https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/

"There’s something depressing about having to bid farewell to the precise kind of network comedy we’ve lost." says Judy Berman. She adds that the "abundance of shiny new shows makes it easy to overlook what’s missing from the upcoming season’s primetime schedule—namely, NBC’s venerable Thursday-night comedy block. Anchored in the 1980s by Cheers and The Cosby Show, then Friends, Seinfeld and Frasier in the ’90s, the lineup more than earned its 'Must See TV' branding throughout the late 20th century. Even as appointment viewing waned in subsequent decades, it remained an oasis for smart, imaginative sitcoms: The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Community and, in a last gasp of greatness, The Good Place and Superstore. That legacy has ended, as the network just (Thursday) aired the series finale of long-running cop sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Come October, NBC will devote Thursday nights to Law & Order spinoffs, driving scripted comedy off the primetime schedule entirely. Other Big 5 broadcasters seem to be losing faith in comedy series as well. The CW belongs to superheroes, Archie Comics and B-grade nonfiction programming now. While Fox’s Sunday adult-animation block is still going strong, there isn’t a single live-action sitcom on its fall schedule. ABC has carved out Wednesdays for family comedies, but the only 'new' title is a Wonder Years reboot. CBS seems like a relative haven for the genre, until you realize that one mega-producer, The Big Bang Theory bard Chuck Lorre, has a hand in four out of its six fall sitcoms. Among the Emmy nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series, only one—ABC’s Black-ish, whose eighth and final season is expected to premiere in 2022—hails from a broadcast network. Scripted comedy isn’t going anywhere. Cable channels and streaming services are bursting with great examples, as multimedia conglomerates like NBCUniversal shift new projects from creators with cult followings (Mike Schur’s Rutherford Falls, Tina Fey’s Girls5eva), to platforms such as Peacock, where they might pay for themselves in subscription dollars. But watching Hacks or Ted Lasso or Never Have I Ever at your own pace isn’t the same experience as ducking into Cheers or Central Perk every Thursday evening and reliving the highlights of each episode at the watercooler Friday morning with people you knew had tuned in last night."

Yes too many options


TV streaming
Internet
Youtube
Social Media

None of those options was available in 1990

Indeed, I was looking for new sitcoms to watch this season, but couldn't find much.
And big players like Amazon and Netflix haven't produced a single multi-camera sitcom so far.

Really a shame, from the most popular genre to a niche ridiculed by the rest of audience and media. Sitcoms are following soap-operas, unfortunately :(

I have to admit I haven’t watched much network TV. I am a casual fan of the chick Lorre shows on CBS. These shows also work for me because the shows are mostly intelligent and not the goofy formula from the past.

There is a complete transformation because of the internet. There are so many more choices that the Big four networks are just one player of many. Of course, the various networks, either free or pay per view are trying to find the next big thing and of the sitcoms are dying it is because people are tired of watching them and the sitcom makers need to “up their game” or abandon the concept. But the concept is far from being abandoned.

There hasn’t been a next big thing show. Like maybe Modern Family or Big Bang Theory. But again not to repeat myself, there are so many networks and makers of content. People like to laugh and love comedy and the comedy isn’t dead. Don’t worry. The problem now is that a lot of comedy is “woke” and topical instead of just being funny. Some shows are still that like Curb your Enthusiasm. Another show is “I’m Sorry”. Comedy isn’t dead.

Even with the very few good sitcoms left, something feels off

I have to admit I haven’t watched much network TV. I am a casual fan of the chick Lorre shows on CBS. These shows also work for me because the shows are mostly intelligent and not the goofy formula from the past.

There is a complete transformation because of the internet. There are so many more choices that the Big four networks are just one player of many. Of course, the various networks, either free or pay per view are trying to find the next big thing and of the sitcoms are dying it is because people are tired of watching them and the sitcom makers need to “up their game” or abandon the concept. But the concept is far from being abandoned.

There hasn’t been a next big thing show. Like maybe Modern Family or Big Bang Theory. But again not to repeat myself, there are so many networks and makers of content. People like to laugh and love comedy and the comedy isn’t dead. Don’t worry. The problem now is that a lot of comedy is “woke” and topical instead of just being funny. Some shows are still that like Curb your Enthusiasm. Another show is “I’m Sorry”. Comedy isn’t dead.

It's not comedy that is dying, but the sitcom genre :(

Even as appointment viewing waned in subsequent decades, it remained an oasis for smart, imaginative sitcoms: The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Community and, in a last gasp of greatness, The Good Place and Superstore. That legacy has ended, as the network just (Thursday) aired the series finale of long-running cop sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.


