By Stephen Sears
Television is not funny anymore.
I wish it would be. I wait every fall for some new TV show to come along and split my sides. By Christmas time, I am usually still waiting. I am not totally sure who to blame for this. Network executives come to mind. They churn out some of the blandest, most unoriginal comedies and sitcoms and cancel the good shows.
Take, for example, our dearly departed “Family Guy.” For those of you who do not know, “Family Guy” depicted an average lower-middle class Rhode Island family. It was controversial, yet hilarious, more hilarious than “The Simpsons.”(Yeah, I said it.) The show lasted only three seasons, getting the ax in 2001. Fox took a big risk with this show, a raunchy and sometimes offensive program, yet it was still hilarious. The show was canceled for several reasons, reasons that prove that a tag team of spineless TV executives and a fickle American public have joined forces to make American television a very unfunny place.
I liked “Family Guy” the first time I saw it, after the Broncos-Falcons Super Bowl. The problem after that was finding it. It changed days and times constantly and I just gave up. Shame on me. It also suffered from poor ratings due to edgy content, no concrete time slot, and, at one point, airing against “Friends.” Fox did all it could to ruin the show and it worked.
But we as a TV-watching public were responsible, too. Fox constantly heard complaints about its racy jokes, and “Family Guy” was always one joke away from causing a boycott of Fox advertisers. A public that could not take a joke aided in “Family Guy’s” cancellation, so Fox could air “Oliver Beene” and “Wanda at Large.” Sure the show was racy, but it’s just a TV show. It made fun of whites and blacks, Catholics, Protestants and Jews. I am an Irish Catholic and was not offended when Peter and his son Chris went to an Irish museum that depicted the Irish as drunks who beat their wives and Catholics as women who pray and pop out babies. It was hilarious, not offensive.
Some people never saw the show that way. They never see any shows that way. Anything that comes close to breaching our sacred political-correctness code is seen as wrong. Our species is blessed with something called a sense of humor. Let’s use it.
“Family Guy” is not the only symbol for why there is nothing funny on TV anymore, it is just the best one. Fox’s “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and MTV’s “3-South” are other examples of shows that came and went too soon.
At least we still have “According to Jim” and, instead of “3-South,” MTV can grace us with the 500th replay of a Real World marathon.
Some of you still have “Friends” or “Will and Grace.” I could never get into them. My rule of thumb is if my mom thinks a show is funny, then I won’t.
“Friends” is gone after next May anyways, and “Frasier” is on its way out also. Then what? Even the safe, star-power sitcoms will be gone and in their place we are sure to get some stale sitcom fashioned after their predecessors. The public will eat at least one of them up, and network executives will be rewarded once again. They will get the message.
If you take any risks, you will suffer. Play it safe, and we will watch.
The kind of show I want is definitely not the kind of show for everybody. Some may not be able to handle or just plain like a show like “Family Guy.” However, I think I am in a sizable group, the coveted young male market, who want a controversial, risky show that will make us laugh. We want something more than just bathroom humor, but a show that could not care less for political correctness or humorless whiners who look and want to be offended.
My drama plate is already full with the greatest shows ever, “24,” “Alias,” “Law and Order” and “The Shield.” I am content in that department. I would like to watch a fresh show that will make me laugh. Personally, the only alternative is to stay up until 12:30 a.m. and watch Conan.
I hear people, especially adults, complain that TV is filled with garbage. They are correct in a way, but they usually blame the networks exclusively. All I see is a string of quality comedies that everyone ignores while “Will and Grace” thrives. The garbage littering TV is ours and I do not see it getting picked up anytime soon.
-Stephen Sears can be reached at [email protected]
