Page 136 - Sitcoms News Today

Got tired of writing that show. >> sophisticated surveys, telephonic samplings, test audiences. all of those things help to separate winners from losers and make midcourse corrections. but you cant cut all comedies from the same cookie cutters. all you can hope is every night turns out like thursday. >> yo, angela! >> next! >> how rude. >> hes quick, ill give him that. >> all of television said, oh, well, maybe the sitcoms are alive again. and thats all that it took. it took one success. >> a fe...

>> you still have 50 seconds left, mr. president. >> let me just sum up, on track, stay the course. a thousand points of light. stay the course. >> governor dukakis, rebuttal? >> i cant believe im losing to this guy. [ phone rings ] >> ill get it. >> its the garry shandling show. >> people were taking the old principles of comedy and trying to turn them into something new. we spent years and years watching sitcoms and dramas and talk shows, we knew them by heart that if somebody played on that a...

>> when laverne and shirley made a guest appearance, one of the cameramen said, look at this two shot. thats a series. >> schlemiel, schlimazel, hossenfeffer incorporated. >> tuesday night between 8:00 and 9:00 is called the death spot, death to any program that dares to go head-on between abcs "happy days" and "laverne & shirley." >> "laverne & shirley" was one of the few sitcoms that ever debuted as number one. >> the absolute top number one show this season is "laverne & shirley." a seemingly...

Plan a strategy like a general leading his troops into battle. >> checkmate, schwarzkopf. >> i think "frazier" probably stands as the single most successful spin-off at least in the history of sitcoms. >> and the emmy goes to -- >> frazier! >> frazier! >> frazier! >> at the height of must see tv, thursday nights on nbc, 75 million americans watched thursday night. that was at the time one-third of the country. >> ooh. what is this stuff? >> the sweater is angora. >> well its wonderful. >> the ma...

That. >> all of television said, oh, well, maybe the sitcoms are alive again. and thats all that it took. it took one success. >> a few years from now, something new may tempt people. but whatever gets hot for a season or two, the men and women who create good television comedy will be laughing all the way to the bank.

A freezer. >> no. >> we certainly associate nbc of the 90s with extremely successful sitcoms but they werent the only network that found their way to having some success. "tgif" was on abc on friday and it was their block of family oriented comedies. >> i cant take it. i need the cake. it was not sophisticated television. but these were shows that people adored. cbs. >> cbs was in a really bad spot. they had fallen apart over the early part of the 90s and gone through a couple different network ...

Thomas magnum? >> marian hammond? >> private investigator? >> oh, youre probably wondering about the goat. just let me drop off my friend and then well talk. >> when we entered the 80s, a lot of one-hour dramas that were light-hearted, like magnum p.i. were very popular. >> after mash went off the air, the next season there wasnt a single sitcom in the top ten. first time that had ever happened in tv history. >> the prevailing feeling was that the sitcom was dead. >> brandon tart cough reports s...

[ phone rings ] >> ill get it. >> its the garry shandling show. >> people were taking all the old principles of comedy and trying to turn them into something new. we spent years and years watching sitcoms and dramas and talk shows by then, we knew them by heart, that if somebody played on that and parodied it, we got it instantly. >> i appreciate you coming in under these conditions, lewis, i really do. you want to hold the credits? see, we were going to show the credits and you screwed that up ...

>> you got to say penis. >> i could not believe they left that in? >> arent you a little old to be wearing a dress like that? >> dont you have a little too much penis to be wearing a dress like that? >> oh, my god. >> 2001, to have a transgender character was pretty groundbreaking, i think. >> i know. i know. i thought they were being very brave and then, of course, when i turned out to be married to morgan fairchild -- [ laughter ] >> i really had to get my head around that one. >> you look bea...

Pants? >> yes, yes, it is. in prison. >> we loved what was coming out of their typewriters and what was going out to the stage and we felt the chemistry of that cast. >> joey -- >> thank you. >> monica, im your best friend. >> sweetie, dont worry, youll get picked. >> chandler. >> i dont think anybody realizes how hard this show is to write. theres always six characters they have to service and then a lot of them dove tail into each other and thats pretty extraordinary writing. >> was there a di...