Annual Nielsen rankings of the greatness:

Office: 102, 67, 68, 77, 52, 41, 53, 78, 88
30 Rock: 102, 111, 69, 86, 106, 130, 99
Community: 97, 138, 144, 133, 96
Parks: 96, 108, 116, 134, 111, 115, 119
Brooklyn: 98, 113, 118, 137, 161, 138, 105
Superstore: 66, 91, 102, 113, 87, 100
Good Place: 77, 77, 94, 100

So NBCs rules for the last decade have been:

1. Pick comedies no one will watch;
2. Keep shows whose audiences are shrinking; and,
3. Replace failed shows with shows exactly like them.

And then they wonder why comedy is failing.

Annual Nielsen rankings of the greatness:

Office: 102, 67, 68, 77, 52, 41, 53, 78, 88
30 Rock: 102, 111, 69, 86, 106, 130, 99
Community: 97, 138, 144, 133, 96
Parks: 96, 108, 116, 134, 111, 115, 119
Brooklyn: 98, 113, 118, 137, 161, 138, 105
Superstore: 66, 91, 102, 113, 87, 100
Good Place: 77, 77, 94, 100

So NBCs rules for the last decade have been:

1. Pick comedies no one will watch;
2. Keep shows whose audiences are shrinking; and,
3. Replace failed shows with shows exactly like them.

And then they wonder why comedy is failing.


Office does well in syndication

The Office has taken off in the last few years but there was virtually no syndication for the rest. But ABH is making the same point I've made about these raved-about NBC comedies. The elite critics and NBC execs loved them but nobody else was watching.

Since I've long canceled my cable service I was wondering with Fall coming up what the new TV season had to offer and except for seeing the rebooted Wonder Years on billboards I don't know what is on.

And with streaming people take advantage of revisiting prior shows like The Office and Community.

Since I've long canceled my cable service I was wondering with Fall coming up what the new TV season had to offer and except for seeing the rebooted Wonder Years on billboards I don't know what is on.


I think the answer is that nothing's going on other than that.

Probably more reality and game shows.

Even with the very few good sitcoms left, something feels off
I agree.

I agree.

Why do you agree?

Comedy has to evolve. It can't always have jokes all the time. Gimme a good story and maybe a joke now and then.

Comedy, satire, caricature, parody, cartooning -- all are becoming lost arts due to political correctness and cancel culture. No one can laugh at themselves or their very human foibles any more, but want and expect to be offended. Comedy can't thrive under such strict censure (self or external). I call it the "mean Mommy'' syndrome: preach, teach, speech -- but don't laugh or be childish (unless on-point and within narrow boundaries).

The traditional sitcom has been dying a slow, painful death for years due to political correctness and not being able to make jokes about sensitive issues and other topics. Sitcoms should be funny with lots of jokes, otherwise it's not a sitcom

Comedy, satire, caricature, parody, cartooning -- all are becoming lost arts due to political correctness and cancel culture. No one can laugh at themselves or their very human foibles any more, but want and expect to be offended. Comedy can't thrive under such strict censure (self or external). I call it the "mean Mommy'' syndrome: preach, teach, speech -- but don't laugh or be childish (unless on-point and within narrow boundaries).

I am 40 years old and I feel like people were making the same kind of "political correctness is ruining everything" take when I was a teenager in the 90s. There a ton of good sitcoms they just hardly ever end up on network tv because when they do the audience for them tend to be people who don't watch network tv so they end up cancelled or stung along with low ratings for several years ala nbc thursday block. Network tv drama's are kinda mostly generic because everything is NCIS/Law &Order no frills prodecural that are no different then procedurals from 25 years ago aside from changes in hair style and fashion. That doesn't mean drama or even crime shows are dead.

I am 40 years old and I feel like people were making the same kind of "political correctness is ruining everything" take when I was a teenager in the 90s.

It was true back then too, to a degree. But much worse now - the subject matter limitations have vastly narrowed with time.

Political correctness was not born fully formed - it was a small snowball in the mid 60s that became an avalanche. In the 90s, Seinfeld (even Friends) was still very funny and felt unrestricted and "true" in term of comedic content by comparison.

We have nothing like that now that I am aware of on network - just preachy, teachy, speechy, screechy.

I never liked the stale 90s flavor of talky, lecturing, frowny "proceedural" drama that we are still stuck with. Give me the brilliance of Columbo or Star Trek or Twin Peaks - or the fun of Wild, Wild West, Knots Landing, Lost in Space, or Wonder Woman!

