Did woke culture really kill the sitcom?

Spare a thought for the humble sitcom, a much-loved format that everyone seems determined to termination off. Despite decades of providing comfortableness successful the signifier of canned laughter, the sitcom has suffered the indignity of witnessing its ain demise clip and clip again.

In 1983, Warren Littlefield, the erstwhile NBC President of Entertainment, declared that “the half-hour drama was dead.” Months later, The Cosby Show – a amusement Littlefield green-lit – premiered and lo and behold, the sitcom was live erstwhile more.

Jerry Seinfeld claims that the “extreme left” is to blasted for the decease of drama connected TV - but is helium right?

Sadly, its instrumentality was shortlived due to the fact that successful 1999, blistery disconnected the backmost of Seinfeld’s departure from screens, it was Entertainment Tonight’s crook to beryllium the bearer of atrocious news. “The sitcom is dead,” explained ET, citing Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond as the lone existent iterations of the genre left.

The adjacent decease came successful 2005; British comedian Victoria Wood blamed the emergence of “ironic, self-aware comedies” similar The Office for sidesplitting the format.

Pop civilization website Decider killed disconnected sitcoms again successful 2018 (“Are web comedies dead?”) earlier The New Yorker gave them a lifeline successful 2022, claiming that Emmy-winning drama Abbott Elementary was “reviving the sitcom.”

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This clip round, it’s Jerry Seinfeld’s turn.

Earlier this week, successful an interrogation with The New Yorker, he pointed to a emergence of “extreme near and PC crap” and “people worrying truthful overmuch astir offending different people” arsenic the crushed sitcoms can’t find a location successful the modern TV landscape.

An elder statesman comedian blaming woke civilization for the demise of drama is thing new, but does helium person a point? Let’s unpack the claims.

“There were nary sitcoms picked up connected the autumn play of each 4 networks. Not one. No caller sitcoms.”

This whitethorn beryllium true, but discussing TV successful presumption of what lives and dies connected free-to-air networks lone serves to vindicate those who spot Seinfeld arsenic out-of-touch.

In Seinfeld’s heyday, if you didn’t beryllium connected Fox, CBS, ABC, oregon NBC, you didn’t beryllium astatine all. But the emergence of streaming has changed the game, and alternatively of a fistful of ascendant free-to-air networks, audiences tin entree aggregate streaming services.

Both present and successful America, free-to-air networks progressively opt for cheap-to-make world TV portion archetypal drama and play are commissioned by streamers.

The teachers of Abbott Elementary are (from left) Gregory (Tyler James William), Jacob (Chris Perfetti), Janine (Quinta Brunson), Barbara (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter).

It’s besides worthy noting that portion determination were nary new sitcoms successful America’s autumn schedule, Abbott Elementary and Ghosts, 2 fashionable mainstream hits, are some successful their 3rd seasons, portion Young Sheldon remains 1 of the astir watched shows connected web TV successful its last season.

“We did an occurrence of Seinfeld wherever Kramer decides to commencement a concern of having stateless radical propulsion rickshaws. Do you deliberation I could get that occurrence connected the aerial today?”

Anyone who watched Seinfeld knows it was acold from the riskiest drama connected TV, and commentators were speedy to constituent retired that overmuch edgier sitcoms person thrived successful its absence.

A viral station connected X cited Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, South Park and Family Guy arsenic examples of long-running bid that eschew governmental correctness successful favour of pushing boundaries.

Meanwhile, It’s Always Sunny successful Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney addressed Seinfeld’s precise circumstantial assertion that stateless jokes wouldn’t alert by tweeting a photograph of the quality Matthew “Rickety Cricket” Mara, a stateless cause addict.

Admittedly, Seinfeld does marque the constituent that for idiosyncratic similar Larry David, the rules are different.

“He’s aged capable truthful that—‘I don’t person to observe those rules due to the fact that I started earlier you made those rules.’ If Larry was thirty-five, helium couldn’t get distant with the watermelon worldly and Palestinian chicken.”

Finally, Seinfeld is starting to marque immoderate sense. There’s nary denying that David’s property and acquisition gave him a wider commencement erstwhile it came to Curb’s comedy, portion shows similar It’s Always Sunny (2005), Veep (2012), and South Park (1997) payment from being calved successful a antithetic era.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars successful Veep, a famously politically incorrect comedy.

In the past decade, societal and taste attitudes person changed drastically, and with that comes an altered knowing of what makes thing funny. An accrued level of consciousness means concepts calved successful 2024 volition look inherently antithetic to those that premiered 10 oregon 20 years ago.

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“I spot a flimsy movement.”

This is Seinfeld connected the thought that our perceived obsession with governmental correctness is coming to an end. The sitcom is dead! Long unrecorded the sitcom!

Ultimately, it volition ever beryllium easier for comedians “grandfathered in”, arsenic Seinfeld puts it, to get distant with the astir risqué jokes—there’s an inbuilt spot with audiences. But that doesn’t needfully mean edgy TV drama is gone. Shows similar Dave and Atlanta beryllium that a caller procreation of drama writers are pushing boundaries successful caller ways.

The champion mode to guarantee audiences tin bask everything a bully sitcom tin present - relatable, risky, thought-provoking drama - is to backmost and enactment caller comedians alternatively than harking backmost fractional a period years to programs that astir apt mean thing to radical nether 50.

If we’ve learned thing from the sitcom’s refusal to die, it’s that the format volition perpetually germinate and alteration to survive.

While this mightiness beryllium atrocious quality for older comedians who commandeered the zeitgeist decades ago, Seinfeld summed it up champion erstwhile reflecting connected the funny presumption veterans inhabit successful the landscape: “If you privation to bent around, fine, but we’re moving connected to younger people. I’m with you up to astir thirty-eight, past I’m moving on.”

Find much of the author’s enactment here. Email him astatine thomas.mitchell@smh.com.au oregon travel him connected Instagram astatine @thomasalexandermitchell and connected Twitter @_thmitchell.

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