What's gone wrong (or right) with sitcoms?

For those of you who don't know or care, I am the founder of SOS (Save Our Sitcoms). It's ok, I didn't know until this morning.

I'd like to get the views of sitcom fans and prospective sitcom creators before I bombard the Beeb (and other broadcasters) about the format's great decline in the TV schedule or its conversion into comedy drama.

What are the reasons for this decline and change in material offered as sitcom?

My own views for the main culprits are:
1 Comedian Idolatry by broadcasters.
There's hardly a new sitcom commission given to anyone now without a name in comedy.
They have proved imo, on the whole, that they do not understand true sitcom, are not acquainted well enough with the standard model to be able to master the craft of writing it, and are far more concerned with their creation being a vehicle for their own selves or comic persona.

2 Too many channels and competition from other media outlets resulting in a much smaller audience for mainstream channel sitcoms, making them far less attractive to spend money on producing than they once were.

Best of luck with that, but I think you will be flogging a dead horse, as you'll be up against the numbskull grey suits that run TV now.

Popular stand up/panel show comics are assumed to be potentially very good sitcom writers and because of the broadcasters goodwill towards them are promoted ahead of their abilities . Notable exceptions being the late Sean Lock and Lee Mack who came up with excellent shows . We all know the much hyped C4 and Netflix ones that died on their arses so I won't mention them here . It's just how it is .

It's down to the writers. (And also the commissioners.)
Have the writers moved on because they don't like the format anymore, feel it's old-fashioned?
Or have they moved on because they can't get things commissioned?
Not sure there's an easy answer to that.
Many, I would say most, writers have 'screenplay' aspirations these days (I know I do).
It's where the money is, it's where he glamour is - trad sitcoms can feel slightly small-beer compared to well-produced comedy dramas.
Commissioners are guilt of taking the easy option - filling their comedy quota with panel shows.
These are easy to develop because all you do is put six stand-ups onto a shiny floor.
Developing narrative comedy is harder.

Quote: Lazzard @ 10th March 2023, 10:03 AM

It's down to the writers. (And also the commissioners.)
Have the writers moved on because they don't like the format anymore, feel it's old-fashioned?
Or have they moved on because they can't get things commissioned?
Not sure there's an easy answer to that.
Many, I would say most, writers have 'screenplay' aspirations these days (I know I do).
It's where the money is, it's where he glamour is - trad sitcoms can feel slightly small-beer compared to well-produced comedy dramas.

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That may be for established writers with credits, but we both know there are hundreds of unknowns desperate to get their scripts commissioned on TV or even radio. And they currently have more chance of shagging Taylor Swift. (Or winning the lottery)

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 11th March 2023, 9:40 AM

That may be for established writers with credits, but we both know there are hundreds of unknowns desperate to get their scripts commissioned on TV or even radio. And they currently have more chance of shagging Taylor Swift. (Or winning the lottery)

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Other shags are available

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 11th March 2023, 9:40 AM

That may be for established writers with credits, but we both know there are hundreds of unknowns desperate to get their scripts commissioned on TV or even radio. And they currently have more chance of shagging Taylor Swift. (Or winning the lottery)

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But that's because they're unknown.
Or, to be brutally honest, not very good.

Unfair to assume that even though some of the comp entry scripts they've dared to show are seemingly awful. I believe there is an effective bar against anyone outside their own clique - Top uni grads and Edinburgh festival acts getting a look in for broadcast commissions.

Secondly there is an increasingly proscribed swathe of material. If it's anything other than left leaning or politically neutral at most, it doesn't matter how good it is, it won't get on.

I think you're probably have a point on those two counts - albeit a tad overstated.
Not sure it pertains to the lack of old-school sitcoms, though.
Do they have to be right-wing to classify as trad Sit-Coms?

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'true sitcom' tbf. If you mean old school multicam studio audience stuff, that medium is dying out generally, not just with the BBC (in fact, the BBC seems to be one of the last places still occasionally making them). If you mean channels taking chances on new writers, that still happens, but I guess you need to do more than just sit around with a random stack of unproduced scripts waiting to be discovered these days (and I say that as someone whose own pitiful comedy writing journey to date is basically that).

There are so many ways to get stuff made, or get yourself noticed, and show that there's an audience for your writing, before a broadcaster gambles a percentage of their ever-dwindling annual comedy budget to make a TV show with you. Hence why so much 'new' stuff these days is coming from established stand-ups, or sell-out Edinburgh shows, or viral YouTube bits, or whatever. If you're great at writing comedy, then show, don't tell. As it were.

It also doesn't help that it's very easy to write a script and randomly spam it to every production company you can find an email address for these days. You don't even need to leave your bedroom. So it's probably impossible for anyone on the commissioning side to actually find the wheat for all the chaff. Remember Amazon's open submissions platform a few years back? The biggest company on the planet set up some online screenwriting software and gave anyone the chance to write a script and submit it for consideration. And they were bombarded with so much garbage that they eventually shut the whole thing down having commissioned a grand total of zero projects (to my knowledge, they may have optioned one or two). Makes more sense for them to explore different avenues to find the next big thing in comedy.

I think it's really a mix of what everyone has said on this thread.

A lot of it, on top of learning their craft + being actually talented, will be luck - for an unknown who isn't already a known comedian or internet sensation, it'll come down to reaching the right reader's eyes. People by-and-large still mainly tend to take their shot when the BBC etc do their big call-outs.

Quote: Lazzard @ 11th March 2023, 10:29 AM

Not sure it pertains to the lack of old-school sitcoms, though.
Do they have to be right-wing to classify as trad Sit-Coms?

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Only in the sense that political correctness and diversity drive the criteria for what's broadcast now. And yes, that is a left leaning agenda.

Just look at what's mostly being made now, shows with a far more diverse mix of characters and more female lead characters; with societal issues such as drug abuse, asylum seeking, single parenthood, same sex partnerships, all things on the left of the socio political scale.

Add to that how many old trad sitcoms have been censored or barred from broadcast on the mainstream channels. That's politics with a small p at work.

Quote: Crindy @ 11th March 2023, 4:48 PM

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'true sitcom' tbf. If you mean old school multicam studio audience stuff, that medium is dying out generally, not just with the BBC (in fact, the BBC seems to be one of the last places still occasionally making them.)

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No I mean a sitcom that does what sitcom is supposed to do, make people laugh with big characters getting into a mess of their own making. The majority of so called sitcoms of the last decade that I've watched don't manage this and many don't even try.

Read the excellent guides and advice pieces from producers and other pros on BCG PRO and you can't be in any doubt that there are rules for sitcoms to follow (to be a true sitcom).

I don't think there's an audience for big traditional sitcoms anymore. They flourished at a time when there was limited channels and limited choice. They're the dodo of genres, they had their moment but now they're barreling towards extinction.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 12th March 2023, 7:59 AM

Only in the sense that political correctness and diversity drive the criteria for what's broadcast now. And yes, that is a left leaning agenda.

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If you are saying that trad sitcoms tend/need to be non-diverse and right-leaning, I think you might have your answer.
Another word for that is old-fashioned (creatively, not politically).
But as the bulk of creatives tend to be centre, or slightly left-leaning, you're unlikely to get much, percentage-wise, written that goes counter to their own instincts.
Having said that I think it's perfectly possible for a sitcom that reflects modern attitudes to be created.