Quick thoughts on sitcoms – CliqueClack behind the scenes
Thought you had enough of behind the scenes at CliqueClack, after reading our diatribes on Reaper’s fate and the top 100 sci-fi shows, didn’t you? Well, maybe in another life you’ll be so lucky, but today you get graced with another installment. This time, Julia started it, innocently enough.
C’mon, read it. It’s actually pretty relevant considering all of the new sitcoms the networks are trying this season.
JULIA: Any Arrested Development virgins around here? Because if I were, I would offer to do a Diary, but I am pathetically, helplessly in love with this show. But I’m just suggesting, it’s worth getting into. And I will happily aid and abet anyone interested in getting addicted.
BOB: Funniest show to ever be on TV.
[and now begins the controversy...]
Frasier – CliqueClack Flashback
“Sometimes you want to go, where everybody.…” No? Sorry! I think it’s something about “tossed salads and scrambled eggs.” That sounds more like it.
I actually wasn’t a Cheers fan, so there’s little that I could say about the broader evolution of Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), except for this: man did he look young in Boston! And trim, with more hair…. But Frasier also wasn’t himself when he was a member of a large ensemble. The character actually only evolved once he settled in Seattle on his own show. And what happened afterwards is one for the history books.
Frasier was one of the smartest shows on television; there’s no denying it. Just because every other show out there has made a thousand jokes to that effect doesn’t negate the truth. But it wasn’t necessarily a show meant just for high-brow people, nor was it comedy that only those types of people could relate to. With a core group of superbly fine actors, and a constantly rotating cast of great guests, Frasier was just plain funny. Read the rest of this entry »
What launches a spin-off just right?
A bit of a dicey question, that. Over the course of this past week, conversations have abounded about the new NCIS spin-off, a show that utilized the previous two episodes of NCIS to potentially launch itself onto the new CBS fall lineup.
Much of the discussion has focused on Grey’s Anatomy’s spin-off, Private Practice, as well as on NCIS itself, product of good old JAG. Which one did a better job? Forgetting about the obvious success of one over the other (not naming names), each show attempted to go about birthing their progeny in a different way.
For JAG, it was the old introduce new characters during an episode (Gibbs, Ducky and Abby), who will later helm the new series. For Grey’s Anatomy, it was send a character (Addison) to a new location and have them move there for their new show.
The art of farce – Guest Clack
Sebastian’s back Guest-clacking for us again….
The Britannica Encyclopedia defines farce as … OK forget it, let’s just copy what Wikipedia has to say about farce:
A farce is a comedy written for the stage or film which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene. Farce is also characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances.
Britannica adds:
Farce is generally regarded as intellectually and aesthetically inferior to comedy.
I thought long and hard about why Britannica labels it as inferior and I think it is because it has the distinct characteristic of “piling on,” using fecal humor and sexual innuendo.
This is funny because to me, farce is the most sophisticated kind of humor there can be on stage. To me, farce is a filigree form of art, especially embodied in two pillars of Comedy TV — Frasier and Fawlty Towers. Both show us that the aforementioned frowned upon types of jokes aren’t necessary — that farce can be high-brow.
The plucked peacock
This may seem like piling-on after yesterday’s brilliant Grinch/Zucker ditty by CliqueClack’s own Richard Keller, but what the hell happened to NBC? The once imposing network — home to such television icons as the Cartwrights and Johnny Carson — has plummeted into a chasm of mediocrity. A perennial ratings powerhouse during the ’80s and ’90s, the 21st century has seen NBC flounder like week-old sea bass at the bottom of the Nielsen Media Research barrel.
Allow me a moment’s diversion: Has anyone ever met a man, woman or child who belonged to the elusive “Nielsen Family?” I’m aware these chosen few are sworn to secrecy — under threat of execution by firing squad — never to divulge their Nielsen status, but I smell an American Idol-sized rat. I am convinced this so-called Nielsen is actually an introverted genius with Coke-bottle-thick glasses and severe hyperhidrosis, who works out of a windowless room feeding advanced algorithms into a holographic supercomputer. But that’s just my warped opinion. I could be wrong.
Anyway, among the big four networks, NBC consistently places third or fourth in the weekly ratings race. Is this a prolonged slump or has the peacock lost its broadcasting mojo?
Most Commented (Past Week)