Maintaining the funny, in sitcoms and life – Quibbling Siblings

Debbie:

What was up with the sitcoms last week? Cougar Town‘s Disney special was only mildly funny (thought the Scrubs reunion at the end of the episode was priceless). I was really looking forward to the return of Community, and it fell a bit flat for me. A few funny jokes, but the storyline was just not hilarious (the Britta and Jeff getting married scene was). And although I wanted to embrace Fizbo the Clown’s return, Modern Family didn’t send in the laughs.

I was thinking I was just having an off week until you felt the same. We’ve both grown tired (understatement of the century) of HIMYM as well — it is just plain hard to maintain the funny? I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must be to keep the quality of a sitcom consistent week after week. It reminds me of when Gary Larson finally retired — honestly, how many years in a row can you churn out the funny and have it remain funny … or die trying?

Bob:

It’s hard to be funny. I think that’s the crux of the issue. I think it’s also extremely difficult to keep comedy shows fresh. Because the tone of a comedy is so important, things become a little more rigid. It’s also rare that there is a lot of character growth in a comedy. A lot of the plot turns and devices that dramas can use to spice things up are off limits to a sitcom. You aren’t going to see Jay on Modern Family struggling with cancer and kicking the bucket. You aren’t going to see Phil and Claire have marital issues. You aren’t going to see shocking deaths or big cast changes. That makes it a lot harder to sustain shows.

As an example, take a look at two different hospital shows. First, let’s take ER. That show was on forever and changed cast members like it was going out of style. It worked because things could be dramatic — some characters were killed off, some jaunted off with their long-time lovers, etc. Now, how about Scrubs? At the end of its life, it moved from NBC to ABC and tried to cycle out some cast members while introducing new ones. It didn’t work. There’s a comfort that audiences want in comedies, which means that things pretty much stay the same, there’s a familiarity with the characters and settings.

It’s why I think most comedies really have a three to four year lifespan before things go dry. Sure, there have been exceptions, but for the most part, things start to get stale.

Debbie:

OK, now here’s an interesting twist … I just watched this week’s HIMYM and aside from the usual Ted/Robin drama and Marshall and Lily just being awful, it was actually funny. That almost never happens anymore. Honestly, the bro and Quinn puns reminded me of the old days, when they stretched a joke perfectly, when they knew exactly how far to take it without crossing the line. Even Ted talking to the college kid doppelgangers was funny.

Is there even an answer to what I want to know? Why is it so hard to maintain the funny, and why can it come back every once in a while, like this week on HIMYM? I get your point about the character growth, but I want to discuss the cleverness and the sharp writing and the tightness that makes my shows funny. What’s so hard about doing it every week? We’re witty and insightful every week for this column. …

 Bob:

Oh, thanks for inciting the comments that are sure to follow.

It’s hard. That’s all I can really think. Comedy is far more subjective than drama. What’s hilarious to some may be terrible or even offensive to others. That’s just the way it is. It’s nearly impossible to please everyone with comedy.

I think there are two different things, though. There’s inconsistent writing (which I think is what you are referring to with HIMYM) and then there is a show growing stale (which is what we fear is happening with Modern Family). Case A (inconsistency), you either have to deal with or not. Are you willing to put up with three bad episodes to get to a great one? Maybe you are. In case B (staleness), the problem is larger. Modern Family has some ingrained jokes in it like most comedies, right? Phil says stupid things, Claire is uptight, Gloria has a funny accent, etc. Can these jokes stay funny for years and years? I feel like Modern Family is less reliant on jokes and one liners and that might actually hurt it. Because the characters stay the same and because the comedy is so character based, it can become stale.

Now that I’ve written that, I’m not even sure that I buy it. This is a complicated question.

Debbie:

That makes me think about how hard it is to come up with quotes from Modern Family for the weekly quotes post. You’d have to write down the whole scene because it is so situation-based (and character-based as well, I suppose). Taken out of context, the quotes just don’t work as well as quoting the broath or Quintervention.

Maybe it all just comes down to the fact that comedy is subjective. I think we could really illustrate our point by bringing up CliqueClack’s old punching bag, According to Jim. People watched it during its regular airing and are still watching it in syndication, yet it was incomprehensible to those of us with taste how it lasted eight seasons — that’s 181 episodes, in case you were wondering … or if you’re a stats geek like Ivey. Whether it’s inconsistent, stale or just plain horrible, someone’s watching it and that’s why it remains on the air.

OK, readers — what’s your take on the complicated question of the sitcoms maintaining the funny?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Mar 22, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT