A sitcom, or situational comedy, is a “serialised comedic program where each episode revolves around a different situation. In each different situation, however, there is the same cast of characters who return from episode to episode.” This style of television was at its peak in the 90s, with sitcoms such as Friends, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gracing the screens. Once the twenty-first century hit, sitcoms were still going strong, with Modern Family, The Office, and The Big Bang Theory. And while sitcoms are still on the program today, such as South Park and Rick and Morty, we’ve seen a decline in popularity from this beloved genre of television. Why is that, and what has replaced it? What has caused the decline in sitcoms, and will they resurge?
Sitcoms have many styles that have changed across television through the decades, starting with multicam or laugh track sitcoms. These were popular in the 90s and early 2000s and extended as late as 2019 with The Big Bang Theory. While these shows have been described as the best sitcoms in television history and are memorable to many viewers, the laugh track may get annoying and may deter people from watching the show. At least, that’s the theory, though sitcoms with laugh tracks have had long runs and have been described as successful. Sitcoms such as Friends, Seinfeld, That ‘70s Show, and The Big Bang Theory stayed on the watcher’s list for over a decade before being cancelled. Then there were workplace and domestic comedies: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office, Modern Family, The Goldbergs, and How I Met Your Mother. These did not include laugh tracks but provided the comfort of watching characters thrive in their domestic lives.
The decline in sitcoms is due to program cancellations. A program being cancelled can happen for many reasons, including long-running shows, high production costs, and low viewership. Jim Parsons, who played the adult Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory from 2007-2019, opted out of the show because the rest of the cast had “been able to do this for so many years now, it doesn’t feel like there is anything left on the table.” Friends and The Office left the screen for similar reasons. I mean, you don’t want a show to get TOO repetitive. Contrarily, Family Guy was renewed last January for another two years up until 2025 even though it is due to become one of the longest-running sitcoms in television history. It seems as if the animated sitcoms are having their 15 minutes of fame nowadays; in addition to Family Guy’s successful renewal, Bob’s Burgers and South Park are staying on. But, the majority of sitcoms have been cancelled in recent years. Sure, some of them are available for rewatch on Netflix, but we haven’t seen a fresh new sitcom in a while.
While Schitt’s Creek and Blackish were refreshing, the shows didn’t last as long as viewers would have liked. Why so many cancellations? First of all, we live in a technologically driven world. While more streaming platforms have become available to us, it has killed the sitcom scene. Viewers used to turn on the television at a specific time and day and could only watch one episode at a time. Now, with hundreds of titles on streaming services, our society today has difficulty committing to one show or watching one show in a short amount of time. And, this is bad news; sitcoms, like any good show, need time to develop their storylines. According to Comic Book Resources, “Networks understood that not everything will be a hit right away and that shows need time to grow. Streaming services don’t care as they look for instant gratification.” This is true. Shows on Netflix and other streaming platforms are often cancelled before the first season event concludes.
Today’s generation of viewers also want more, especially when the pandemic hit during which people were at home and needed entertainment. They don’t want half-hour episodes; rather, they’d prefer longer run times to satisfy their television craving. Ironically, we have shorter attention spans now more than ever; our focus has deteriorated, yet our focus on television and dopamine rushes from social media has increased dramatically. While there are still sitcoms on our screens today, they lack the heart of past shows. Shows that would provide nostalgia and laughs have now been replaced with dramas. It is rare to find a truly riveting television series today, and none of them are modern sitcoms, in my opinion. Today, dramas, comedies, and a mash of comedy-dramas have dominated the television scene. We are unsure where television will go in the future, but for the time being, I don’t expect a sitcom revival anytime soon.
