Thursday, March 8, 2012

TELEVISION'S FUTURE: FUNNY, BUT SAD

network executives say the still fragile economy and a

fragmented, multitasking audience make comedies

less demanding and more likely to break through

especially among the younger viewers

those are the kids that spend all their money on crap

and they're the demographic that advertisers seek

'it's uplifting kind of comfort food for people right now'

says nbc entertainment president jennifer salke

talking about the sit-com and who has ordered

14 comedy pilots for next season

- giving all her old comedy buddies jobs

starting this week, each network will have its own

two-hour weeknight comedy block,

this all started with nbc, when they were big and

seinfeld and cheers and others ruled tv

even the cw, which abandoned comedies in 2009

is ready to push funny again to it's viewers, the 3 of 'em

meanwhile over on cable - mtv and fx are expanding

their comedy lineups, and the usa network is preparing

its first foray into half-hour series as a prelude to airing

modern family reruns next year... thank you sofia!

strategies differ: abc has often embraced family shows

cbs has focused on relationship shows

nbc has veered toward workplace comedies

coming to nbc will be comedies starring anne heche,

marcia gay harden, kevin nealon and sarah silverman

but the big news is that roseanne barr and john goodman

are teaming up again in a new show about a trailer park

called upwardly mobile - cute, hope it's a big trailer...

'we're trying to create buzz and excitement that can exist

in the world of new media' the nbc executive stated

- if nbc wants buzz they should hook-up with seinfeld again

he made a movie that got a lotta buzz, the b movie

uuuh, that stings

TOMORROW IN OUR 3 PART SERIES COMEDY ON TELEVISION, PART 4