Hey everybody! :wave:

Ever wonder how sitcoms are made or what it's like to work on one? Well, my name's Darin Henry, I've been writing and producing sitcoms for 20 years and I thought it would be fun to start a thread where I could answer any questions my fellow TV fans have about what it's like behind the scenes on a sitcom.

I've written for Seinfeld, Futurama, Muppets Tonight, The Ellen Show and many other shows that, based on their ratings, were a lot more fun to write than to watch. I also lived in London for a few years and wrote for several BBC1 series including the top-rated but little-exported show My Family. I'm currently a writer and co-executive producer on KC Undercover, a new Disney comedy about a family of spies (premiering January 18th) . So go ahead and throw me your questions and I'll try to answer as many of them as possible.

hope to hear from you soon,

Darin

My question is WHY ARE THEY MUCH WORSE NOW THAN THEY USED TO BE IN THE 80s and earlier??

Welcome to sitcomsonline :)

I loved "My Family"

my question is: Are you really Bruce Villanch?

Great questions!

@robyrob, thanks. It was a fun job and a dream gig for an Anglophile like me.

@dude111, back in the good old days, the networks (abc, cbs and nbc) were the buyers. The studios (fox, Warner bros, paramount, Sony, disney/touchstone, universal, etc.) were the sellers. When fox became a network, the rules had to change to allow a seller to also buy. Once that changed, disney bought abc and nbc and and cbs started to produce shows too. The final straw was when networks could buy from their own studios allowing them to own their hits and rake in big bucks in syndication. But that only happens if you create hits and the hits have been few and far between.

The problem to me is that some of the biggest comedy hits of the 70s and 80s were by "boutique studios" like Witt/thomas, Carsey/Werner, DLT and castle rock. Comedy is a very specific thing and small companies were better at helping creators realize their visions. If a network wanted to ruin an idea then studios could say no and sell the show to another network. For sample, NBC didn't want michael j fox on family ties. They didn't think he'd look good on a lunchbox. Gary Goldberg wanted him and paramount backed their producer and threatened to take the show to cbs. Nbc caved and m.j. fox helped make family ties a huge hit. That's a story I was told by the former head of paramount TV.

When networks started selling to themselves, the smaller companies went away and no one was left to stand up to bad network notes/"fixes".

@alanbradyshair, the job is almost exactly the same. The reference jokes are different but I don't usually write those jokes and My Family rarely called for them.

@dude111, back in the good old days, the networks (abc, cbs and nbc) were the buyers. The studios (fox, Warner bros, paramount, Sony, disney/touchstone, universal, etc.) were the sellers. When fox became a network, the rules had to change to allow a seller to also buy. Once that changed, disney bought abc and nbc and and cbs started to produce shows too. The final straw was when networks could buy from their own studios allowing them to own their hits and rake in big bucks in syndication. But that only happens if you create hits and the hits have been few and far between.

The problem to me is that some of the biggest comedy hits of the 70s and 80s were by "boutique studios" like Witt/thomas, Carsey/Werner, DLT and castle rock. Comedy is a very specific thing and small companies were better at helping creators realize their visions. If a network wanted to ruin an idea then studios could say no and sell the show to another network. For sample, NBC didn't want michael j fox on family ties. They didn't think he'd look good on a lunchbox. Gary Goldberg wanted him and paramount backed their producer and threatened to take the show to cbs. Nbc caved and m.j. fox helped make family ties a huge hit. That's a story I was told by the former head of paramount TV.

When networks started selling to themselves, the smaller companies went away and no one was left to stand up to bad network notes/"fixes".



Thanks, finally a great explanation.

I see that studios are now looking to create instant-hits.
We see good-looking actors and "cutting-edge" (sorry for the word, English is not my first language and I can't find a better one now) shows.
My question is: why they made sitcoms that seems to be enjoyable just for a young audience (let's say 18-30)?

Is it because of internet and social media (and the almost free publicity they could get on that?

