Thursday, May 17, 2007

Are Sitcoms Dead?

This is a question posed by an op-ed columnist in the New York Times a couple days ago. You can read the column here.

With this in mind, I'm inviting in the comments section your opinion for the worst sit-coms of all time.

I can start this out by throwing out Gilligan/Bob Denver's pilot for SCAMPS (also starring a very young and "not bald" Joey Lawrence and written by Sherwood Schwartz) as a serious contender for one of the worst sitcoms of all time. I believe it only aired once, in the early 1980s. I think I was one of about 11 people watching it live. You can watch more below.

And a serious contender for the all-time worst sit-com to air more than once could possibly be After M*A*S*H, the dreadful follow-up to M*A*S*H that was set in a midwest veteran's hospital following the end of the Korean War. Watching After M*A*S*H was more painful than meatball surgery.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although it makes everyone's worst list I loved "Hello, Larry."

Anonymous said...

Small Wonder.
Charles in Charge.
Suddenly Susan.
Valerie's Family (though I love Jason Bateman).
Some show where Nathan Lane was an opera singer or something. Saw it once. Terrible.

Anonymous said...

I'll play. How about: 1) Mama's Family; 2) Men Behaving Badly with Rob Schneider; 3) everything Suzanne Somers did after Three's Company; 4) everything the Olsen twins did after Three's Company; and 5) Third Rock from the Sun. I tried to keep it to five (go now, Martin Lawrence, and sin no more), which wasn't easy. But having watched far too many episodes not only of AfterMash, but other memorable spinoffs as Gloria, Enos, and Fish, I can say with conviction that a bad sitcom still beats all but the best so-called reality shows.

Except for Married with Children, of course. There's a special place in hell for Married with Children.

I could go on, but According to Jim is starting. It's the end of a two-parter.