Whither the Good Network Sitcoms?
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Modern Family
Have you seen Modern Family? It's not my taste but it's certainly far from bland.
- Andre Jurieu
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)
Re: Community
I have seen it. After the first season, it's become fairly bland. I'm making a comparison between it and the other shows that share it's style.mfunk9786 wrote:Have you seen Modern Family? It's not my taste but it's certainly far from bland.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Community
I don't think it's so bad. It's not "Arrested Development," but as far as family-centered comedies go, it has its inspired moments.
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Re: Community
True. I found the beginning episodes of the current season of MODERN FAMILY to be a little weak, but there have been some very good ones recently with Wednesday's Valentine's Day episode being one of the funniest.Matt wrote:I don't think it's so bad. It's not "Arrested Development," but as far as family-centered comedies go, it has its inspired moments.
- Andre Jurieu
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)
Re: Community
Just to be clear, I never said it was awful. Obviously, I watch the show - though certainly not as routinely or with as much enthusiasm as I did during that initial season - so I'm not just stating that it's quality is so poor that it's become unbearably offensive or tiresome. I do think that overall it's a significant improvement over other traditional network family-centered sit-coms. I just think the show has started coasting and rarely meets the standards it achieved during its initial run. Perhaps "bland" wasn't the most descriptive term I could have used to convey my opinion. Maybe I should have used "stale". The show certainly can be amusing and mildly witty at times, but it just feels as if it's on repeat far too often. Honestly, the only character on that show that has grown or changed in any significant fashion over the past 3 seasons is Luke, who has actually been surprisingly clever and delicately acerbic at times this season. Everyone else is basically the exact same as when they started off and the dynamics between the characters seem to be maintained rather than altered over time, even when a subtle shift occurs within an episode (it's like the creators are blatantly ignoring what actually gets accomplished within an episode when they move onto determining next-week's content). The show-runners seemed to have admitted as much this season when they conveniently concoctedMatt wrote:I don't think it's so bad. It's not "Arrested Development," but as far as family-centered comedies go, it has its inspired moments.
SpoilerShow
a way to get Haley back under the same roof as her family, rather than continue at college.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Modern Family
The opening post of this thread is now me bizarrely asking the forum at large if they've seen Modern Family. Awkward threadsplit of the year award goes to
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: Modern Family
Haha, the recontextualization makes it sound like you're offering up some sort of weird pre-emptive hipstery damnation by faint praise, too
- Andre Jurieu
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)
Re: Modern Family
Meanwhile, I find it to be bland.
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Whither the Good Network Sitcoms?
All I can say is that if you gave up on 30 ROCK and stopped watching PARKS AND RECREATION after the first season, you can not possibly be enjoying any network television comedy this season. P&R is the one gem remaining...with MODERN FAMILY a very distant second...and everything else I've attempted to watch being fairly miserable.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Parks and Recreation
I gave up on 30 Rock around the end of Season 4.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Parks and Recreation
Don't forget The Middle which is the closest we've got to a Malcolm type show.Roger Ryan wrote:All I can say is that if you gave up on 30 ROCK and stopped watching PARKS AND RECREATION after the first season, you can not possibly be enjoying any network television comedy this season. P&R is the one gem remaining...with MODERN FAMILY a very distant second...and everything else I've attempted to watch being fairly miserable.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Parks and Recreation
Both of which are/were unbearably shrill and manic.knives wrote:Don't forget The Middle which is the closest we've got to a Malcolm type show.
- Murdoch
- Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
- Location: Upstate NY
Re: Parks and Recreation
Outside of P&R, Fox is the only network with any watchable sitcoms at the moment. But I can't stand Modern Family so I'm in a different place from a lot of people.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Parks and Recreation
As far as still running network comedies go, Suburgatory had promise at the outset but something went terribly wrong in the back half of the second season and it burned all its bridges for me. I don't like what I've seen of Modern Family at all but I just saw a GIF set from the show on Tumblr that was a lot funnier than anything I'd seen, so maybe it has its good aspects?
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Parks and Recreation
Modern Family is definitely hit or miss. It's very good at hysterically funny throwaway lines, but it can be very broad and rely on retrograde stereotypes (and I'm not just talking about the gay characters) for laughs.
- Koukol
- Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:31 pm
Re: Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who K
I don't have cable so I haven't seen all the shows people are raving about.
But I finally "get" MODERN FAMILY and love it.
I'm catching up with all the reruns right now but feel something is missing in this season.
Did they lose a writer?
But I finally "get" MODERN FAMILY and love it.
I'm catching up with all the reruns right now but feel something is missing in this season.
Did they lose a writer?
- Andre Jurieu
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)
Re: Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who K
I assumed it was mostly due to the fact that they realize the entire production is a cash-cow for everyone involved and they're content to just keep things on track so that everyone associated to the show keeps that income as stable as possible.Koukol wrote:I don't have cable so I haven't seen all the shows people are raving about.
But I finally "get" MODERN FAMILY and love it.
I'm catching up with all the reruns right now but feel something is missing in this season.
Did they lose a writer?
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who K
I just read about how the series' two creators (?) alternate the episodes they work on because they can't stand each other. How can any show sustain itself with that kind of wonkiness?
- mistakaninja
- Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2013 5:15 pm
Re: Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who K
Think that kind of domestic strife only becomes a real problem when horses start kicking the bucket.
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- Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:45 am
Re: Best TV Shows of the Decade and Maybe of All Time, Who K
Page 2 of this article give quite a bit of detail on the arrangement. They've been alternating since the beginning of season 4.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: Whither the Good Network Sitcoms?
Is Mom any good? I think I may have watched an episode or two when it was just starting and thought it was okay enough, but that's obviously not the best indication that it has maintained quality.