I love Television comedy. Especially American TV Comedy. Over fifty years ago, I was watching Phil Silvers as Sergeant Bilko…………Car 54 Where Are You?………and I graduated thru the Dick Van Dyke Show, B*witched, Mary Tyler Moore (heavy sigh), Rhoda, MASH, Rowan & Martin, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons.……..you name it, I watched it.
Except ……..Friends. Which was allegedly a comedy. I think for a while American sit com lost its way. Seinfeldt…..poor. Everyone Loves Raymond……..worse. The formula was more important than the jokes. There are still some awful shows around……….notably Mike & Molly and How I Met Your Mother but just recently three shows have emerged that seem to show that American TV has re-discovered a rich vein of Comedy.
The Big Bang Theory……….it is re-run………….two episodes after midnight EVERY night and I have to say its just on too often. But on the rare occasions when a new episode is shown, its still funny. The original premise of nerdy geeky physicists with obsessive interest in comic books and figurines and few social skills……….living across the hall from a pretty girl from Nebraska…..is in itself funny. But of course lacking social skills is not actually funny in itself……so they have stretched the comedy. The best comedy is probably one step away from “reality” but The Big Bang Theory is two or three steps away from Reality. The tension is that in the Leonard-Sheldon relationship Leonard is “almost” normal while Sheldon is completely off the wall. In Reality, a person like Sheldon would be institutionalised. Of course I declare an interest here……..I am a nerdy, geeky person with obsessive interests (wanna see my Toy Soldier Collection?) and I have under-developed social skills (its not exactly crippling) but somehow in Leonard at least………well he kinda does ok with the ladies……..even though the running joke is that he doesnt. Sheldon of course is beyond weird. Hes in his late 20s but seemingly uninterested in Sex, or “coitus” as he calls it. Familiarity means the original joke is running on empty………..but the best part of the Show is the Writing and Performance rather than the underlying premise. Theres a formula to the Show….. a main story line and a sub-plot usually involving Howard and Raj, two characters who close inspection shows are stereotypes although the running joke is that their relationship to each other….and there is an attempt to introduce characters such as Bernadette and the hilarious Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldons “friend who is a girl”……and Howards unseen mother. Perhaps I over-stated that there is a “main story” and a “sub-plot”. Increasingly it looks like a series of sketches thrown together cleverly.
Modern Family……..it gets the awards and has a stellar cast led by Ed O’Neill as Jay,the family patriarch. Bravely it tackles the issues of a modern family (hmmm I suppose the clue is in the title). Ed O’Neills character is married to Gloria, his second wife, a stereotypical Colombian beauty in her mid 30s who already has a son, the pampered Manny. Jays daughter Claire is married to Phil, (the excellent Ty Burrell) and they are the most “conventional” family. They have three children. Jays son Mitchell is partner to Cameron and they have a daughter Lily, a baby adopted from Vietnam. The theme is the (rightly) casual acceptance of each others relationships, a truly blended family. Rather like Ricky Gervais’ The Office………….the characters spend a lot of time talking to camera as in a TV documentary of their own lives, the weakest aspect of the show. Its a worthy programme and it sometimes seems that the comedy is secondary to the “worthiness” of the show. Me I just keep wondering if the gay characters Cameron and Mitchell are an obscure reference to the actor Cameron Mitchell (The High Chapparel)
I suppose that The Middle is a very conventional show……….Mom, Dad and three children. Living in The Middle (the Mid West……..Indiana? I think) and middle class in the American sense of the word. Ordinary folks. Mom Frankie (Patricia Heaton) narrates the show which is little more than a good natured, feel good show………a slightly dysfunctional family (but only in the sense that all families are dysfunctional and Love will see us thru). Not a big fan of Patricia Heaton……shes a conservative Republican for Gods sake………but shes pretty in a way that Sarah Palin is…….and I feel guilty………but more so its those awful memories of Everyone Loves Raymond and the failure of Back To You