How to tell if a Multi-Camera Sitcom is good or bad

Although not as popular as they once were, traditional multi-camera sitcoms still define a great part of television history. Think about the funniest comedies of all-time and what do you get? "Everybody Loves Raymond", "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Frasier", "Cheers", "Taxi", "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "I Love Lucy", and "Bewitched" all come to mind. But for everyone of those hysterical shows comes a bevel of others that are so much worse.

Just look at a TV guide now and you can see all the bad shows that exist through this medium. "Til Death", "The War At Home", "The Class", and anything on The CW. Here are a couple of warning signs to tell if the multi-camera sitcom you are watching is of good or poor quality:

1. If a great deal of the comedy is based upon the popularity of the lead, run away! My favorite example of this is "8 Simple Rules", the fated series starring the late John Ritter, because there was one episode from the first season that featured Ritter returning to the set of his breakout hit "Three's Company". In the episode, Ritter and the rest of the cast make fun of the '70s hit and it ends with Ritter in bed with Don Knotts (who was also in "Three's Company"). The episode is only designed to make fans of the older show feel happy that Ritter hasn't moved on. If you never watched "Three's Company" then you won't laugh. "Til Death" is the same way in that the producers assume that people will watch because Brad Garrett is playing a role similar to his Emmy-winning performance as Robert Barone.

2. If a person sings while nothing else is going on, also run away! A comedy TV show is a TV show, not a music video. I have to use "8 Simple Rules" as another example. In a Christmas episode, Katey Segal sings a carol at a church service and that is all we see, someone singing. Ricky Gervais' good sitcom "Extras" parodies this rule and others in it's second season when Gervais' character gets a role on a very bad sitcom. In one episode of the show within the show, Chris Martin shows up in a completely inplausible circumstance and spontaneously sings "Fix You". The only reason the shows are giving musical performances is because they have run out of ideas for the episode or are promoting musical artists to get money because nobody is watching the show anyway.

3. Potty humor should stay where it belongs. If a sitcom featuring adults and adult situations ever makes a joke about farting or pooping, then it must be confused about it's audience. I can't really think any examples for this one but I'm sure there are many.


And now I will explain about the picture that goes with this post. "How I Met Your Mother" is probably the best multi-camera sitcom on the airwaves that gets no attention. "The King Of Queens" used to hold this title because it was always in the shadow of "Everybody Loves Raymond", a show that I think paled in comparison to Kevin James' 30-minute laugh fest. "How I Met Your Mother" suffers the same plague except with hit-or-miss show "Two-and-a-Half Men". The acting is great, the writing is sharp and witty, and the directing is some of the best in multi-cam history. If you don't believe me, then I suggest you watch the first season episode "The Pineapple Incident". That is what a good sitcom is and it wouldn't surprise me if "How I Met Your Mother" becomes the next great TV sitcom. "Seinfeld" started off poorly in the ratings and at the Emmys in its first two seasons but then took off in its third, which it won Best Comedy Series for. "How I Met Your Mother" enters its 3rd season this fall, so hopefully it will follow in the footsteps of other hit multi-camera comedies.

Hopefully this article will help you realize what is worth watching, unless you fall into the demographic that a bad show aims for. "That '70s Show" went for stoners and retro-lovers. "The War At Home" went for vulgar Republicans. "The Bill Engvall Show" went for people who liked the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour". So if you smoke like a chimney, love Bill O'Reilly, or live with hicks then bad comedy must be for you!