What is your opinion on live audience mult-cam sitcoms versus single cam sitcoms? which do you think has a longer longevity?

Thanks, finally a great explanation.Yes somewhat of a good one....

I see that you wrote for Grosse Pointe, I loved that show and I was wondering if you feel that the WB gave up on that show too quickly? It was a well written, hilarious show. I feel like if it had been given more time it could have become a big hit. Was that a challenging series to work on? Since it was supposedly heavily based on "Beverly Hills, 90210" did you ever heard any negativity or response from the cast of 90210 about the show and how they felt about it?


What is the biggest difference between getting a show on the air now as opposed to 10-15 years ago? Sitcoms in particular seem to be less popular than they used to be, do you foresee a time when the traditional multi-camera sitcom returns to dominance as the most popular comedy format on TV?

@principehomura, the reason comes down to the perception that younger viewers (18-34) are most attractive to advertisers because they are presumed to be more open to trying new products or brands. Anyone younger than that isn't buying most items, anyone older than that has already found the brand they are happy with and will be less likely to change.

Unfortunately, the most sought after audiences are also the ones who have found other things to do with their time than watch TV. This is why the bar for what's considered to be "good ratings" continues to sink lower every year.

@Mace Dolex, my opinion is that the style and premise of a show should dictate whether it's multi- or single-cam. Frequently, a show is ordered as a single-cam that could easily be multi-cam but since multi-cam is considered old-fashioned within network executive circles, writers and studios pitch ideas as single cam hoping it'll improve their chances of getting on the air.

@factsoflife, Grosse Pointe was probably my favorite writing experience so thanks for remembering it so fondly. I loved pretty much every thing about it and the writers I met on that show include some of my closest friends to this day. The timeslot was the biggest hurdle on that show. We premiered after Sabrina the Teenaged Witch which was hardly a compatible lead-in for a witty single-cam satire about making a Hollywood soap opera. The 90210 cast weren't, to my knowledge, unhappy with Grosse Pointe but the pilot was altered to avoid offending Aaron Spelling.

As for selling a new sitcom, it's harder than ever, particularly for multi-cam and I don't see that trend reversing any time soon. I feel fortunate to have a job because I really love writing sitcoms and hope to do it for many years to come.

did you also write for COMMUNITY. THAT 70S SHOW and 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN? If so, what were the casts of those shows like behind the scenes? Because my cousin worked on all 3 shows and he says the COMMUNITY cast was really nasty especially Chevy Chase who he says was "a really nasty S.O.B.", most of the "70s" cast was the same way, but the "3RD ROCK" cast was the complete opposite. Is that true, or is my cousin just "blowing smoke up my ***?":lol:

Sitcomics what is your opinion on the state of sitcoms today i try to watch some but just cannot get through them i'm 27 years old and prefer to watch classic sitcoms especially ones from the 80's.

As for selling a new sitcom, it's harder than ever, particularly for multi-cam and I don't see that trend reversing any time soon. I feel fortunate to have a job because I really love writing sitcoms and hope to do it for many years to come.


It's ironic though that the most popular sitcom on TV "The Big Bang Theory" is also a multi-camera; and does very well with the 18-49 demo. I don't get why that show hasn't proven that multi-cams are viable. Even more ironic that aside from Modern Family few, if any single cams have broken through to become massive hits. I mean, NBC's multi-cams were hardly ever ratings winners, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec and The Office had very small audiences.

It's ironic though that the most popular sitcom on TV "The Big Bang Theory" is also a multi-camera; and does very well with the 18-49 demo. I don't get why that show hasn't proven that multi-cams are viable. Even more ironic that aside from Modern Family few, if any single cams have broken through to become massive hits. I mean, NBC's multi-cams were hardly ever ratings winners, 30 Rock, Parks & Rec and The Office had very small audiences.

