Sunday, August 03, 2008

What ever happened to the sitcom?



George and Weezy, thankfully, TV Land allows me to catch up to you whenever I want. Photo by Amazon.com

Today I was talking on the phone to my sister and she was distracted. When I asked why, she told me that she was watching "The Jeffersons" on TV Land and it was an episode she hadn't seen before where Weezy is taken to a male strip-club and George and Tom decided to jump on the stage and take off their clothes.

I asked her how is that possible she hadn't seen it because "The Jeffersons" was MUST see TV at our house on Sunday nights. She replied it must have been when she moved to New Jersey and was working nights.

We started remembering how our father when he was alive (He died three years ago this month) would laugh hysterically at George Jefferson and his antics.

I asked her did she remember the Sunday night line up and she rattled it off like it was nothing "60 Minutes." "All in the Family," "One Day at a Time," "Alice," "The Jeffersons." and we'd turn the TV off when "Trapper John M.D." would come on.

This got me to thinking about how many sitcoms I watch and the answer is 0. Nada. El Zippo. Nothing.

The last time I remember watching sitcoms with regularity was in the '80s with "The Cosby Show" and "A Different World" (That show is special because the kids on that show were at a HBC (Historically Black College) the same time I was and so it was like we all went to college at the same time.

I also remember watching "Will & Grace" frequently during the first couple of seasons and then it got stupid and boring. Although, I did come back during the final season and even attended a taping of the show.

Now they have Monday night comedies on CBS and I have to say NONE appeal to me. ABC has a few but they do nothing for me either.

I'm a bit sad about this because I like to laugh and nothing strikes me as funny. I tried a few episodes of "The Office" that didn't do it for me after a few episodes. It's like you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Some would argue that "Desperate Housewives" is a comedy but to me it's a drama with comedic elements which isn't the same thing.

Are there any really "good" comedies that I'm missing?

1 comment:

Mrs. Wong said...

I think you are right...I usually watch reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.