The last laugh: is the television sitcom really dead?

From Friends to The Thick Of It, the TV sitcom has evolved – but it’s no longer in rude health. Enter offbeat shows like Stath Lets Flats, bringing joy and potential redemptionThe sitcom has a long history of being dead. According to the former NBC president of entertainment, Warren Littlefield, in the early 1980s many people believed the sitcom was over. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly noted the genre’s demise. In 2005, so did Victoria Wood. The following year, the former ITV director of programmes, David Liddiment, made a programme called Who Killed the Sitcom? In the decade and a half since, similar questions have been posed repeatedly by publications on both sides of the Atlantic. Declaring the sitcom dead now seems more like an annual ritual than a convincing take on the state of comedy. But what if this time it’s actually true?There are a few reasons why the sitcom seems, if not comprehensively deceased, then at least less responsive than it has ever been. In terms of the comedy zeitgeist, the sadcom – a frequently bleak drama hybrid – continues to rule (see: I May Destroy You, Feel Good, This Way Up, Insecure). Streaming giants increasingly shape our viewing habits, and they don’t tend to make sitcoms (their discrete episodic plots mean they are not very bingeworthy, for a start). The newly established National Comedy Awards, meanwhile, doesn’t include a sitcom category, while Bafta dropped its sitcom award in 2015 and replaced it with one for scripted comedy: this... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-10-26 14:35:04 UTC ]
News tagged with: #early 1980s #victoria wood #feel good #viewing habits #anthology

Other Publishing stories related to: 'The last laugh: is the television sitcom really dead?'


The last laugh: is the television sitcom really dead?

From Friends to The Thick Of It, the TV sitcom has evolved – but it’s no longer in rude health. Enter offbeat shows like Stath Lets Flats, bringing joy and potential redemptionThe sitcom has a long history of being dead. According to the former NBC president of entertainment, Warren Littlefield,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-10-26 14:35:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #early 1980s #victoria wood #feel good #viewing habits #anthology


Terry Gilliam laughs off Variety's dead Python blunder

Film director takes to Facebook to apologise for his own ‘death’ after website publishes premature obituaryReports of Terry Gilliam’s death may have been greatly exaggerated, but that hasn’t stopped the film director and Monty Python troupe member from taking great pleasure in confirming them.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HP takes print away from town for seven days, laughs at 'print is dead' claim

With ebooks and digital subscription of magazines and newspapers becoming the new hot, many are sending off the message that print is gradually losing or has even already lost to its digital counterpart, while others argue that print is far from dead. Needless to say, being one of the leading... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble’s Len Riggio, Dead at Age 83

Len Riggio, former chair of Barnes & Noble, dies at 83. The visionary entrepreneur revolutionized bookselling in the US. The post Barnes & Noble’s Len Riggio, Dead at Age 83 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-08-27 22:00:47 UTC ]
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Leonard Riggio, who forged a bookselling empire at Barnes & Noble, dead at 83

Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country’s most powerful bookseller but later saw his company overtaken by the rise of Amazon Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-08-27 20:22:22 UTC ]
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Betty A. Prashker, Book Publishing Pioneer, Is Dead at 99

A top editor and executive at two publishing houses, she was an advocate for other women in publishing, and for equal pay in an industry that had long been male-dominated. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-08-14 23:11:47 UTC ]
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Edna O'Brien, iconoclastic giant of Irish literature who penned The Country Girls, dead at 93

Edna O'Brien published more than 20 books, most of them novels and story collections, and would know fully what she called the "extremities of joy and sorrow, love, crossed love and unrequited love, success and failure, fame and slaughter." Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2024-07-28 20:27:20 UTC ]
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Dr. Ruth Westheimer, America's diminutive sex therapist, dead at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died. She was 96. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2024-07-13 16:10:17 UTC ]
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Is print dead? Not at this indie bookstore publishing L.A.'s untold stories

A local electrical engineer with a passion for literature is on a mission to share the stories of local authors who have struggled to break into the mainstream publishing industry. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-05-20 10:00:37 UTC ]
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Cover Reveal: ‘Yr Dead’ by Sam Sax

We’re thrilled to reveal the cover for Sam Sax‘s forthcoming debut novel Yr Dead, slated for August 6.  Here’s a bit about the book, courtesy of McSweeney: In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2024-04-18 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Gerald Levin, the former Time Warner CEO who engineered a disastrous mega-merger, is dead at 84

Gerald Levin, who led Time Warner Media into a disastrous $182 billion merger with the internet provider America Online, has died at the age of 84 Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-03-15 09:02:35 UTC ]
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Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama dead at 68

Japanese manga comic creator Akira Toriyama, best known for his Dragon Ball series that spawned widely popular films, video games and TV shows, died on March 1 from a blood clot in his brain, his production studio said on Friday. He was 68. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2024-03-08 11:56:02 UTC ]
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‘I attacked Daniel Craig with a toasting fork’: inside the wild creation of Drop the Dead Donkey

Ahead of a new stage revival, the creators and cast of Channel 4’s classic 90s newsroom sitcom remember close encounters with future Bond stars, writing episodes at the last minute and the meaning between that mysterious titleWhen Drop the Dead Donkey debuted on Channel 4 on 9 August 1990, it... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:55:00 UTC ]
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Michael Gambon, Dumbledore in Harry Potter films, dead at 82

Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82. Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2023-09-28 12:32:43 UTC ]
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8 Novels Using Television As a Plot Device

Writing about pop culture and current technology is always a gamble, pitting critique of the present against longevity, a story that will still feel relevant after we’re gone. But for novelists (present company included) who were exposed to the Real World before the, um, real world, reality TV... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-27 11:00:00 UTC ]
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