There is a video I just saw on you tube. It's call Sitcom Genre Birth Legacy Death what happened to the sitcom. It was a great video and everything about it was right about the genre.

I am 40 years old and I feel like people were making the same kind of "political correctness is ruining everything" take when I was a teenager in the 90s. There a ton of good sitcoms they just hardly ever end up on network tv because when they do the audience for them tend to be people who don't watch network tv so they end up cancelled or stung along with low ratings for several years ala nbc thursday block. Network tv drama's are kinda mostly generic because everything is NCIS/Law &Order no frills prodecural that are no different then procedurals from 25 years ago aside from changes in hair style and fashion. That doesn't mean drama or even crime shows are dead.

Now we NCIS: Hawaii. OMG!! Even that one got panned but it is a hit. We even have a new FBI show. Same junk just a new title. Drama and crime aren't dead. It's just that they are all the same on network tv. Streaming offers more fresh original work.

I looked it up again and it's call What happened to the sitcom genre.. Look at it. It's good.

What Ken Levine has to say (http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-current-sad-state-of-network-sitcoms.html) about the matter:
There’s an article in the new edition of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (https://www.scribd.com/article/525940450/A-Moment-Of-Silence-For-The-Network-Sitcom) entitled “A Moment of Silence for the Network Sitcom.” In the article, which basically says that network sitcoms are dead, they make the following points: Their ratings are horrible. It’s a vicious circle. It’s harder for one to breakthrough and since most have gone away, it’s hard to find companion pieces to schedule them with. Networks today are more cautious than ever and don’t want to chance getting a low rating. A better bet is an hour franchise. Another reason given is the pilot process is flawed. Network executives or former network executives were interviewed for this piece.

I don’t disagree with any of their points.

But could I offer a few alternative reasons why network sitcoms are now almost non-existent?

One: The sitcoms they develop are not that good. And then they note the writers to death. These sitcoms are selected to fit agendas, not which are the most original, which are the funniest, which have the best writers. Decisions are based on casting, relationships, ownership, cost, writers who are compliant, commitments, and societal pressure. I sometimes wonder if these VP’s of Comedy Development were allowed complete autonomy whether they would choose totally different projects than the ones they did choose. How many great pitches did they pass on because they knew they didn’t fit into their agenda and their bosses would never support them?

And again, the notes. Unless you’re Chuck Lorre, the notes are crushing. And constant. And given out of fear. How many good ideas by good writers wound up becoming bland generic blobs by the time they were turned in? Many of these writers have told me that by the time their pilot is filmed they don't even recognize it. That should NEVER be.

And do networks even know what they have? CBS Entertainment President, Kelly Kahl touts their sitcoms by saying in the article: “If you look at all our comedies, they are about something.” Really? Their big new comedy is GHOSTS. A bed & breakfast is haunted by goofy ghosts. That says what exactly, other than (a) it’s a reboot of a British series (notice in the above photo they claim it's a "CBS original?"), and (b) it’s a premise that has been done to death. CBS had a better version in 1952. It was called TOPPER. Wikipedia lists 99 series about ghosts. 99! Oh, and omitted TOPPER. So yeah, that’s fresh. The Chuck Lorre comedies? I would argue people tune into them because the shows try to be funny.

The pilot claim: I’ve heard this one for thirty years. And every so often networks abandon pilots for “presentations” (a cheap way to make a pilot), order direct series and it blows up in their face. Most of these “direct to series” get burned off in March. Some never even air. Pilots aren’t the problem. The wrong pilots and meddling with pilots are the culprits.

In the early ‘80s there was also this cry that sitcoms were becoming extinct. Sitcom writers were writing specs of light dramas like MAGNUM P.I. thinking there was no future anymore in half-hour sitcoms. Then CHEERS came along. And COSBY. And all of a sudden sitcoms were back! There’s been no breakout sitcom in ten years. Does that mean it’ll never happen again? Of course not. It’s not going to happen with the 100th ghost show. Or reboot of ROSEANNE without Roseanne (or NIGHT COURT, which NBC is developing). And it’s not going to happen if networks are so afraid of something new that they’d rather do CSI Pittsburgh. Did you see where NBC is bringing back the original LAW & ORDER?

