This week we try to pinpoint the TV comedy sweetened smudge, where’ sharp and consistent’ has yet to become’ laboured and cliched’
There is a widespread misconception that the classic two-series sitcom- Fawlty Towers, The Office, Fleabag– is national persona in action. British columnists exercise restraint and an unfailing sense of calmnes, which, it is argued, differentiates with the mad excesses of the American temperament. How else to explain 12 seasons of Two and a Half Men, plus 18( and counting) of Family Guy? American sitcoms, like American soda suffices, are oversized to the point of absurdity.
What this analysis fails to consider, nonetheless, is a more practical difference in TV production methods. Over there, sitcoms often have whole writers’ areas, furnished with young, forceful staff members and yummy snacks, including- it’s rumoured- three hodgepodges of M& Ms. Over now, sitcoms are written by one or, at most, two beings, who churn out every single episode all by themselves in a windowless vault part, while just wait their negotiator to call them back about this year’s Edinburgh schedule.( Spoiler: she never does .) UK comedy columnists are not admirably subdued; they’re only highly, very tired.
Read more: theguardian.com
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