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Good Sitcoms, Bad Sitcoms and How "Friends" Ruined Network TV                   

9/11/2012

13 Comments

 
In sitcoms there seem to be three categories. 

There's the good stuff. Cheers. Everybody Loves Raymond. Frasier. 

Then there's the bad stuff. 8 Simple Rules. Samantha Who? Wanda at Large.

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Then there's a whole new category of bad... Everything inspired by "Friends." 100 Questions. Best Friends Forever. Happy Endings. The list goes on.

Want to make sure your pilot is better than the competition? Discover the important differences between good and bad pilots below...

KEEP READING FOR MORE...

What's So Bad About "Friends"?

Nothing. "Friends" was a hit. It worked. 

Six good looking twenty somethings living in a way too nice apartment in a non-descript New York. 

People loved it. That's obvious.

The problem is, writers have failed to realize that the template for "Friends" could only work once. And when they do use the template, they take the 'eh' and leave the brilliance behind.

You see it every pilot season, and the results just keep getting worse.

There are clear reasons why these "Friends" knock-offs fail. In fact, there are quite a few things that almost every bad sitcom has in common.

The good shows have a lot in common too.

I know, because over the last few weeks Chelsea and I have watched hundreds of pilots. We studied them, took notes on them, and compared the great with the "Happily Divorced."

This post is a result of all those hours spent in front of our TV, 22 minutes at a time.

It's the definitive good vs. bad list on how to write the original sitcom that will get you work...

Here's the List:

Good pilots open with an information gap.
Bad pilots open with an information dump.

Good pilots use setting to define character.
Bad pilots could take place anywhere, with anyone.

Good pilots live in the present.
Bad pilots dwell in the past.

Good pilots start with a memorable image.
Bad pilots start in an apartment in any major American city.

Good pilots use at least one character just for comic relief.
Bad pilots don't embrace the dumb guy.

Good pilots optimize location.
Bad pilots don't even define location.

Good pilots have rhythm.
Bad pilots stop and start and stutter.


Good pilots have inherent conflict.
Bad pilots rely on outside sources for conflict.

Good pilots let actions speak for themselves.
Bad pilots talk about what's happening on screen.

Good pilots have tons of potential for romantic twists and turns.
Bad pilots don't address potential romance.


Good pilots use fresh, new story telling devices.
Bad pilots repeat what's been done before. 

Good pilots use cause and effect.
Bad pilots are a series of loosely related scenes.

Good pilots are built for longevity.
Bad pilots don't look far enough in the future.

Good pilots start with a joke.
Bad pilots put story ahead of comedy.

Good pilots emphasize routine.
Bad pilots are people sitting and talking.

Good pilots are about characters.
Bad pilots are about gimmicks.


Good pilots have characters that make assumptions.
Bad pilots have characters that state facts.

What Do You Have to Add?

Comment below with any more important differences between good pilots and bad pilots.  There are tons out there. 

Or tell us we're wrong and 100 Questions is actually amazing. Either way - - comment now.


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13 Comments
Cryssi
9/12/2012 03:26:20 am

Helpful! And in thinking about all the pilots I have tried out on Netflix I think I'm now qualified to say that you pinpointed accurately all the things that separate the good from the blah.

Reply
Script Quack link
9/12/2012 10:20:57 am

Thanks, Cryssi. Glad the article helped you see those pilots in a new light. Netflix has a lot of duds. I think we'll be adding to this list whenever a new comparison pops up, so check back!

Reply
Lindsay
9/12/2012 04:49:45 am

I almost stopped reading when you said Happy Endings was a bad sitcom. It does several of the things you say are good: revels in the city of Chicago as a landscape, plays with potential pairings, and has memorable characters that embrace their oddities. It may have a Friends-type building block in their somewhere, but it stands on its own.
This is a great list, though.

Reply
Script Quack link
9/12/2012 07:22:46 am

I'm glad you didn't stop reading! You're right, Happy Endings is a stretch. I included it there because I think the pilot has a lot of the problems listed in the article. A better example would be something like "Unhitched," the Farrelly brothers sitcom that tanked a while back.

Might go ahead and make the switch later today. Thanks for calling me out on it!

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Robert J. Locke
9/12/2012 05:50:14 am

Thank you!! Very nice job!!

Reply
Script Quack link
9/12/2012 10:21:30 am

You're welcome, Robert. Looking forward to seeing you around the blog.