Exactly! I firmly believe multi cam comedies absolutely do still have a place on network TV. I believe with the right creative peopl, cast and crew you can still get a true smash hit on the level of some 80s and 90s multi cams. But, it has to be the exact right equation or it seems like it won't happen. Worse yet in recent years is it seemed like a lot of the creative people-executive producers, producers, directors and crews had left network TV entirely. Turns out a ton of the names I recognize from 80s and especially 90s stuff landed on cable shows. Quite a few creative people from that period are on Disney Channel shows. Tgif lives on there now..only difference is the shows are on every night of the week now.

We need a few really good multi cams in the spirit of those past hits right now badly. I do enjoy "Mike and Molly" which I think is fantastic, "2 and a Half Men" whose time has honestly come after a long run and should have ended a few seasons ago, "Anger Management" which I've enjoyed Charlie Sheen in far more than the role he played on 2.5 men, and "Big Bang Theory" which is also quite good. Oh I can't forget "Last Man Standing" though I have yet to sit down and fully watch the first 3 seasons of it, which I got for Christmas the bits I've seen of it here and there have been laugh out loud funny. Of all the multi cams in now that reminds me most of the 90s ones. I've really been pulling for that show. So, there's some hope for multi cams but we need more. I've always preferred multi cams since you can hear audience reactions-what works and what doesn't. 97 percent of what's on now I just can't watch..it just doesn't look good to me. I know the current stuff has its audience but I really hope to see more multi cams eventually.

@treky, never worked on any of those shows and I'm pleased to say most of my Hollywood experiences (20+ years) have been outstanding when it comes to both cast and crew. Your question makes me think of a writers' room adage about the relationship between writer/producers and their casts. In season 1, they work for you. In season 2, you work together. In season 3, you work for them. It's not that clearly defined but there is some truth to it. The trick is to last until season 3.

@hugeFOLfan, I write and produce a show during the day, then race home to spend time with my two young kids until they go to bed and then I spend another three or four working on my publishing company. It don't add up to much free time for TV viewing. The sad thing is so few comedies have become bona fide hits that it's hard to feel like I'm missing much.

@factsoflife & @bh7812, I agree. The really frustrating thing is that kids still watch a ton of multi-cams and really love them but when they graduate out of that demo, they're bombarded with a bunch of less fun single-camera comedies that don't resemble what they think of as sitcoms. I'm guessing a lot of Big Bang's college-age viewers grew up watching Hannah Montana, iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place and don't feel like multi-cams are beneath them.

Would you be needing an idea for a new sitcom by any chance?

@factsoflife & @bh7812, I agree. The really frustrating thing is that kids still watch a ton of multi-cams and really love them but when they graduate out of that demo, they're bombarded with a bunch of less fun single-camera comedies that don't resemble what they think of as sitcoms. I'm guessing a lot of Big Bang's college-age viewers grew up watching Hannah Montana, iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place and don't feel like multi-cams are beneath them.


Not to mention the fact that they grew up watching reruns of shows like Full House, The Cosby Show, Friends and other multi-cams that were extremely popular and remain hugely successful in syndication even til this day.


Okay three more questions:

What happened to sitcoms that tackled social issues? Shows as broad and different as All In The Family, Maude, Blossom, Full House, Moesha, Kate & Allie, Designing Women, The Golden Girls, Family Ties, Growing Pains--- not only were they hilariously funny, but they also wasted no chance to instill a moral lesson or tackle a social issue. They did it in a funny way... It seems no show on the air today, especially comedies even remotely try to do this?

Why is this? did this just "go out of style" is it a victim of the lack of multi-cams, the lack of vision? It seems nobody wants to create classic anymore and they all just put on mediocre crap.


