Sunday, September 27, 2009

Golden Age of Sit-coms?

I know I know...every couple of years, someone wonders if we are in a new "Golden Age of Television", but seriously, has there ever been a group of sit-coms collectively as good as 30 Rock, The Office, Big Bang Theory, Old Adventures of New Christine, How I Met Your Mother and now Modern Family? Maybe none of them are as great as Seinfeld, or as important as The Cosby Show, but I can't think of a time where there has been this many great sit-coms all airing at the same time.

30 Rock and Big Bang Theory thus far have gotten funnier every year that they air. They both took a year or so to really figure out what worked and what didn't (that's just about always the way with good television shows). The Office took a bit longer, but has grown into it's own separate identity from the Ricky Gervais original. How I Met Your Mother is one of the most original sit-coms ever written in that it's a hybrid of a standard sit-com and a flashback-driven affair like Lost. It continuously jumps backwards and forwards in time, and with a few exceptions, manages to maintain it's own continuity.

If Modern Family is what Dennis Green thinks it is, and Community grows into what it can be, then I think that 10 years from now people will look back at this time period in awe. Ok, "awe" is probably too strong and dramatic a word... maybe "doe-eyed wonder" would be better. Well, whatever it is they look back with, they'll be impressed.

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