A recent article I read said that Netflix no longer was interested in developing “Sad Coms.†Now that’s a term I had never heard, but its meaning is clear. And maybe puts a finger on why I don’t like many current sitcoms.
At the heart of these shows is a character or characters who are miserable. We’re supposed to find their struggles, most of them futile, amusing. The various ways they fail or **** themselves over is the path to comedy.
I acknowledge it may be a generational thing, but I tend to find those shows depressing. Yes, there needs to be conflict, yes your protagonist needs to struggle, but as I writer I’ve always felt it was my job to love my characters. They could be horribly flawed, but like a proud father, I had to love them.
I don’t get the sense that the writers of “sad coms†love their characters. They’re all too delighted to humiliate them for our entertainment. So there’s a certain mean-spirited quality that goes into the writing.
All too often characters are so self-destructive that you lose empathy for them.
I do think this is one of the reasons why TED LASSO was such a hit. To center the show around a hugely positive character was brilliant. Netflix and other platforms are seeing that there is a limited appeal for “sad coms†while brighter, life-affirming shows are attracting viewers.
We’re all engulfed in such dark times. Why must all our comedy be dark as well? Again, I’m admittedly from a different era, but I miss sitcoms with characters I care about, grounded in humanity, that make me genuinely laugh. Just for fun, how about developing a few of those?
More...
At the heart of these shows is a character or characters who are miserable. We’re supposed to find their struggles, most of them futile, amusing. The various ways they fail or **** themselves over is the path to comedy.
I acknowledge it may be a generational thing, but I tend to find those shows depressing. Yes, there needs to be conflict, yes your protagonist needs to struggle, but as I writer I’ve always felt it was my job to love my characters. They could be horribly flawed, but like a proud father, I had to love them.
I don’t get the sense that the writers of “sad coms†love their characters. They’re all too delighted to humiliate them for our entertainment. So there’s a certain mean-spirited quality that goes into the writing.
All too often characters are so self-destructive that you lose empathy for them.
I do think this is one of the reasons why TED LASSO was such a hit. To center the show around a hugely positive character was brilliant. Netflix and other platforms are seeing that there is a limited appeal for “sad coms†while brighter, life-affirming shows are attracting viewers.
We’re all engulfed in such dark times. Why must all our comedy be dark as well? Again, I’m admittedly from a different era, but I miss sitcoms with characters I care about, grounded in humanity, that make me genuinely laugh. Just for fun, how about developing a few of those?
More...