welcome Back Kotter", is now being used on a promo by NBC to promote new episodes of their sitcoms.
We forgot the theme from Tv's "Batman"...the Adam West one.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 04-03-2008, 10:24 AM:

quote:
quote: Bobby Henderson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M*A*S*H
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of those super-lite and lazy themes which can induce coma... or maybe it's like being under the influence of something.

Like Bobby said the song is called "Suicide is Painless" I watched M*A*S*H for years on TV and never saw the movie, I hated the opening music. One day I caught the movie which uses the same song except with the lyrics. Those Lyrics really freaked me out and added some more depth to the show "Suicide is painless... It causes many changes..." It just made me think about being in that situation stuck in a foreign land seeing all that death and destuction and thinking that maybe suicide is your best option. Very creepy feeling.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-03-2008, 11:22 AM:

quote:
Hawaii Five-0

Even though I don't think I've ever seen this, I bet I'd recognize the theme music.

"Book him Danno - Murder 1." I would certainly hope so Joe. You aren't that much of a hikikomori are you? Any kid taking band class in the late sixties learned to play that theme.

Go see The Dish for a gag using that theme.

Mission Impossible was another theme from that time that every band student learned, if only to play something with a meter based on something other than 4's, 3's, or 2's.

A favorite theme for me from the sixties is still The Virginian.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-03-2008, 01:03 PM:

The Hawaii Five-O music rocked. But not as much the camera shot of the belly dancer's ass in the opening credits.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 04-03-2008, 01:16 PM:

Okay Peter Gunn had a great theme but then Henry Mancini is a Great Composer!

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 05-19-2008, 02:47 PM:

I think the theme music from Arrested Development was pretty memorable. The ukelele on the open and the brass at the end. I don't watch much in the way of sitcoms nowadays. The only TV I have access to is the one in the lounge, usually someone is midway through a marathon of "Flavor of Love, part 3" or something similar (I can feel the I.Q. points being sucked from my eyes and ears), but if I bring along my laptop and hijack some WiFi, usually the clicker becomes available and I'll browse around looking for MythBusters, Police Chase Videos or something of that ilk. I've gotten into watching CSI and Numb3rs on demand (HD), since CBS is the only network that offers it down here.

The laptop helps to stuff the I.Q. points back into my brain.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-19-2008, 09:32 PM:

quote: Paul Mayer
Go see The Dish for a gag using that theme.

Ha! Yes! Very funny!

It's included in the trailer.

In fact, just go see The Dish...period. [thumbsup]