AIR in 2004? They will definitely need a new plan for some more Hit Sitcoms to compete with ABC and CBS.

The same thing they did when Cheers, seinfeld, and cosby ended.....move on to the next hit;)

I think that "Joey" and "Coupling" will be the shows that become the next "Fraiser" and "Friends" (aka.NBC's "Flagship Shows")

NBC's Thursday Night Lineup In 2004
8:00-Joey (Confirmed)
8:30-Scrubs (Possibly)
9:00-Will & Grace (100% Chance)
9:30-Coupling (It seems like it would stay there)

Originally posted by Sitcomwriter
I think that "Joey" and "Coupling" will be the shows that become the next "Fraiser" and "Friends" (aka.NBC's "Flagship Shows")

Tha spinoff with Joey will not last until Thanksgiving. Who is starring in Coupling?

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
Who is starring in Coupling?

Rena Sofer,Sonya Walger,Lindsay Price,Colin Furguson,Jay Harrington and Christopher Moynihan.

I don't think the "Joey" spinoff will last long at all. "Scrubs" is a mild hit, but it doesn't have the power "Frasier"/"Friends" has/had. "Will & Grace" is showing aging signs and I don't know how long it'll last, so I think NBC may be headed for a few sitcom down years

why do you guys think "Joey" won't last? I think its gonna do great!

Originally posted by benjamoon
I don't think the "Joey" spinoff will last long at all. "Scrubs" is a mild hit, but it doesn't have the power "Frasier"/"Friends" has/had. "Will & Grace" is showing aging signs and I don't know how long it'll last, so I think NBC may be headed for a few sitcom down years

Why? When frasier spun off it didn't have the power that Cheers or Seinfeld had...

As much as I like the character of Joey, Friends is an ensemble show. Joey plays off the other 5. While I hope him the best, I'm afraid the spin-off won't last that long. I would like it to, but don't think it will.:( :( :( :(

Originally posted by phoebe7165
As much as I like the character of Joey, Friends is an ensemble show. Joey plays off the other 5.

Cheers was also but I agree with you.It just won't be the same Joey without Chandler or his other "Friends".

Read this article (http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,274|82572|1|,00.html).

I'll say they should have marathons every night of some of their old shows, such as The Brady Brides, Diff'rent Strokes, The Monkees, Our House, and Taxi.

Originally posted by James
I'll say they should have marathons every night of some of their old shows, such as The Brady Brides, Diff'rent Strokes, The Monkees, Our House, and Taxi.

LOL, that would be nice but I don't see that happening unfortunately.

Well, Frasier don't get all that great ratings anymore. They do, do better then most NBC Tuesday shows but not that much better. So I don't think NBC is sweating "Frasier" all that much.
On to "Friends" NBC is hoping that "Joey" will be like the early years of "Frasier" with top ratings and eventually becoming the number 1 show. They still have "Will and Grace" the 3rd highest rated sitcom last season. And they are hoping on the British hit Americanized "Coupling" which some critics have been saying the American one is better than they British one.

Originally posted by Will and Grace Fanatic
Well, Frasier don't get all that great ratings anymore. They do, do better then most NBC Tuesday shows but not that much better. So I don't think NBC is sweating "Frasier" all that much.
On to "Friends" NBC is hoping that "Joey" will be like the early years of "Frasier" with top ratings and eventually becoming the number 1 show. They still have "Will and Grace" the 3rd highest rated sitcom last season. And they are hoping on the British hit Americanized "Coupling" which some critics have been saying the American one is better than they British one.



Will and Grace finished at number 3 for the 2002-03 season?

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
Will and Grace finished at number 3 for the 2002-03 season?

They said 3rd highest rated sitcom

Like someone else said, "Friends" is SUCH an ensemble comedy, more so than "Cheers" was. The 6 of them have been the leads for the entire run of the show, it hasn't changed around characters. The 6 are so famous together. It'd be like spinning one of the 4 characters from "I Love Lucy" onto their own sitcom without any of the other 3.

Frasier was a supporting character on an comedy, Joey is a lead character in an comedy. It wasn't the same with "Frasier" because he could be distanced enough because he wasn't such an integral part of the show that it seemed weird to see him without the other cast members.