What happened to "black sitcoms"--- After The Cosby Show, 227 and A Different World became big hits, we saw a huge onslaught of shows targeted at black audiences airing on network broadcast TV. We had shows as diverse as Martin, Living Single, In Living Color, The Wayans Brothers, Moesha, The Parkers, Sister Sister, Amen and Family Matters (to name a few); and then suddenly these shows just vanished, and there hasn't really been a network sitcom with a predominantly black cast since... why? I think the last time a major broadcast network sitcom tried this was the short-lived Fox show "Brothers" starring Michael Strahan, which last half a season I think. Did the audience for these show vanish? did cable just make the networks stop trying? I know ABC has "Blackish" right now and its a good show, but its a single camera show and I'm just wondering if the success of that show could help the networks see an opportunity for other shows featuring black families?

and lastly, an easy one: What are your favorite shows to watch, with the exception of the shows you write for?

@tiredMike, I don't need any ideas. What I need is more time to write them. :)

@factsoflife, I think you're referring to "Very Special Episodes" as we call them in the writers' room (and everywhere else). I enjoyed those shows too but once a taboo is broken it feels forced to glue them back together just to break them again. Now the only taboos left seem to be sexual ones and I don't think those are what you mean.

Because Blackish has been doing well in the key demos, I suspect at least a few Black-led comedies get on the air next Fall. I'm less confident that they will be multi-cams though. If you are craving a Black family multicam, then check out the show I'm now writing and co-exec producing. It's called KC Undercover and it stars Kadeem Hardison (A Different World) and Zendaya (Shake It Up) as part of a family of spies. We premiere this Sunday at 8:30 on Disney Channel. I hope you like it. :D

In the spirit of the topic I did think of a question Id like to ask, even though I'm reluctant to. It is a question I see a lot...growing up I used to do my own comedy series on cassette tapes, especially through junior high and high school. I used to do it all improv'd and on the fly...no scripts and I always did all the voices. A lot of people loved them..we're talking a few hundred people at least these tapes had to have been pased around between because some of the tapes took quite a lfew months to actually get back to me which getting a few of them back was a miracle! Everyone that heard them said they were incredibly impressed, that they ended up being far more than they'd expected, abd that I should think about pitching the idea to the networks. Not knowing really how to proceed from there, about 15 years ago I wrote out a full proposal/pitch for it that I've continuously tweaked and fixed up over the years. In its current form it looks professional, snazzy and you can tell a lot of time and work have gone into it. I even have directors in mind based on watching many many past multi cams who I think would do very well with my idea as well as a few actors for a few roles.

I know the networks will not read any proposal/pitch unsolicited and that you need an agent to submit it on your behalf. My question is this:

Im extremely interested in going through all the proper steps to at least try to pitch my proposal to the networks so that at least I can say I tried, even if nothing comes of it. What are the exact steps I should take if Im serious about doing it?

I know I need to start by finding an agent to submit the proposal on my behalf, how do I go about finding one that specializes in this sort of stuff? What are some good resources I can use to find a good one? Id like to find an honest to good agent, not one of those scam fly by night here today gone tomorrow ones.

After the agent then what steps would I take towards pitching the proposal to the networks?

As I said I'm pretty hesitant to ask especially since you really have answered every last question asked here with complete, very insightful answers! I wanted to ask for myself and many others here that I know have had the same question. I see it here on sitcomsonline often. I figure it's not every day an actual sitcom writer comes forward willing to interact with the community and answer questions so I thought ask while I have the chance! :D

@bh7812, thanks for the question. Advising someone on the exact steps to take to getting a meeting at a network is pretty tough, especially for someone who broke into TV before the internet. My personal path to being a TV writer started with a part-time assistant job on Seinfeld when I was 22 (in 1992 - 6 months before the show became a hit). That led to a staff writing job on Muppets Tonight when I was 25 and I've been a full-time comedy writer ever since. But not everyone wants to or is able to move to LA and start at the bottom right out of college.

You wrote that when people heard your material, they really enjoyed it. Nothing impresses showbiz types more than a person who already has a built-in audience. Could you add some simple video element to those recordings and get that material on youtube? Thanks to shrinking ratings, Hollywood is more risk averse than ever but a few viral videos of scripted comedy will get you a lot more meetings than a well-written pitch document by someone without an agent who they don't know. Feel free to post any follow-up questions if my answer wasn't specific enough for you.

