what happened to the american sitcom?

hm, researching the history of american comedy, i'm sure everyone involved in that was a very nice, unproblematic person!

i started a convo about this video on twitter, and decided to make a video about it! if you want to see more of that, follow me! @dogeatdogyt
as always, thanks to @gamjabyte for the ending animation seen in my other vids :)

music links (in order):

[UnreadierCobra]

Tbh this video would be 100x more better if you brought up the hit tv sitcom elf form the 1980s

[Entropicembrace]

Your question gut punched me (since I forgot you even were going to ask one lol) and it had me thinking about something I was ruminating on for a while. With the rise of tik tok and by extension just social media in general this past decade it seems as if the form of “sitcoms” is taking on a more hyper real and individualist approach as I see friends, family, and strangers constructing drama for the teeniest amounts of clout. You weren’t kidding when you said were living in a sh1tty American sitcom, and I think it’s because we live in a place where people are isolated by design and rely on what we see on screens to teach us about socialization. Now we all have screens and our own cameras so one choice is to become a sitcom character yourself.

[dyplayzroblox]

Boy those people at Nickelodeon sure do like their live action sitcoms.

[claricelee]

surprised to not hear a mention of the iconic 'community' (2009-15) here! they were an example of a sitcom that did NOT work during the cable era despite having a relatively episodic format (battling with the office and parks and recs), and only rose to popularity thanks to streaming services like netflix. witty diverse talented cast, extremely funny, relatable, quirky, found family dynamic of a group of college friends, with every character going through different stages in their lives. down to earth but still upbeat and hopeful. i don't think the future of sitcom is doomed just because cable tv is gone. just shifting to a new era where shows can/must be binge-able.

[RuffledOnTime]

My problem with modern sit-com's, including the awful animated ones, is that the majority of the humor is built on being... well, mean. Someone is always the butt of a joke, someone is always insulted in a snarky way, and in real life, they would feel bad. One reason I love friends is because a common plot is for any given episode is that 2 characters get in a fight and say mean things to each other. By the end of the episode they apologize and acknowledge that they were mean to each other. I watched an episode of family guy for the first time a short while ago, and it was awful in this respect. Like you mentioned in the video, I like to picture myself as part of the main cast, and I think by now it's easy to see what kind of show I would like to be a part of.

[knj]

"a group of friends battling the destructive force of kramer" GOD THATS SO GOOD

[SillyGoofyKrom]

Sitcoms will most likely just follow the trend set by Rick and Morty and the like, becoming increasingly nihilistic and absurd animated shows while also relying on the hauntological and reference humour. Rick and Morty but turned up to 11.

[HeyThereKurt_]

Great video! I really wish there was some mention of Malcolm in the Middle as I feel that show really helped define sitcoms of the 2000's.

[Fludd-Stop]

This is a FANTASTIC video that really just nails it explaining why sitcoms (and television in general nowadays) just aren't succeeding as much with our generation. I wasn't expecting a dive into the history and evolution of the genre, but DAMN this video is both incredibly informative and accurate! Amazing job!!

[deshrektives]

Liked for LUCY, still representing Jamestown 70 years later, and an inspiration to female comedians and business owners everywhere!

[gabrieldario]

Sitcom just up the hill and then went (Spongebob Bowoomp)

[fusetunes]

i've always been interested in sitcoms and their history, so thanks for this video! i honestly wish people would attempt to make more of them for streaming. there are so many dramatic series right now, so it would be interesting to see how the comedy would evolve with the changing format.

[acidicali]

I still love the sitcoms from the 70s to the 2010s, and I'm barely an adult, I don't relate to any of the "found family" sitcoms. I agree with you when you say its sitcoms refusal to change that's killing them, nowadays all the popular sitcoms you hear about on social media are just reboots or revisals of old sitcoms like Fuller House or iCarly. Theyre trying to profit off nostalgia instead of adapting to changing generations. But there's still a place for sitcoms in television, we don't *need* every show to have character development or a changing cast.

[maynk]

You FORGOT about "MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE", Single Camera sitcom without laugh tracks, it really kinda re-invented the genre. Thank you.

[blazing_orchids]

i have loved sitcoms practically my whole life and it's so sad that i haven't seen a really good new sitcom in the last few year. also the mary tyler moore show is so slept on

[KilgoreTraut]

your seinfeld synopsis gave me a hearty chuckle

[bluerabbitjeevs]

Really great and informative video essay! Didn't really know much about sitcoms before the Friends era, but it now makes sense why they're falling out of favour today.

I think another reason that wasn't mentioned is that the competition for entertainment services is so saturated, that television production companies are struggling to retain the attention of the average young viewer. You mentioned Netflix and other streaming services, but these sitcoms also have to battle with YouTube, TikTok, social media sites, and even the entire video gaming industry. Competition was never this intense for sitcoms 30-70 years ago, and that allowed them to succeed putting out shows with almost no character depth or story, and still be immensely successful.

[dogeatdog]

this video now has subtitles! i plan on adding subtitles for all of my videos moving forward, and for my older videos sometime soon, in order to be more accessible to deaf/HoH people, people whose first language isn't english, and people who just like subtitles!

please let me know if you see an error in my closed captioning, and i'll fix it as soon as i can :D

happy watching!!!<3

[TripleNeon]

The best and most popular 2020s sitcom is Ted Lasso. Interestingly, that show is quite serialized since completely episodic shows like Seinfeld don't work as well on streaming. Also, Ted Lasso features a lot of serious moments, which leads me to believe that future sitcoms blend genre a lot more, and they're gonna be closer to comedy-dramas than full comedies. TV is in a transitional phase right now, so there aren't many obvious sitcom juggernauts out there. However, the world always needs comedy in its media, so I'm sure the sitcom will come back in an evolved state at some point.

[MidCentury]

I feel networks/companies like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel has tainted my perception of the sitcom. I want to watch stuff like “I Love Lucy” and “Bewitched”, but I’m worried that they’ll be really bad. Thanks dog, this vid really explained to me that this genre of TV isn’t complete shit


UPDATE: Watched eps of “Lucy”, “Bewitched”, and “I Dream of Jeannie” in the last month or so (January/February; currently March as I’m typing this). Didn’t really like “Jeannie”, thought “Lucy” was solid, “Bewitched” is my favorite so far