I also don't think Joey will last very long. Without the rest of the character's, the show will bomb. Remember Florence on the Jeffersons? She was a strong character but when she got her own show in 1981, it bombed.


Chris.

Originally posted by benjamoon
They said 3rd highest rated sitcom

Like someone else said, "Friends" is SUCH an ensemble comedy, more so than "Cheers" was. The 6 of them have been the leads for the entire run of the show, it hasn't changed around characters. The 6 are so famous together. It'd be like spinning one of the 4 characters from "I Love Lucy" onto their own sitcom without any of the other 3.

Frasier was a supporting character on an comedy, Joey is a lead character in an comedy. It wasn't the same with "Frasier" because he could be distanced enough because he wasn't such an integral part of the show that it seemed weird to see him without the other cast members.

I have to disagree with you, Cheers was a complete ensemble comedy. It had at the end a total of 9 characters, 11 if you count Shelley who left 5th season, and Nick who died 3rd season.

Originally posted by DianeChambers87
I have to disagree with you, Cheers was a complete ensemble comedy. It had at the end a total of 9 characters, 11 if you count Shelley who left 5th season, and Nick who died 3rd season.

Maybe the difference is that "Cheers" had 9 characters, and it was obvious that Sam's role in the show was more important than for example, Norm's role. Even though it was an ensemble comedy, it wasn't 6 leads playing off each other. It was leads and supporters playing off each other. I think "Cheers" is an ensemble comedy in the same way "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was. The supporting characters play off each other, but they're able to make clean cuts to their own spinoffs (Rhoda, Lou Grant, etc)

The 6 Friends are so intertwined with each other because it's an ensemble of 6 leads, rather than 2 or 3 leads and a strong supporting cast

Not really, maybe in the first couple of seasons but if you watch it closely when it is 9 of them...hardly any of the episodes focus on Sam....he's just there. They completely play off of each other. Granted Sam was one of the most valueble cast members....and he WAS the owner of the bar..mostly. If we were talking main characters Norm would be one. He's been in the credits since episode one which not alot of the characters can say. Not even cliff. And cheers would NOT be Cheers without Norm.....

Once the brilliant "Frasier" launches into syndication and WGN repeats starting in 2004 and the trashy "Friends" stumbles across its all-too-dramatic finale, NBC will scramble for quality programming. The incredibly-raunchy "Coupling" and stupid-spinoff "Joey" will fail miserably, along with the limp and inane "Will & Grace" All reality shows will lose their viewership and fail. This will happen to other stations as well. The moronic "Discovery Kids" lineup from NBC's saturday morning, arleady a failure, will disintegrate into nothingness. Raunch and reality will be realized to be a failure and a brief fad. Then, television will enter a second golden age known as "The Unreality Revolution Time" where shows become family-friendly, witty and unrealistic. Cartoons like "Pokemon," "Tokyo Pig," and "Justice League" will join primetime for the first time. A sixth Star Trek series will be launched. "Frasier" will then join "Nick at Nite" and "Friends" will vanish...

Then again, I'm not clairvoyant...

Personally, I think Frasier should have called it quits a couple of years ago, and I never did like Friends. All I watch on NBC now are Scrubs and ER.

Originally posted by Snoopy
Personally, I think Frasier should have called it quits a couple of years ago

True. It's one of those shows that's overstayed its welcome.

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
Will and Grace finished at number 3 for the 2002-03 season?

No, I said they were the 3rd highest rated sitcom of the season. Not the 3rd highest rated show. I beleive they came in 14th for the season. Most top rated shows are dramas or reality tv.

Originally posted by James
I'll say they should have marathons every night of some of their old shows, such as The Monkees, and Taxi.

That would be suicide!

If you showed the viewing audiance that there used to be good television shows, they would expect comparable creativity every week in the here and now!

That just wouldn't do at all!

I mean, how would they be able to pawn such wonders as Fear Factor, or whatever other "reality" show they have in store for us off on the public if they aired good sitcoms from the past?!?

