Modified On September 18, 2007
FOS Terry Reilly forwards a link to a syndicated LAT column entitled “The Sitcom is Dead; Long Live Hybrid Humor” by Mary McNamara. She takes the occasion of the impending premiere of Back to You to ruminate on the state of the sitcom. It’s rather like a relative speculating on funeral arrangements within earshot of the patient; a patient who is still quite alive and who will most likely leave the hospital upright.
Throughout the ten-year battle that has been waged against the sitcom, one ridiculous term after another has been coined, one lame concept after another has been advanced as the successor to the sitcom. As soon as it’s… you know… dead.
We’ve had the Dramedy (a cross between a drama and a comedy!), which was so much better because, well, they weren’t so stridently and obviously going for the laughs!
Then there was the glorification of the one-camera shoot over the multicamera shoot, which was better because, well, it was less like a sitcom and, well, we didn’t have to put up with that live studio audience cheering and hooting!
Then there was the unscripted comedy, which was so much better than the tightly scripted, setup/punchline sitcom, because, well, because the laughs were subtle and the humor wasn’t so broad and the actors were improvising and… Look– if we have to explain it to you, you just don’t get it.
Now, there is Hybrid Humor.
“There’s plenty of perfectly hilarious writing and acting on television, it just isn’t marked ‘comedy,'” says McNamara. She cites the CW’s Reaper as “the test version of the new humor hybrid rising from the ashes of the sitcom.” The specific example of Hybrid Humor she trots out– a supposedly hilarious exchange between two character– is comedy for people who hate comedy. It’s all cool and ironic and, ultimately, not all that gut-busting funny.
Alliteration is about all this concept has going for it.
McNamara now champions “shows that do not pause for three seconds after the joke, shows that don’t acknowledge there’s been a joke at all.” Ah, yes! The “Aren’t we clever>” school of comedy that the critics love and the viewers go to great lengths to avoid! That’s the ticket!
McNamara asks, “So who really cares if the sitcom is extinct?… Will we really miss the irritating bray of the studio audience?”
When did the laughter of a live studio audience become an irritant? That’s twice in three days we’ve seen this. The HR’s Barry Garron said, “Only the superior acting and writing of Back To You will keep them from becoming bored by the format and annoyed with the studio laughter.” Are these TV critics all receiving talking points? Who is annoyed by the sound of human laughter? Satan comes to mind. Only the most cynical, the most crotchety are annoyed by the sound of other human beings enjoying a good yock. Only, apparently the television critics.
Perhaps that’s why they like shows that aren’t… all… that… funny!
They’re all going to look like fools when the next multicamera sitcom comes along and dominates television and subsequently spawns a long line of imitators. It will happen. It may not be Back To You that is the watershed series, but one will come along.
And, because they hate the sound of outright guffawing, their lives will be made miserable for several long TV seasons. The poor dears.