Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 29th April 2015, 6:53 PM BSTI wonder if trad sitcoms will remain universally popular though. Maybe things happen too slowly? Maybe it's too obvious that it happens in a studio? Maybe jokes do date?
There is a wide range of ages on this site. Birth dates span more than half a century. I think it is possible to spot broad trends in terms of interests. Does it lean : middle age to older - more sitcom - and younger to middle age - more stand-up? I think it possibly does but probably only slightly.
Among the most interesting people on this forum to my mind are the ones who really love sitcoms that they couldn't have experienced at the time they were made. That is a mystery to me as it doesn't include any component of nostalgia although it could be that there is some sentiment for a Britain in the past as it might seem to have been. The same applies to people into music from earlier eras. As it wasn't the original "soundtrack to their lives", I find that I want to ask that question "why?" and I yet I don't at the same time. Their reasoning is probably not overly complicated, unusual, odd or deep.
When it comes to the 1970s/1980s which some might regard as the golden age of sitcom, I think what is key is that people who do remember them the first time round are in their 40s/50s. Some of them are likely to be around for several more decades. Whatever the developments in new sitcom going forward, I doubt the trad stuff will be disappearing soon although it might become increasingly specific to generation - older - hence niche. But you probably also need to factor in the cultural resonance of sitcom vis a vis a sense of nationality. "The Dambusters Theme" (1955) has as much currency as Stonehenge. "Only Fools and Horses" will long continue to be as British as a cup of tea.