@bh7812, thanks for the question. Advising someone on the exact steps to take to getting a meeting at a network is pretty tough, especially for someone who broke into TV before the internet. My personal path to being a TV writer started with a part-time assistant job on Seinfeld when I was 22 (in 1992 - 6 months before the show became a hit). That led to a staff writing job on Muppets Tonight when I was 25 and I've been a full-time comedy writer ever since. But not everyone wants to or is able to move to LA and start at the bottom right out of college.

You wrote that when people heard your material, they really enjoyed it. Nothing impresses showbiz types more than a person who already has a built-in audience. Could you add some simple video element to those recordings and get that material on youtube? Thanks to shrinking ratings, Hollywood is more risk averse than ever but a few viral videos of scripted comedy will get you a lot more meetings than a well-written pitch document by someone without an agent who they don't know. Feel free to post any follow-up questions if my answer wasn't specific enough for you.

You got incredibly lucky getting yiur career started when you did! Seems like a perfect case of being in the exsct right places at the exact right times! Seinfeld was probably pretty much getting that 1 in a million lightning strike just when you absolutely needed it. Though I'm not a terribly huge fan of that show, the Kramer character and Michael Richards were outstanding. One of the weirdest most outrageous characters I've ever seen on TV. Muppets Tonight however is a personal favorite show of mine-I was pretty bummed out after ABC dropped it and it went to cable for one last season because I didn't have cable at home so I missed that entire 2nd season. I'm hoping it will make it's way to dvd or iTunes eventually! My Grandpa on my Dad's side was a huge Muppets fan and watched the original Muppet Show religiously every week through it's entire run regardless of where he was from what I've been told and he just sat there laughing his butt off at it.

Your idea to get my material up on YouTube is a REALLY good idea that I honestly hadn't though of! I have several of the old tapes already transferred to PC converted to MP3s. I have my own Youtube channel that I haven't uploaded anything at all to yet so I can easily upload those in the next few days! You said adding simple video elements to the recordings is a good idea..meaning pictures, words? Is there an easy relatively painless way to get the video elements into the recordings? It certainly can't hurt to upload my stuff..it can start growing an audience that way and if I'm really lucky it may end up getting viewed by people at the networks that'd be in a position to find potential new projects! Thank you for the idea-thats way more than I could have asked for and I'd be a fool to not at least try your suggestion!

Why do most current sitcoms resort to unwanted crude sexual humor? Gone are the days of clean shows the whole family can watch like Home Improvement and Family Ties.

Being a fan of British comedy, I have heard the difference between Brit and American sitcoms is that "British comedy is writer driven, whereas American comedy is joke driven". Would you agree with that? And tell us what you think the differences are, good and bad.
Thanks.

@bh7812, I'm glad my advice was helpful. Yep, I do mean pictures to go with your audio though I don't know how that video editing is done. You just need to find still images that would go with each character's voice and make sure those images match the audio throughout the scene. I'm glad you liked Muppets Tonight. The show actually won an Emmy but I was still a staff writer so I didn't get to bring home a statue. :rolleyes:

@catsrule, sex is now everywhere in comedy because the public seems to like watching it. Network executives mostly make decisions based on fear of losing their jobs and if they think that's what the public wants, that's what they will try to put on tv. And if agents realize that, they'll tell their writer clients to think up sexier, raunchier shows. (My own agent has recently suggested I do this.) It's show business and unfortunately, the 'business' is usually more important than the 'show'.

@JustAViewer, as an Anglophile, my three years making UK TV were a dream come true but honestly, the job of writing and producing a studio sitcom was surprisingly similar in both countries. There is less free food in the UK but you're allowed to have alcohol during lunch and dinner breaks. The pub next to Teddington Studios was particularly popular with the crew before and after the audience show.

