Research
The sitcom is not dead. It just moved.
By Kevin Downey
Mar 20, 2007, 09:25

The death of the American sitcom would seem a puzzler. Next to nothing the broadcast networks try interests viewers. The genre appears all but dead.

But in fact the sitcom is quite healthy. As it turns out, TV viewers are watching as many or more comedies than ever. But they are watching them as reruns on cable or in syndication.

The problem is not with the sitcom but with the broadcast networks and the sitcoms they choose to air, according to a new report from Magna Global. The networks have simply got it all wrong, choosing comedies with themes that do not resonate with viewers over shows that do resonate, Magna contends.

What works is what has always worked in sitcoms: shows about families, such as "Everybody Loves Raymond," or family-like groups of people, such as "Friends" or "Seinfeld," to mention three former hit network series that are still popular on cable and in syndication.

But increasingly the networks are airing sitcoms set in the workplace, such as NBC’s "30 Rock," lacking laugh tracks and the familiar family groups.

Why? The networks believe that families no longer watch TV together, and that has led them to move away from shows about families, says Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna. But Sternberg says that premise is incorrect.

"We’ve demonstrated that 80 percent of homes only have one TV set turned on during primetime," he says. "People have multiple TV sets for convenience, not so everyone can scurry off and watch TV by themselves. Certainly anyone with kids knows that they are always searching for programming families can watch together."

Still, Sternberg believes it’s unlikely the networks will return to family-themed sitcoms anytime soon. "Unfortunately, I don’t see anything to indicate that network comedies are moving in that direction," says Sternberg.

The networks are already developing programs for next fall and while each has a long list of sitcoms in the works, many of these continue the trend away from family-oriented sitcoms toward quirkier, single-camera comedies closer in style to NBC’s "The Office" or "My Name is Earl" that appeal to a relatively small segment of the audience.

ABC, for instance, is developing a slew of single-camera comedies like "The Call," about doctors, while Fox is trying new things with shows like "Anchorwoman," a comedy-reality hybrid.

But even as such sitcoms stumble, Sternberg says the networks will likely roll out even more of them than in recent years. "I think we will start to see more comedies in development because the schedules are becoming too saturated with procedural dramas. And reality is probably at a saturation point as well."

But whether viewers will particularly notice is another matter, considering the wide offerings of sitcom reruns on cable and in syndication and the amount of time they already spend watching them.

So far this season, the average household has spent an average 4.55 hours watching comedies each week. And while that's down from 5.26 hours last season, it's up dramatically from 4.09 hours in the 1999/2000 season and 3.98 hours in 1993/94.

What has changed is the source of this viewing.

In 1993/94, more than 55 percent of comedies were watched on the broadcast networks, according to Magna. That has since fallen to less than 10 percent. Today, 56 percent of sitcoms are watched on cable TV, up from 21 percent in 1993/94, and 34 percent are watched in syndication, up from 23 percent.