The Cranky Media Guy

Ah, it’s the semi-annual “Death of Sit-coms” announcement.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the “sit-coms are dead” pronouncement since Cosby went off the air.  Actually, Cosby came on the air right after one of them.

Here’s the cycle:

*The networks put on a bunch of shitty, cookie cutter sit-coms.
*Those sit-coms fail to find a large audience.
*The networks cancel them.
*Network spokesmen announce that the audience is “tired” of sit-coms.

Then, a few years later, one of the networks puts together a sit-com built around someone the audience likes.  It becomes a hit and the Official Observers Of All Things TV-related announce the Rebirth Of The Sitcom.

Then the other networks rush into production eleventy-seven clones of that show.  They all suck and get canceled quickly, followed by a network executive announcing the Death Of The Sit-com yet again.  The Circle of Life.

Fall TV preview: Sitcoms no longer making the news - USATODAY.com