The writer-driven and joke-driven thing probably stems from the fact that there are usually teams of writers working together on US sitcoms whereas in the UK, most 6 episode seasons are written by the same one or two people. It's easier to fill a script with jokes when ten people are all batting ideas around. The problem is too often, the situation in a sitcom isn't inherently funny so jokes have to be forced in to keep the audience laughing. I became a writer via Seinfeld and that was very much a show where the goal was to come up with an inherently funny situation and let the funny come from the characters just living that situation. There were very few "jokes" in most Seinfeld scripts because there didn't need to be to get laughs. UK shows are often like that though the one I mostly worked on in the UK (My Family) was also written by a team of writers doing as many as 22 episodes during a production block - though they were spread out over two years when broadcast.

@JustAViewer, as an Anglophile, my three years making UK TV were a dream come true but honestly, the job of writing and producing a studio sitcom was surprisingly similar in both countries. There is less free food in the UK but you're allowed to have alcohol during lunch and dinner breaks. The pub next to Teddington Studios was particularly popular with the crew before and after the audience show.

The writer-driven and joke-driven thing probably stems from the fact that there are usually teams of writers working together on US sitcoms whereas in the UK, most 6 episode seasons are written by the same one or two people. It's easier to fill a script with jokes when ten people are all batting ideas around. The problem is too often, the situation in a sitcom isn't inherently funny so jokes have to be forced in to keep the audience laughing. I became a writer via Seinfeld and that was very much a show where the goal was to come up with an inherently funny situation and let the funny come from the characters just living that situation. There were very few "jokes" in most Seinfeld scripts because there didn't need to be to get laughs. UK shows are often like that though the one I mostly worked on in the UK (My Family) was also written by a team of writers doing as many as 22 episodes during a production block - though they were spread out over two years when broadcast.

I used to watch My Family on BBC America, until they replaced much of their programming with reality shows. I will probably get it on DVD at some point.

Another question. How do the British feel about American shows? I see a lot of what looks like imitation of American comedy, which kind of bothers me because I prefer the unique style of British humor.

hello there :wave:

i'm a brit who's a fan of classic american sitcoms from the 70s to early 2000s and i wanted to ask, given the 1990s was such a successful decade for multi-cam sitcoms on the major networks ABC, fox, NBC, cbs, do you foresee a time where we will get a plethora of sitcoms similar to friends, frasier, fresh prince of bel air, seinfeld and many more on US TV on those networks?

as a child of the 80s growing up in the 1990s as a teenager, i was exposed to many american sitcoms which were broadcasted on satellite TV in the UK, and i would long for this to happen again. I don't care for reality TV, drama shows and i can't really get into single camera sitcoms, multi-camera sitcoms was and is more my thing.

thank you

@Justaviewer, How do Brits feel about US sitcoms? Well, I haven't lived there for almost four years, but I remember a disproportionate amount of love for Scrubs, Friends and Frasier whereas Seinfeld was not a mainstream hit (although it was revered by other comedy writers). A lot of the British public's opinion of US series has to do with which American comedies are actually shown over the air or what kind of timeslot they receive and on which network. Channel 4 was/is very good about giving US comedies a proper timeslot while the BBC was not. (And I think that's fine because UK broadcasters should make developing homegrown talent their priority).

@waichingliu81, it's impossible to say for sure but I think it's unlikely we'll ever see the multi-camera sitcom dominate the airwaves again. I hate to generalize but in my unscientific opinion it's because many network executives are simply embarrassed to order and schedule multi-cams. They still prefer to fail with a hip single-camera than a traditional family multi-cam sitcom. It's a shame because when a multi-cam show finds the right balance of warm and funny, it's the most consistently entertaining genre on TV.

Thanks for the questions, everyone! Be sure to check out my new multi-camera sitcom, KC Undercover, airing Sundays at 8:30pm on the Disney channel. If you do check it out and have any questions about how it's written or produced (or anything else), feel free to post them here and I'll try to answer them as quickly as I can!

best wishes,

Darin
www.facebook.com/Sitcomics

thank you for stopping by darin. it's been a pleasure knowing you. :)