why are sitcoms no longer videotaped the way they were up to about 1997?

[jamesanthony]

I can't tell what is taped and what is filmed now, they look indistinguishable to me. Older taped sitcoms like the Norman Lear shows, Roseanne and shows by the Carsey Warner production team, shows by the company that did Soap and the Golden Girls, and the various Jeff Franklin series among many others had the videotaped look of the news shows, soap operas and things like Whose Line is it Anyway. I caught an episode of 3's Company yesterday and I actually like that old videotaped look. Why is that type of tape no longer used for any of the sitcoms?

It seems like around 1997 the networks stopped producing new shows on this type of tape. Boy Meets World and Cosby both of which ended in 2000 were the last shows on the bigger networks to be shot this way and Steve Harvey was the last sitcom on any American network to be taped like this.

[tvfan0101]

Originally posted by jamesanthony
Why is that type of tape no longer used for any of the sitcoms?

I have no real idea but if I were to wager a guess I'd say it probably involved money. In the end, it always comes down to money.

[AKA]

It's because most TV shows are now shot digitally.

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by AKA
It's because most TV shows are now shot digitally.

I'm very ignorant about TV production processes so I don't know how the digital filming affects things. I know the news and soap operas are still shot in that old fashioned way. Are shows shot on digital video for economic or film preservation purposes?

One thing about the old video system that I liked is that it lent itself to more theatrical type storytelling and creates a more intimate, immediate feeling. The other production styles seem colder and there is more of a distance between the audience and the characters.

[TV Guy]

A lot of producers as well as actors favor film over videotape, because it looks more expensive and less harsh (actors generally look better on film). Videotape was generally done for budgetary and production reasons (it's cheaper than film and can be edited immediately). But there are now processes that can make videotaped footage look like it was shot on film (FilmLook is one), so even the lowest budget shows can now look filmed, even though they may still be shot on tape.

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by TV Guy
A lot of producers as well as actors favor film over videotape, because it looks more expensive and less harsh (actors generally look better on film). Videotape was generally done for budgetary and production reasons (it's cheaper than film and can be edited immediately). But there are now processes that can make videotaped footage look like it was shot on film (FilmLook is one), so even the lowest budget shows can now look filmed, even though they may still be shot on tape.

OK I never knew this. I guess we are forever past the era of shows being videotaped and presented as such without undergoing that conversion process. Still that videotaped style lent itself to a more homey, theatrical kind of feeling in terms of how the sitcom plots were presented. The current shows can have 16 scenes in a half hour, but I noticed that the videotaped ones had fewer. Some may have had as few as 3-4 scenes in an episode. All these scenes now go by so quickly, and subplots seem to be basically mandatory for sitcoms. It can be a bit jarring to watch.