I was thinking what TV shows will dominate the airwaves in 10 years, 20 years and further and the only answer I could think up is at some point we will cycle right back to the 70's and be watching the silly antics of a guy living with two girls.

In the 70's, Farse ruled the air waves.
In the 80's, the nice old Family Sitcom ruled the airways.
In the 90's, the shows about nothing ruled TV.

I wonder where we will go from here, the examples above are not great just what stands out about the era. Maybe I lack imagination, but I don't see any more ways a Sitcom can go - we have the farse in the 70's, family in the 80's, nothing (and some workplace shows) in the 90's and now we don't really have any high rating sitcoms (save a Two and a half Men).
I think eventually we will end up going back around (its got to happen sometime), imagine a 2020's take on Three's Company.

What do you think the Sitcom will be like in 10 years?

I am trying to find the name of the show where an older gentleman played a pediatrician, I believe named Harry Westin, he had a nurse who had a real deep southern accent and he also had two grown daughters. What is the name of that show? My email is ponda0821@aol.com..any help you can offer would be appreciated!

I am trying to find the name of the show where an older gentleman played a pediatrician, I believe named Harry Westin, he had a nurse who had a real deep southern accent and he also had two grown daughters. What is the name of that show? My email is ponda0821@aol.com..any help you can offer would be appreciated!

Though it has nothing to do with the thread, I will tell you that the show is called Empty Nest.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094455/

I think we will see more sitcoms ditching the live studio audience format and airing without a laugh track, a change I truly would welcome.

I think we'll be seeing even more shows that resort to nastiness, sexual innuendo, raunchy humor, and crude jokes. Personally, I think this type of "comedy" is just disgusting. I'm not a prude. I can enjoy a couple of off-color jokes if they're hidden in much more intelligent content, but relying on that kind of trash too much shows very little effort and intelligence. Unfortunately, writers rely on that material too much. Just my opinion :)

^*Cough* The War At Home *Cough*

Characters on todays television lack emotion. They are snobby, rude, and disgusting. Thats why I watch a lot of older shows because the characters show real-true emotion. For example: The last episode of Three's Compnay when Janet gets married. They all showed real-true emotions: happiness, sadness, and comedy. The part where Teri closes the door and turns off the light shows emotion. But anyways, my point is that in todays shows, they have NO emotion or very little. Im not trying to offend anyone who likes these new shows, but you have to admit, these characters from todays television lack very little emotion or none at all. Have you also noticed that a lot of shows today are not lasting as long as they did 20 years ago. A lot of shows only last like 3 - 5 years on average now.

Characters on todays television lack emotion. They are snobby, rude, and disgusting. Thats why I watch a lot of older shows because the characters show real-true emotion. For example: The last episode of Three's Compnay when Janet gets married. They all showed real-true emotions: happiness, sadness, and comedy. The part where Teri closes the door and turns off the light shows emotion. But anyways, my point is that in todays shows, they have NO emotion or very little. Im not trying to offend anyone who likes these new shows, but you have to admit, these characters from todays television lack very little emotion or none at all. Have you also noticed that a lot of shows today are not lasting as long as they did 20 years ago. A lot of shows only last like 3 - 5 years on average now.
That last thing you said is probably the reason for no emotion. Shows today try to make every minute full of comedy and that makes for poor character development. I think during Scrubs Season's 1-4 there was a lot of Character emotion - maybe not so much in Season 5, but I don't see many shows with real emotion.

It might sound gay that i like emotion over comedy because im a guy and im supposed to be matcho, but I do think shows from 20 years ago and beyond were more funny because they did show emotions. They were well rounded shows. You got to see different sides of shows back then. You got to see the happy moments, the sad moments, and the comedy moments. One other thing is that physical comedy is dissapearing. Like said in a previous post by someone, the writers are getting lazy and making a ton of shows just poking fun at other people and making crude jokes. I know a lot of people like the show DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, I guess the reason I dont like it is because they are snobby and act like their **** dont stink. They also are very trampy and cheat on their husbands. My mom had an affair on my dad years ago and it tore him apart emotionally. Watching that show reminds me of a lot of things. And no offense to people who do like the show, thats good that you do like your own thing. Alot of shows today are also using just good looking people and not using ordinary people (people who are overweight, have pimples, etc.)

Do people really watch the programming that is on today? I am so sorry for them. When I was little my mama told me that tv rots your brain. I can just imagine what it is doing to the children of today!! My parents were evil-they forced me to read books and do chores. And no-I didn't live on a farm. If I was really good I could watch one hour of PBS on Saturday. But eventually someone will have to come along and change the landscape of tv or people will tune out. I really believe that. But can you imagine in 20 years what the classic shows will be? I can't. Maybe by then we will all be listening to radio shows again. Or heaven help us-reading books. Or be forced to talk to each other again. So maybe by tv being so lousy it will force people to do something besides sit in front of an idiot box. And that is a good thing.

^ No offense, but if that is what you think then why do you post at a TV message board. lol

No offense taken. You are right-that is pretty funny. I never take myself seriously. I guess what I am trying to say is that I think tv will become better but right now it seems to be going through a meltdown.

Maybe by then we will all be listening to radio shows again. Or heaven help us-reading books. Or be forced to talk to each other again. So maybe by tv being so lousy it will force people to do something besides sit in front of an idiot box. And that is a good thing.

I don't know about other people, but I find myself watching less and less TV. I only watch three current shows. Everything else I watch is reruns of older shows I like. That's why I love all this garbage on TV. It's made me get up and find something more worthwhile to do.