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.

Premiere Night

Big time premiere night for network television. Fringe, The Office, the new show Community, Survivor (though, to be fair, I did stop watching this show right around Survivor: Iowa) CSI and Bones all made their return tonight. Of the ones that I watched, Fringe was my favorite of the night. I'm a fan of Lost, and one of the main elements of that show that I love so much is the bevy of mind-twisting scenes. I'm talking about the guy pushing a button every 108 minutes to save the world, the monster comprised entirely of smoke that reads minds, the giant four-toed statue, the first flash forward... those are the types of scenes that make Lost my favorite show right now. And with this coming season being the final one for Lost, as much as people are anticipating the new show Flash Forward, right now, with scenes in the second season opener like "Olivia Introduces Herself to the Windshield", "The Man With the Crunchy Silly Putty Face" and "Bizarro Typewriter" it looks like Fringe will be my primary source for those types of scenes.

I would say that The Office's premiere wasn't it's best, but even a mediocre episode is pretty funny. The "hardcore" opening was fantastic. And who knew that Stanley had a libido?

Now Community... I liked Community, but didn't love it. I really enjoyed how it dodged making stereotypical characters and Joel McHale is always hilarious... but to me, it felt like the creators tried just a little bit too hard to avoid all of the normal trappings of a sitcom (the new guy teaching everyone a valuable lesson, the professor getting one over on the main character to show him the value of hard work) and in avoiding All those things, it made motives unclear. Why would that study group stay together? Why wouldn't the professor help the lawyer who helped him some years back? Overall though, it was still hilarious at times and I laughed more at it than The Office so that says a lot to me.

The Vampire Diaries tonight wasn't a premiere, it was it's second episode, but despite what I said in my blog last week... I'm in. It's girly and very "everybody-talk-about-your-feelings-y" (which usually bores me) but the writers are using their mythology of vampires ( and apparently witches) and the history of Stefan and his family as mysteries to keep people like me interested. Well played Mr. Williamson. Well played dot dot dot (insert maniacal sneer here). Speaking of which, Ian Somerhalder (aka Boone from Lost) has seriously impressed me. He's much better playing this evil Damon than he was playing nice old Boone.

All in all, I am so very glad that Fall is back.