Sitcoms

So in my first post, I listed the shows that I watch, broken into categories. I thought it might be nice to go through them, a category at a time, and say why they're on my watch list when others of their kind aren't.

When I was a kid, I watched tons of sitcoms. All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Gomer Pyle, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Barney Miller, Cheers, The Jeffersons, Maude, What's Happening, Night Court, M*A*S*H, That Girl, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, Gilligan's Island... I mean, the list goes on and on. Some were better and some were worse, but they weren't like most shows today, with great big plot arcs. With very few exceptions, everyone ended each show the way they started it. No one actually grew as a character, because if they did, it would change the dynamic for the next episode.

And I hear, from time to time, that this or that sitcom is amazing. Currently, it's all about Modern Family. Everyone tells me it's amazing. The funniest thing on TV. And it's possible that it is; since I've never seen an episode, I couldn't say. And given how full my TV dance card is, I can probably be forgiven if I give it a pass. At least for now.

Of the three sitcoms I watch, only one is a show that I've watched from the beginning. And that's The Big Bang Theory. I actually started watching this one before the beginning. It was one of a number of shows where the pilots leaked during the summer prior to the new season. So I actually saw the pilot with Amanda Walsh as Katie (replaced, happily, by Kaley Cuoco as Penny). And from the very first, I was in love. It was a lot of things. The geekery was fantastic. When they were discussing the physics of Superman catching Lois Lane, I couldn't stop laughing. It's almost embarrassing how many of the geek jokes I get in the show. In one episode, Leonard is reaching for something on the top shelf of his closet. As soon as I saw it was an oversized bottle, I turned to my partner and said, "Oh, my God! He has a bottle city of Kandor!" So it's definitely my sort of thing. And the wit is fast, and it's smart, and it's sharp. It's basically my dream sitcom.

Which brings me to How I Met Your Mother. I didn't watch this at first, because frankly, the whole drawn out thing about who the mother is doesn't much interest me. I saw the movie Definitely, Maybe, which has the same basic plot, but it gets done in an hour and a half. I liked the movie, but it didn't seem like a concept that could really hold up for season after season. And in truth, if it weren't for the characters, that idea never would have been able to support a sitcom. That isn't even really what the show is about. It's about a group of friends growing up. And like The Big Bang Theory, the dialogue just zips. But what really got me to watch it (which involved watching two or three seasons, marathon style, just to catch up) was Neil Patrick Harris. I'd never seen Doogie Howser, MD. I had no idea who he was. And then there was a writer's strike, and Joss Whedon created the magnificent Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It was genius, and NPH was genius. And I figured, hey, it has to be worth a try. And I haven't regretted it. Not for a single episode.

The third and only other sitcom I currently watch is one that I deliberately skipped at the beginning. Not because I thought the idea was "meh", but because I thought the idea was a little offensive, a little gross, and really not my cup of tea. The very title, Cougar Town, speaks volumes. For those who've been living under a rock, cougars are older women who date younger men. I'd watch Desperate Housewives first. But...

See, what I knew about the show was that it starred, among others, Christa Miller, who played Perry Cox's wife Jordan on Scrubs. She was amazing in Scrubs. Mean, in a really funny way. And I didn't know if she'd be playing the same sort of character in this show, so that wasn't enough for me to try it out. But I kept hearing about it being really funny. So I tried the first episode. And it was gut bustingly hilarious. Odd in a Scrubs-ish sort of way (which makes sense, since Miller's husband Bill Lawrence created both shows), and it made me laugh at things that I should probably be embarrassed to laugh at. And yes, there was stuff about cougars and so on, but it was funny enough that I didn't care.

And the funny thing is, after about half a dozen episodes, the cougar stuff was gone. I've heard they even considered changing the name of the show over the summer between the first season and the second, because it isn't representative any more, and it's kind of off-putting to... well, to people like me, I guess. But they decided not to. And all I have to say is that if you've skipped this show for the same reason, you should reconsider. It's some of the funniest TV around.