Where are the other nerdcoms? Yes, The IT Crowd. Possibly. But where are the others?
Sitcoms you hated because they 'stole' your idea Page 2
Doctor Who
Quote: chipolata @ July 11 2010, 6:19 PM BSTWhere are the other nerdcoms? Yes, The IT Crowd. Possibly. But where are the others?
The Big Bang Theory. It may not be British, but it still means there are at least two sitcoms about geeks currently broadcasting.
Well I was thinking of We Are Klang, the short lived Lab Rats, Miranda and How Not To Live Your Life, all have varying degrees of nerdness in them and I would say they share the genre. There was another one too recently but can't remember the name.
I think you're going by a very different definition of "nerdy" to what the term conjures up to everyone else.
Nerdy characters have always been a mainstay of sitcoms, whether it's Rodney in Only Fools and Horses or Jeffrey Fairbrother in Hi-de-Hi! It's not a modern trend.
Quote: Aaron @ July 11 2010, 7:42 PM BSTI think you're going by a very different definition of "nerdy" to what the term conjures up to everyone else.
Yeah I'm using it loosely for want of a better word to define them, but note that I haven't said geeky once, which is what I'd call The IT Crowd. Can anyone tell me a better word then to describe them?
Maybe I'd call Klang and Lab Rats sapcoms and Miranda and How Not To losercoms??? Anyway, all these shows are about main characters who are not your typical alpha men or women, and I see it as a bit of a current trend myself.
I'll try that.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ July 11 2010, 8:31 PM BSTI see it as a bit of a current trend myself.
I wouldn't say that sitcoms that focus, or partially focus, on characters who you could describe as saps, or losers, is a modern trend; it's pretty much a constant since sitcoms began, isn't it?
2point4 Children stole my idea of sending actual shit to places who sent you junk mail seeing as they sent you enough of theirs.
Of course yeah, the best charactes are always laughed at by us for doing stupid things, but traditionally they tend do see themselves as successful 'alpha types' and the comedy comes from when we see their pomposity pricked, and they end up looking like a nobend. eg. Fawlty, Del Boy, Brent and all the others - this is what you'd probably call classical sitcom.
My point was that there are now a clutch of newish sitcoms that are actually celebrating and wholly about the behaviour of a saddo/loser to start with, eg Klang, It Crowd, How Not To and Miranda. These are about untypically proud to be sad characters from the outset, the reverse of the conventional sitcom monster.
It's not new, as such, but the sort of confessional approach to it seems it might be, as in Miranda and How Not To which are both addressing the audience directly. Hope this clears up what I mean.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ July 11 2010, 10:36 PM BSTOf course yeah, the best charactes are always laughed at by us for doing stupid thing
No, These are not the best characters,
But maybe that is a matter of personal take on comedy. I like complex characters best in sitcom.
Quote: Marc P @ July 11 2010, 11:27 PM BSTI like complex characters best in sitcom.
Slight oxymoron? Not sure there is ever too much complexity in sitcom characters. They tend to lean towards broad simplistic brush-strokes.
Quote: chipolata @ July 12 2010, 10:39 AM BSTSlight oxymoron? Not sure there is ever too much complexity in sitcom characters. They tend to lean towards broad simplistic brush-strokes.
I used to live next door to Oxhey.
The complexity is in making contradictory elements of a character inhabit the same body and provide the dynamics that drive the comedy - in such a way that you can do it time and time again. Think of Frasier. Everybody is complex in real life, pretty much everybody anyway. In sitcom the most important questions to ask is what does my Character want and what stops him from getting it? The best anser to the latter usually is the character himself, and to do that repeatedly, and believably, you have to make that character complex to some degree. What does Mainwaring want - he wants to be respected but on a deeper more complex level he wants to be loved. Now if that isn't in him as a character you don't get the depth that is there and can be explored in episodes like the one where his twin brother turns up. A simple analysis would be that he is an arrogant character who gets his pomposity pricked, but it's not that simple at all.
Going back the the OP's point, it happens but you'd do well to forget about it and move on. I recently co-wrote a spec sitcom based on a fairly unusual premise only to have a show that was uncannily similar appear on air. The trick is to get on with writing something new. If your original idea was good enough you can always send it out there once the dust from the doppelganger show has died down (perhaps having made some changes to avoid your story being too similar).
Quote: David Bussell @ July 12 2010, 10:55 AM BSTGoing back the the OP's point, it happens but you'd do well to forget about it and move on. I recently co-wrote a spec sitcom based on a fairly unusual premise only to have a show that was uncannily similar appear on air. The trick is to get on with writing something new. If your original idea was good enough you can always send it out there once the dust from the doppelganger show has died down (perhaps having made some changes to avoid your story being too similar).
True, true.