Make better sitcoms! There’s room in your schedules. Maybe instead of ****** reboots of game shows. Let’s try some fresh sitcom instead of Anthony Anderson’s mom. Take a chance. Yeah, it’s been ten years. Name me a network pilot in that time that was really FUNNY. Instead of a moment of silence for sitcoms, how about some CPR?

so many talented actors and writers ... such terrible sitcoms ....

The last laugh: Is the television sitcom really dead? | Television (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/26/the-last-laugh-is-the-television-sitcom-really-dead)

The sitcom has a long history of being dead. According to the former NBC president of entertainment, Warren Littlefield, in the early 1980s many people believed the sitcom was over. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly noted the genre’s demise. In 2005, so did Victoria Wood. The following year, the former ITV director of programmes, David Liddiment, made a programme called Who Killed the Sitcom? In the decade and a half since, similar questions have been posed repeatedly by publications on both sides of the Atlantic. Declaring the sitcom dead now seems more like an annual ritual than a convincing take on the state of comedy. But what if this time it’s actually true?

There are a few reasons why the sitcom seems, if not comprehensively deceased, then at least less responsive than it has ever been. In terms of the comedy zeitgeist, the sadcom – a frequently bleak drama hybrid – continues to rule (see: I May Destroy You, Feel Good, This Way Up, Insecure). Streaming giants increasingly shape our viewing habits, and they don’t tend to make sitcoms (their discrete episodic plots mean they are not very bingeworthy, for a start). The newly established National Comedy Awards, meanwhile, doesn’t include a sitcom category, while Bafta dropped its sitcom award in 2015 and replaced it with one for scripted comedy: this year’s winner, the comedy-horror anthology Inside No 9, in no way fits the sitcom mould.

Sitcoms haven’t merely been dismissed from service, they have also been torn apart. While the form has long been self-reflexive (see: 30 Rock, Seinfeld), recent shows such as WandaVision and Kevin Can F**k Himself have used their meta-ness in order to cast a more critical eye on the sitcom, pointing out its romanticising, anaesthetic qualities. The latter, which switches between rosy studio comedy and bitter sadcom, essentially called out the sitcom for its misogynistic tendencies. This kind of high-concept approach is also common to many of the most clearly comic – ie not also seriously dramatic – shows, which increasingly incorporate the supernatural or sci-fi (examples include Ghosts, Avenue 5 and What We Do In the Shadows).

In the UK, meanwhile, the few established sitcoms we did have are falling like dominoes, with Friday Night Dinner, This Country and People Just Do Nothing all bowing out in the past couple of years. British sitcoms do still get made, but tend to either flop or fly under the radar. Most are niche concerns; none of them (except perhaps Motherland) have become national talking points.

None of this is proof that people don’t want to watch sitcoms any more. Although streaming giants aren’t making them, they are spending an incredible amount of money acquiring them. This year, Netflix reportedly paid over $500mfor Seinfeld, while HBO Max will pay $425m for Friends over the next few years. In 2018 and 2019, Ofcom declared Friends the most streamed show of the year in the UK, while last year the American version of The Office was named the most streamed show in the US. Vintage sitcoms have always attracted decent audiences – think British reruns of 1970s shows on terrestrial TV in the 1990s – but this time the audiences seem decidedly younger. It feels like 90s and 00s sitcoms are beginning to resemble classic rock: an inherently nostalgic high point for the genre that future generations will continue to be schooled in.

Yet, it doesn’t seem right to give up on the genre just yet – not least because the funniest and most novel comedy currently on British TV just happens to operate largely within the parameters of a conventional sitcom. Stath Lets Flats, which returns for a third series this week, has most of the hallmarks of a traditional half-hour comedy: a distinctive setting (oddly named estate agents Michael & Eagle), a cast of extremely quirky characters and primary plotlines that are resolved by the end of each episode. The humour is not dry or melancholic: it is cartoonish, fuelled by pratfalls and people saying ridiculous things. Stath is not a show designed to assess the state of the nation, or dive deep into a dysfunctional psyche, but to make people laugh: the clothes are funny, the situations are funny, the speech patterns are funny, the relationships are funny.

If Stath can do all these things and not feel in the least bit stale, surely that suggests there is still life in the traditional sitcom? Maybe. But then again, the show, which is written by and stars Jamie Demetriou, alongside his sister Natasia and Al Roberts, Katy Wix and Kiell Smith-Bynoe, is no throwback. In many ways it is just as contemporary as the slew of desolate dramedies or formally experimental genre-blenders that define this televisual period. In fact, the ways Stath has managed to fuse tradition with innovation help to explain how the sitcom has managed to apparently die so many times – and live to tell the tale.

