We are standing at the dawn of the TV drama and the twilight of the network sitcom. I, for one, welcome our new Amazon Original overlords.

Once upon a time, Thursday nights on NBC were “Must See TV,” and they featured the grande dames of the sitcom genre: “Cheers” and ”The Cosby Show,” then ”Seinfeld,” “Friends” and ”Will & Grace.” You wouldn’t dare hit the water cooler without having at least a vague familiarity with those shows.

Not anymore.

“Network TV is suffering through a Great Sitcom Recession,” proclaimed New York Magazine last year. In 2014, only 9 of the 50 most-watched network programs were sitcoms. Compare that to the ratings from 1995, when sitcoms accounted for 38 of the top 50 top network programs. Our best-viewed sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory,” only gets a third of the viewership of 1995’s biggest hit, “Seinfeld.”

Now, I’m not saying all 38 of those top-50 shows deserved to be there—I’m not exactly mourning for “Hope and Gloria” or “Thunder Alley” — and I’m not saying 38 out of 50 is any better or worse than our current statistics. But, how, exactly, did the network comedy fall so precipitously from grace?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/03/18/kimmy-schmidt-proves-the-network-sitcom-is-dead/

And that stupid junk sitcom with Elisha Cuthbert that just premiered One Big Happy is the nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned.

I agree sitcoms are really dead, but the main reason is that most of them have cast with no chemistry, predictive jokes and audience that laughs on every stupid thing.

Seinfeld used to get 30-35 million viewers, TBBT gets around 16-17, add another 4-5 who DVR and 2-3 million who watch it online, so with all these metrics TBBT gets 70% of Seinfeld's audience.

Unfortunately it looks like TBBT might be last sitcom hit.

the sitcoms of today are shows i can't get into at all; one big happy, big bang theory, blackish and all the others.

they just don't remind me of the classic sitcoms of yesteryear, one bit. i just don't like the current direction sitcoms are heading these days with the single cam format leading. and whilst i prefer the multicam sitcom format, i can't say the same for many of those types of sitcoms.

Yeah. I'm not crazy about new sitcoms either. The only thing I have hope in right now is the Coach reboot. Hoping it brings ratings and gets the traditional type of sitcom back on TV.

This article's point wasn't that the sitcom is dead. It's that it's evolved past the traditional network comedy.

I absolutely love Kimmy Schmidt. Very original, very funny, not stupid. Very, very good show.

I absolutely love Kimmy Schmidt. Very original, very funny, not stupid. Very, very good show.
I agree! One of my favorites right now.

Yeah. I'm not crazy about new sitcoms either. The only thing I have hope in right now is the Coach reboot. Hoping it brings ratings and gets the traditional type of sitcom back on TV.

i'm hoping for the same too.

I don't think the network comedy is "dead"... It's just transitioned, and frankly, all it will take is one show to hit big time and it'll be back.

I miss good sitcoms. At one time I thought Big Bang was funny but it's lost something and is no longer funny or entertaining to us.
There is just nothing on worth watching anymore. :(