(no subject)
Oct. 11th, 2004 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cblj_backupI can't actually say I've been trying, actively, to figure this out, but it has come up once or twice, so I'm glad I finally have.
See, I'm not a sitcom fan. At all. I watched Friends once in a while, but even then -- Friends typically has a main plot and a smaller sideplot -- I usually hated one of the plots. Same with Frasier, because oh, my god, so much humiliation comedy. The rest of them just don't interest me.
The first sitcom I've really enjoyed in forever is Two and a Half Men, and I finally know why:
A series has to stay true to what makes it distinctive, [Actor Charlie] Sheen said -- and [Producer Chuck] Lorre concurs. He describes the "litmus test" that each "Two and a Half Men" episode must pass.
"Is there any other show on television that can tell this story? If so, let's not do it, it's generic. How is it specifically a show about our characters, one that only we can tell?"
What a great attitude to have towards anything in the entertainment business. I wish more playwrights thought that way. We might have a much wider variety of plays each season, instead of a couple of tired postmodern pastiches, movie or book adaptations, and one or two Arthur Miller wannabes.
See, I'm not a sitcom fan. At all. I watched Friends once in a while, but even then -- Friends typically has a main plot and a smaller sideplot -- I usually hated one of the plots. Same with Frasier, because oh, my god, so much humiliation comedy. The rest of them just don't interest me.
The first sitcom I've really enjoyed in forever is Two and a Half Men, and I finally know why:
A series has to stay true to what makes it distinctive, [Actor Charlie] Sheen said -- and [Producer Chuck] Lorre concurs. He describes the "litmus test" that each "Two and a Half Men" episode must pass.
"Is there any other show on television that can tell this story? If so, let's not do it, it's generic. How is it specifically a show about our characters, one that only we can tell?"
What a great attitude to have towards anything in the entertainment business. I wish more playwrights thought that way. We might have a much wider variety of plays each season, instead of a couple of tired postmodern pastiches, movie or book adaptations, and one or two Arthur Miller wannabes.