Looking back, 2005 seems like a golden age for the British sitcom. The Thick Of It, Extras and Nathan Barley all debuted. Peep Show was entering its imperial phase. The Mighty Boosh was in the process of becoming a pop cultural phenomenon. We had Green Wing and Nighty Night. The following year would produce Lead Balloon, The IT Crowd and Not Going Out. Even BBC1’s mainstream “My” sitcoms (Family and Hero) were still going strong. So why were people in mourning?

Mainly because the definition of sitcom was in flux: what seems obviously sitcom now wasn’t 15 years ago. When she spoke about the issue, Victoria Wood was talking expressly about “the kind of sitcom that is filmed in front of a studio audience and has very obvious jokes,” whose death she attributed to The Office and The Royle Family’s naturalism and their “ironic, self-aware comedy.” The idea that two of the greatest examples of the genre actually killed it off seems slightly absurd – but it is hard to deny that they did eventually help to destroy the studio sitcom, with its accompanying laugh track.

As for the “obvious jokes,” Wood was right about that too. In the mid-00s, various commentators blamed cheap and plentiful reality TV for drawing viewers and programme-makers away from the half-hour comedy. But the genre had an even bigger impact: it changed the sitcom’s DNA as well. The Office was inspired by early examples of reality TV, and the form’s slice-of-life thrills made standard sitcom plots seem weirdly contrived. It also led to the rise of the documentary filming style – not just mockumentary but the shaky camera setups of Peep Show and The Thick Of It too – plus a comedy of awkwardness cribbed from the excruciatingly clumsy and often delusional human interaction we were witnessing in the reality genre. There was also often a harshness and brutality to this breed of sitcom, visually and tonally, that made it feel different from the family-friendly entertainment many associated with the form – something the now-ubiquitous sadcom built on.

Stath is definitely a brighter and more obviously jocular comedy than we are used to, and its success proves that comedy doesn’t need to be dark to feel modern. But it would be wrong to say it looks back to the old-school sitcoms Wood was referring to. In fact, in many ways, it builds on The Office’s advances: the dialogue often recalls the weird ways that members of the public act on camera: Al is a perpetually stumbling deer in the headlights, Carole lives life as an Apprentice candidate and Stath himself has a profoundly uneasy grasp of the English language, something that is partly a result of his Greek-Cypriot background, but also recalls how native-speakers on reality TV constantly mangle idioms.

But its vibe is even more contemporary than that. As Sarah Manavis wrote in The New Statesman, the show subtly incorporates the absurd “language of weird Twitter”, a form of social media humour synonymous with internet culture. Stath, she writes, uses the “same formula that makes the best and oddest ****posts so funny – with casual, modern speech rubbing up against formal, unusual vocabulary”. It’s a style of joke that feels different, both rhythmically and logically, from what came before - light years away from late-20th-century comedy choreography.

Stath is not part of a revival of the traditional sitcom. Instead, it is proof that the genre can adapt itself out of irrelevance. It is an undeniable fact that there is little purely funny television around at the moment – emotionally punchy comedy-dramas just don’t fulfil the same requirements, and are not held to the same impossible standards (having everyone in stitches, constantly) – but that doesn’t mean it is a thing of the past. When it died all those years ago, the sitcom was merely undergoing a rebirth, morphing into something more sophisticated and modern. As Wood said at the time: “Tastes change and that’s the way it should be.” There is no reason why the sitcom can’t evolve again. And, of course, live to see another generation mourn its demise.

It was true back then too, to a degree. But much worse now - the subject matter limitations have vastly narrowed with time.

Political correctness was not born fully formed - it was a small snowball in the mid 60s that became an avalanche. In the 90s, Seinfeld (even Friends) was still very funny and felt unrestricted and "true" in term of comedic content by comparison.

We have nothing like that now that I am aware of on network - just preachy, teachy, speechy, screechy.

I never liked the stale 90s flavor of talky, lecturing, frowny "proceedural" drama that we are still stuck with. Give me the brilliance of Columbo or Star Trek or Twin Peaks - or the fun of Wild, Wild West, Knots Landing, Lost in Space, or Wonder Woman!
Your'e right. We don't need anymore of these procedurals. I'll take a Private Investigator with a sense of humor any day.

One thing I think is instructive is that both of the real hits among the recent single camera sitcoms - Young Sheldon and Modern Family - are/were run by guys who have run hit shows of the old style, Chuck Lorre and Christopher Lloyd (Frasier). They both have an idea what a hit show looks likes, so wouldn't be snowed by someone telling them that they're No. 77 but the critics all love them and their audience is above the average income.

