On Jul 15, 12:13=A0am, Lowland <lowl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> State of family sitcoms is not so funny
>
> By JANICE RHOSHALLE LITTLEJOHN, For The Associated Press Mon Jul 14,
3:12
> PM ET
>
> LOS ANGELES - Bill Engvall has not yet seen the overnight ratings for
"Th=
e
> Bill Engvall Show." It's the morning after the premiere of the sitcom's
> second season, and he's concerned.
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
> "Last night it was hard to get excited when you're going up against the
N=
BA
> finals," says Engvall, one-fourth of the popular "Blue Collar Comedy"
> troupe. "Not that the entire country watches (the finals), but it does
ta=
ke
> a huge audience away from you."
>
> Basketball, however, is the least of his worries.
>
> On television, "Engvall" has become something of an anomaly: a
multicamer=
a
> family sitcom played before a live audience in which the lead guy is
> actually married with children.
>
> Once the staple of broadcast television, the traditional family sitcom
ha=
s
> been relegated of late to niche cable channels like TBS, which airs
> "Engvall" and "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," and The Disney Channel,
whi=
ch
> has had phenomenal success with its Miley Cyrus-led comedy, "Hannah
> Montana."
>
> "Engvall" =97 with its current season average of 2.4 million viewers, up
=
8
> percent over last year =97 is considered a ratings success for TBS. But
t=
hose
> numbers don't come close to past broadcast network family hits such as
> "Roseanne," "Grace Under Fire," "Home Improvement" or "The Cosby Show,"
> which at its peak in the late `80s averaged 63 million viewers.
>
> "The family comedy is like that kid in the corner of the quad who's not
t=
he
> coolest kid, but he's a good solid kid," says Michael Wright, senior
vice
> president of content creation for TNT, TBS and TCM. "In this business of
> what we do, everybody wants to be associated with the thing that's the
> hippest and coolest and newest and that's not a bad thing, but it
doesn't
> mean that this form is no longer relevant."
>
> In recent years, the proliferation of Internet and video game usage and
t=
he
> overall fragmentation of the American family has undermined the
tradition=
al
> family comedy "in a big way," says Brian Lowry, television critic for
the
> entertainment trade paper Daily Variety. "It's not as much about let's
> gather around the hearth and watch together as it is, I'm going in my
roo=
m
> and watch what I want; you go in your room and watch what you want."
>
> Lowry adds: "You could also blame, quite frankly, that there have been
lo=
t
> of really bad (family sitcoms) lately. But I don't know if even a good
> family sitcom could have the kind of success that we were accustomed to
> when they were dominant."
>
> "I won't lie to you, it's been an uphill battle," says Engvall,
commentin=
g
> on the struggle to bring new audiences to his show, despite less than
> glowing reviews, including TV.com's appraisal: "a complete waste of
time.=
"
>
> But Engvall is not giving up.
>
> "At our tapings, I can't tell you the number of people who come up to me
> personally and go, `Thanks for bringing family back to TV,' (or) the e-
> mails I get all the time from people saying, 'Thanks for doing it the
way
> you do it,'" he says. "So we're going to ride this horse ... for better
o=
r
> worse we're going to ride it."
>
> Though the half-hour family comedy hasn't been put out to pasture
entirel=
y,
> "there seems to be this idea that everything needs to be reinvented,
that
> everything needs to have some clever high-concept sort of idea that
draws
> people in," says Ali LeRoi, co-creator and executive producer of The CW
> family comedy "Everybody Hates Chris."
>
> "People are fairly simple. They like good actors, they like good
stories,
> they like good writing, they like good jokes," LeRoi continues, "and I
am
> really under the impression, in terms of the development process, that
> these people have out-clevered themselves."
>
> When you look at what qualifies as family comedy on the broadcast
network=
s
> these days, it's family with an adult edge.
>
> On CBS, for example, "Two and a Half Men" and "The New Adventures of Old
> Christine" are considered by the network to be family comedies, yet they
> seldom deal with kids' issues, even though children are part of the
shows=
..
>
> In the fall, the network premieres another such comedy, "Gary
Unmarried,"
> about a divorced dad with two kids who is re-entering the dating pool,
an=
d
> you just know it will be all about Gary.
>
> As broadcasters become increasingly, and now almost exclusively, focused
=
on
> adults 18 to 49, "they don't care if kids watch their shows," Lowry
says.
> "They're not really trying to do `Full House' where they have a show
that
> plays across as many levels because they can't really monetize __ which
h=
as
> become the favorite word __ the kids as well as they can the adults."
>
> "If we do a traditional family comedy," says Wendi Trilling, executive
vi=
ce
> president of comedy development at CBS, "we have to find a show that
real=
ly
> appeals to adults. If we can't get adults, the show isn't going to
succee=
d.
> If we get kids, too, that's great, but I don't think that can be our
> primary focus."
>
> At ABC, home to the once popular "TGIF" family comedy block, finding the
> next hit family comedy is a "huge priority" for Samie Kim Falvey, senior
> vice president of Comedy Development for ABC Entertainment. She recently
> greenlighted the animated midseason series "The Good Family," about a
> family of overly committed do-gooders.
>
> "If you're a broadcaster and you're trying to bring in the largest
number
> of viewers, doing a show that involves family will be relatable to
everyo=
ne
> and also has a lot of value," Falvey says.
>
> In the meantime, cable is taking full advantage of the broadcast
shortfal=
l.
>
> "We've been lucky to work with some talented writers and producers that
> might not have op****tunities at the (broadcast) networks who are running
=
to
> Disney Channel wanting to work with us," says Disney's Adam Bonnett,
seni=
or
> vice president of original programming.
>
> The network is currently in business with Peter Murrieta ("Greetings
From
> Tucson"), executive producer of the channel's family fantasy comedy
> "Wizards of Waverly Place," and has worked with writers and producers
fro=
m
> shows such as "Full House," "Friends" and "Murphy Brown."
>
> Lifetime will premiere a new half-hour family sitcom in December called
> "Rita Rocks," starring Nicole Sullivan as a wife and mother of two who
> tries to invigorate her overworked life by starting up a garage band.
>
> But for his part, at least, Engvall is not trying to "reinvent the
wheel,=
"
> he says. "It's just good family entertainment and I hope to God that TV
> doesn't just bail on it."
>
> ___
Mmm... more Graham Patrick Martin screen time wouldn't be a bad thing
at aaaaaaaaaaaaaall! ;-)
"The Bill Engvall Show"
cast:
Bill Pearson ........... Bill Engvall
Susan Pearson ........... Nancy Travis
Lauren Pearson ........... Jennifer Lawrence
Trent Pearson ........... Graham Patrick Martin
Bryan Pearson ........... Skyler Gisondo
"The Bill Engvall Show"
Thursday 9PM (ET/PT)
TBS - Turner Broadcasting System
[TBS.com]
- "My Boys" overall rating: F
- "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne" overall rating: F
- "The Bill Engvall Show" overall rating: F
out of a possible: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F
_________________________________________
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BillEngvall/
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