:D ;)

"Joey" could very well be the next "Frasier" but it might also become the next "Tortellis".Hopefully "Friends" will end off it's long, well-deserved run as funny as it was when it started."Will & Grace" won't go anymore than 9 years."Coupling" will most likely get about 6 or 7 and "Joey" well, as I said, it could either be the next "Frasier" or the next "Tortellis".

Originally posted by The Obsolete Man
I mean, how would they be able to pawn such wonders as Fear Factor, or whatever other "reality" show they have in store for us off on the public if they aired good sitcoms from the past?!?

Well, if they don't air marathons of those shows I mentioned, those "good sitcoms from the past" should be the templates for their shows of the future. In other words, NBC should go "back to the basics." No sexual innuendo, no foul language, and no excessive violence. I watch those shows not only for their sense of humor, but also for their wholesomeness. I do not want to be offended by raunch.

Originally posted by James
Well, if they don't air marathons of those shows I mentioned, those "good sitcoms from the past" should be the templates for their shows of the future. In other words, NBC should go "back to the basics." No sexual innuendo, no foul language, and no excessive violence. I watch those shows not only for their sense of humor, but also for their wholesomeness. I do not want to be offended by raunch.

I agree with that! Imagine that, a family-friendly primetime for the next generation. :)

Who can forget the Golden Palace??? I mean they took the entire cast of the Golden Girls minus Dorothy and gave them a new show. However the problem was terrible writing, I mean 3 senior citizens running a hotel with a bunch on new characters sure was not going to last long.

With the Joey situation, this could be a huge hit or a huge failure depending on the plot of the show. NBC will really need to find a cast similar to the friends cast and they better keep it very small not to throw too many new faces centered around Joey. I say this will be a semi-hit, people whom are obsessed with Friends will still tune in because Friends will still continue with Joey.

Originally posted by James
Well, if they don't air marathons of those shows I mentioned, those "good sitcoms from the past" should be the templates for their shows of the future. In other words, NBC should go "back to the basics." No sexual innuendo, no foul language, and no excessive violence. I watch those shows not only for their sense of humor, but also for their wholesomeness. I do not want to be offended by raunch.

There's only one problem.. .today's so-called "sophisticated, mature" audiances want raunch, filth, and sex. Some would say it's because of the degradation of society, some would say it's because we've been programmed to expect, some would say it's because the average person today is an idiot who wouldn't understand sophisticated, subtle humor if it bit 'em in various body parts, but the success of "reality" shows shows... the average viewing audiance wants well... (insert own four letter slur here).

For example... The Dick Van Dyke show wouldn't last season today. The humor is subtle, sophisticated, and witty. It's classic, timeless, what have you. It would fly over the heads of the Friends/Survivor generation because Rob and Buddy never talked about masturbation or how nice of a rack Laura had.

Sad but true.

Oh, and I figure I should mention... the Dick Van Dyke show almost didn't last a season in the 60s, either... once again, too sophisticated and all that. It took DVD being scheduled after one of the least intelligent (yet still funny) shows ever... the Beverly Hillbillies, for the Dick Van Dyke show to gain an audiance... and only because remote controls weren't yet a standard option with TVs and it was too much effort to get up and change a channel. I suppose the old quote is true... you can never go broke underestimating the intelligence of your audiance.

Originally posted by Sitcomwriter
"Joey" could very well be the next "Frasier" but it might also become the next "Tortellis".Hopefully "Friends" will end off it's long, well-deserved run as funny as it was when it started."Will & Grace" won't go anymore than 9 years."Coupling" will most likely get about 6 or 7 and "Joey" well, as I said, it could either be the next "Frasier" or the next "Tortellis".

I hope that "Will and Grace" does go on until it's 9th season but I don't think it will happen. Show's like that, that have to be consistently funny don't usually last 9 season with really funny episodes and great ratings. I think it will last until its 7th season when their contract with NBC is up.

"W&G" depends on if NBC can get something else going on the night. The entire 8-10pm block on Thrusday relies on a strong 8pm show--- when "Friends" is down, the entire night is down. With "ER" rapidly shrinking, I think we can expect a few more seasons out of "W&G"