Reality Shows biting Sitcoms

[PenelopeYen]

So last night I'm watching Armed & Famous, and I'm all, hey wait a minute, this looks a LOT like Reno 911. Seriously: a bunch of ragtag cops, being all irresponsible and mouthy, getting into trouble, all in some podunk town. Sounds the same to me. SO, my question is, what do y'all sitcom fans think of this phenomenon. A reality show totally biting the premise of a successful sitcom. Plus, to make it into even more of a mind bender, Reno 911, in the first place, is a sitcom that spoofs reality shows. Wowee zowee, right? Quite a noodler. Lemme know whatchall think.

[Tha Kid eX]

i found the show to be watchable and didnt even think about Reno 911 until i read this, guess its because i only started watching the show last season (great show). but it does seem pretty odd they'd go that route with armed and famous considering the success of reno and how its a big spoof on "COPS" and so on even more so it getting its own major motion picture this year. bottomline is i think there's room for both shows

[XjennyX]

I think there's definitely room for both shows. It's like Private Joker says in Full Metal Jacket: the duality of man. It's like democract and republican. It's the American dichotomy. You've got to have one extreme balancing out the other in order for life to go on as normal. Thus, Reno 911 is the democrats, full of great humor and understanding of the human condition, Armed and Famous, on the other hand, is the republicans, full of all the worst of American culture. lol

[HaveItAll]

In that particular analogy, I'd agree with you but for different reasons. Reno 911 is all full of itself and highbrow, thinking it's so much better than the little people (ala Democrats), while Armed and Famous is all about the real people, the working people of this country making good and working hard and succeeding (like Republicans).

[Krabtree]

Umm, original poster, do you have any examples other than Armed & Famous? I mean, I kind of agree with you on that one, but you're saying it's a new phenomenon, and I'm having trouble thinking of another case.