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Back in the Day… (Part 2)

By , Media

Back in the day… (Part 2):

1989 – a great year for the network sitcom. Eight of the top ten programs ranked by Nielsen were situation comedies.

  1. The Cosby Show
  2. Roseanne
  3. A Different World
  4. Cheers
  5. The Golden Girls
  6. Who’s the Boss
  7. 60 Minutes
  8. Murder She Wrote
  9. Empty Nest
  10. Anything But Love

Twenty years later – 2009 – only one sitcom ranks in the top ten (Two and a Half Men).

What happened to our “sense of humor”? It is true that a lot of the reality garbage can be downright funny, if not in a pathetic sort of way. And if nothing else, even the major TV networks are in cost-reduction mode, and a reality program does provide a much less expensive venture than a scripted situation comedy (it’s impossible to script stupidity).

What makes the 1989 TV season stand out? The Fox Network was in its second year of broadcasting excellence, running programming on two nights – Saturday and Sunday, all the while giving us such stand out shows like The Reporters, Duet, and Beyond Tomorrow. However, their Sunday evening line-up showed promise with hits 21 Jump Street, Married with Children, America’s Most Wanted, Gary Shandling, and Tracey Ullman (featuring a new short called the Simpsons).

CBS debuted and cancelled no less than six shows. Anybody remember these gems…?

· Almost Grown

· TV 101

· Van Dyke Show

· Annie McGuire

· Dirty Dancing

· Raising Miranda

Also canceled by CBS were Beauty and the Beast and West 57th

1989 was the final year for former hits Family Ties, Moonlighting and Miami Vice… along with the debut of Murphy Brown, Roseanne and Empty Nest.

Cable television really wasn’t a force in 1989. Only 15% of the total nightly TV viewing was to cable programming. Today over half of all TV viewing is to a cable network.

There is great comedic television today (in my honest opinion) – The Office, Big Bang Theory, even Better off Ted has its moments. And like everything in life television is also cyclical in nature – witness how long the game show boom of this decade lasted (thanks to ABC for running Who Wants to be a Millionaire into the proverbial ground).

Maybe we will see a decline of reality programming. For every American Idol, there is a Dating in the Dark or Moment of Truth on somewhere else. Until then there is always Hulu.com or any number of DVD boxed sets available with my favorite sitcoms.

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  • KaraAustin

    What happened to our sense of humor that Two and a Half Men is in the top ten?

    Let’s not mourn the death of the sitcom. Instead let’s mourn the fact there will be at least nine seasons of Two and a Half Men and that Arrested Development barely got a full three.

  • DeannaVarble

    Kara I’m going to admit it…I miss the sitcom. Though I agree about T1/2M. (HIMYM though is AWESOME and so is The Big Bang Theory so all is not totally lost.)

    Worst thing to ever happen to TV was it’s disappearance and replacement with terrible hybrids of reality show meets game show (Survivor, Beauty & the Geek, The Bachelor). I blame Joey. That spin-off stomped on and killed the idea of the sitcom because it was a terrible legacy for a show that was phenomenal. It’s like if you can’t get a spin-off from a well-followed show like Friends can you have a sitcom that works at all in the modern age.

  • KaraAustin

    American television has a terrible history of milking shows dry (running too long and/or terrible spin offs).

    If you look at some of the great British shows (The Office, Fawlty Towers, Extras or Spaced), they just stop after a few seasons. Not because of contract disputes or network shenanigans; but the people in charge decide not to dilute the quality of their work by striving for sheer quantity.

    Maybe American television should try going out on top as opposed to running itself into the ground.

  • Dusty Fox

    Kara – reading your comment on shows leaving while they’re “still on top” made me think about telenovelas…I am addicted to one that is called “Más Sabe el Diablo” (basically “The Devil Knows More”) on Telemundo.

    Here’s the interesting thing: it will probably run for just 26 weeks. That’s what a lot of telenovelas do.

    That’s right…6 months of nightly drama, love, comedy (and did I mention drama?) and then they pull the rug right out from underneath you and take the show off the air. I just started watching the show and I’m already ready to shed a tear about the fact that it will probably be coming to an end later this year.

    But you can bet they’re going out on top – and in style.