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Steve
9/12/2012 12:41:00 pm

Interesting, valuable and very timely! Thank you!

Reply
Brett Snelgrove link
9/12/2012 09:48:53 pm

Nice post and some good simple rules of thumb not just for sitcoms but any script. Sitcoms look deceptively effortless but I think they can be one of the hardest TV formats to crack.

Reply
Mercutio
9/25/2012 07:23:21 pm

i think part of the problem is that all of the sitcoms try to be hits, and gets sort of bland because of it. i believe having a clear theme is important in today's sitcoms. friends was about friendship. the big bang theory has a nerd theme to add to this. it's basically friends with nerds. as long as the sitcom has a friend like setting, adding another thing that unites and identifies the group seems to be a very common practice. finding this thing is the difficult part. nerds are interesting at the moment, ordinary people aren't. how about a sitcom based in a psychriatic ward? i guarantee success.

Reply
Script Quack link
10/11/2012 08:58:54 am

It's definitely hard to find the balance between defining a good world and establishing a 'hook' for your sitcom. Most great sitcoms have a very simple premise, and you're right, those that search for a big hook seem to have a tendency to flop.

With sitcoms, Strong Theme > Great Premise. A combination of both has real potential!

Thanks for commenting, Mercutio!

Reply
James Dixon
7/13/2013 04:17:44 am

You put too much emphasis on pilot episodes...

I've often pondered what makes sitcoms good and what makes them bad... Right now, in the 21st Century, all I see are Bad sitcoms (though I have to admit that I am limiting myself to American sitcoms and I haven't watched them with any regularity in years)...

It all comes down to one thing: Writing!
If you have brain-dead hack writers who possess the mentality of 6-year olds and who are writing For 6-year olds, don't expect miracles! I often see the same Gimmicks and formula plotlines surfacing in sitcom after sitcom, but let me get back to the main point: Writers!

Most really good sitcoms start out great (Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond) but after a season or two (or 3 or 4) fall on their asses...
Why? New Writers come on board, or there is a need to Change something in the formula (often to entice Younger or New viewers to the show) and it's often a disaster... You'll see the series dumbed-down to petty plots, runaround stories, slapstick, one-liners, basically juvenile crap... I've seen this happen in sitcom after sitcom, I'm referring to the ones I watched religiously week after week and then Wow, a new look, a new format... New crap from out of nowhere... Take Frasier for instance, it started off as a sophisticated comedy and then towards the end they introduce all manner of trash: Frasier's put up against a Chimp in one episode, in another a stereotypical loud-mouthed Black Woman (Dr. Mary I think her name was) is introduced (wonder why? Maybe to get Blacks to watch the show, hmmm?)...to say nothing about Daphne's trash brother, and Her mother, and... On and on like this, plus the characters themselves change (some would call this "character development" but I would call it Bad calls by Bad writers who don't know what the heck they're doing!): Frasier making a fuss over a Library Card in one episode, planning a zombie Halloween gig in another... It goes on and on like this before you know it the very integrity of the series and its characters are damaged and you should have stopped watching it after Season 3 or whenever...

Take All in the Family as another example... Great from the start and for the first few seasons: Archie, Edith, Meathead...plus the ideal "villain" being Jefferson next door, a Black counterpart to Archie... Everything is fine until Mike moves out and there is a void, and his wife has a baby, and all sorts of "baby sitcom" formula crapola comes flying from the writers... It's not funny, it's stupid...
Then when his son-in-law is removed Entirely from the series, some dingbat writer writes in...a Jewish little girl and a Puerto Rican woman to live with them?!?!! And by this time in the series, we are given some wonderfully tragic and Very Unfunny drama-based Christmas episodes which do absolutely nothing for the series...
The transsexual woman, Beverly, is murdered in one episode; Edith is nearly Raped in another... Huh? What? WTF???
And I won't even Touch the final spinoff of All in the Family: Archie's Place which is as generic and Corny as can be...

It's all with the WRITERS...

Reply
Jeffrey Pompilus
3/9/2014 09:57:28 am

Thank you very much for these helpful pinpoints. This list definitely steers me in the right direction to write the greatest pilot ever!

Reply
Script Quack link
3/10/2014 09:54:01 am

No problem, Jeffrey! Let us know how your pilot goes.

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