Where did all the sitcoms go?

Reality shows are cheaper to produce, and the sheep settle for less and watch them anyway

Sitcoms are outdated.

Games shows are also cheaper to produce. If there were more Westerns on broadcast TV, I'd feel like I was reliving the 1950s.

People stopped watching them OP. The sitcom genre has run it's course like R2 said.

I’m in the UK and it’s exactly the same here. Back when I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s there were so many great sitcoms (along with, admittedly, reams of bad ones that never lasted more than few episodes).. I still actually rewatch some of them, some favourites being Father Ted, Frasier, One Foot in the Grave, Keeping up Appearances, Allo Allo and the It Crowd. Now—nothing. I think it’s partly lack of writing talent now and partly the whole live audience approach/ laughter track makes them seem dated. The recent Frasier revival felt antiquated with its overload whooping audience track. Plus, it was fairly poorly written.

One show I do enjoy is Young Sheldon (unlike its parent show which believed its own hype and long outstayed its welcome). it’s single camera and not filmed in front of a studio audience which makes it feel less sitcom-y.

Humor is passé, OP. The young have killed it dead.

Wokeism and DEI have made comedy nearly impossible. Married with Children would be just as popular today as it was in the 80s but corporate TV would never greenlight it. Social media has set us back 100 years as far as creative freedom and envelop pushing go. A small but loud minority of people can wield disproportionate influence on Hollywood. The religious right of Teri Rakolta and woke lefty Gen Zers have more in common than they think.

[quote]you could watch sitcoms for hours starting at 8pm on NBC, ABC and CBS.

You could watch nothing else. That was it. Add PBS and an old movie channel if you had advanced viewing tastes.

Add the whole thing was over with by 11.00.

Why do people pine for a menu of three shitty old shows for a three hour period every night?

[quote]Married with Children would be just as popular today as it was in the 80s but corporate TV would never greenlight it.

No it wouldn't. It (and shows like Roseanne and the Simpsons) were a much needed reaction to decades of Leave it to Beaver/My Three Sons/ Brady Bunch/Cosby Show sitcoms and when it came out it was shocking and unheard of.

r9 I disagree. It would be a reaction to the PC nonsense of today. Plus they were actually funny and punched both up and down.

Television genres inevitably become dated with time, like the Western and the variety show. The sitcom had a longer run than most.