Chuck Lorre knows a sitcom is supposed to be funny, not preachy. There was noting even close to political correctness on Two and a Half Men.

One thing I think is instructive is that both of the real hits among the recent single camera sitcoms - Young Sheldon and Modern Family - are/were run by guys who have run hit shows of the old style, Chuck Lorre and Christopher Lloyd (Frasier). They both have an idea what a hit show looks likes, so wouldn't be snowed by someone telling them that they're No. 77 but the critics all love them and their audience is above the average income.

Do you agree that Chuck Lorre's shows really seem serve as an excuse to try to find the limitless number of ways to remake The Odd Couple - two temperamentally mismatched characters who become better while fixing the other person? But it's all under the guise of having a “message” or intending to display some social commentary.

Do you agree that Chuck Lorre's shows really seem serve as an excuse to try to find the limitless number of ways to remake The Odd Couple - two temperamentally mismatched characters who become better while fixing the other person? But it's all under the guise of having a “message” or intending to display some social commentary.

Well, Two and a Half Men overtly mocked itself for ripping off the Odd Couple. Dharma and Greg can certainly fit in the Odd Couple mold, though Dharma actually seems closer to the Thomas Lennon Felix than to Tony Randall's. Big Bang Theory has Leonard and Sheldon, but there's a lot of other stuff going on in the show. I don't know other Lorre shows that well.

Network sitcoms have been dying for years now.

From Ken Levine's blog (http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2021/11/night-court-is-in-recess-for-year.html):
Remember when NBC used to be the home of great comedy? Comedy made them a lot of money and brought them a boatload of viewers — two things the network could really use today.

This fall not one comedy was on the NBC schedule. None No room with nine LAW & ORDER series all getting slots.

What they have been developing comedy-wise also seems derivative. Their big jewel is a reboot of NIGHT COURT, a very funny series from the ‘80s. The new version stars John Larroquette (from the original) and Melissa Rauch. Why even attempt to bring original ideas to broadcast networks? ABC reboots ROSEANNE and THE WONDER YEARS. NBC took a shot with WILL & GRACE. CBS brought back MURPHY BROWN and now has either spin offs of Chuck Lorre shows or reboots of UK comedies. Fox doesn’t even pretend to be in the live comedy business.

They’ll never find the next FRIENDS or CHEERS or SEINFELD that way.

And even then, networks seem to have little faith in these recycled ideas they’re mounting. NBC announced Friday that NIGHT COURT would be held for the 2022-2023 season. And they weren’t even specific that it would premier in the fall. They believe in it so much they’re saving it for at least a year, maybe more.

Let’s look at the timeline, shall we? This version of NIGHT COURT was developed last December, it got a pilot order in May (thus too late for the fall schedule), and was picked up to series in September. In all likelihood, from idea to airing thirteen episodes (if indeed the order was for 13, it could have been 6), could be well over two years.

Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming (nice title) said “We love NIGHT COURT and believe in it.”

That may be true, but…

Here’s the reality in show business: When they truly do believe in something they can’t get it on fast enough. Movies would sometimes be held for peak periods like summer or Christmas, but television doesn’t sit on a show for a year if they really thought it had potential. In fact, they do hour episodes, or super-sized episodes, or rush the series to air. If one expression symbolizes network television it’s “serve it while it’s hot.”

So NBC doesn’t really don’t believe in NIGHT COURT and will bury it later. Or, their comedy development is woeful and they don’t have anything to go with it and might not for a year, or they just don’t really believe in comedy at all. Considering there’s no comedy on their schedule now, which of the three would you suppose is the closest to the truth?

Please put NIGHT COURT on the air while the people who saw the original are still alive.

Most US residents wouldn't have seen the UK originals for shows like Ghosts and Call Me Kat. I haven't, the US version of Ghosts has been a treat. Young Sheldon is the only spin-off/prequel for CBS comedies. While United States of Al, B Positive, and Bobishola come from Chuck Lorre, they are hardly spin-offs. :rolleyes: The Neighborhood is one of their comedy aces and doesn't even come from Chuck Lorre. You don't have to have seen Night Court in its original run to be a fan. It is getting a new generation of fans from LAFF and other places that have aired it like Encore Classic. But NBC chose a terrible lead for the spin-off. Melissa Rauch was annoying enough as a supporting character on The Big Bang Theory. As a lead it will just be worse.