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Friday Night Lights is an exception. That aired on NBC, but was more like a cable type of show. When it was almost canceled, it became a half cable type of show with Direct TV picking it up and airing it first and then NBC airing it months later. It had fabulous writing. It was too "smart" for network entertainment and always seemed more like it would be a better fit for cable.
Despite the large cast, I had read that it wasn't an overly expensive show to make. Still more than a reality show, I suppose.
I think the OP is on to something... either that or they went and found more gainful employment after the big Writers Strike a couple of years ago. I absolutely LOVED Men in Trees -- at first. Then all of a sudden it went south. This was about 2-3 weeks before the strike. The last few episodes were just weird, like the Producers were letting their 13 year old teenage daughters write. After the strike, the show was gone.
Big Bang Theory is really well written. And the Sheldon, Leonard, and Penny characters are well done. Howard and Raj are up and down. If you watch a bunch of them back to back, you get a better sense of the writing. They don't quite know what to do yet with Raj, but they need him - the percentage of guys from India who are in his kind of job is really high. It would be unrealistic to have a geek show without someone from Bangalore.
Sitcom TV has been bad for many years now. Think about it, there are no good 'characters' anymore.
Ex.: Archie Bunker, Lou Grant, James Evans, Fonzi, Barney Fife, George Jefferson, J.J. Evans, Jack Tripper, Gilligan, Kojak, Huggy Bear, Richie Cunningham...etc.
I think the OP is on to something... either that or they went and found more gainful employment after the big Writers Strike a couple of years ago.
The reason there WAS a writers' strike was because the networks wanted to cut what they were spending on writers (lower pay, worse benefits, fewer contract guarantees). They're willing to pay for the actors viewers become attached to, but today even those people are paid commensurate to how much their show is making for the network. An actor's reputation means nothing. If you look closely, you will also note that sets, lighting, and sound are often done on the cheap for network shows. You wonder why so many dramas are filmed in dark rooms? So you won't notice how crummy the set is.
I remember when I lived in DC, a favorite music club was torn down and replaced with a parking lot. The club was making lots of money and the owner was willing to pay much higher rent. But he couldn't afford to pony up what the property owner would make parking cars in the space. It's the same with TV. The networks have a finite number of hours to program so they are limited in the advertising dollars they can collect. To maximize their profits they have to put on a cheaper-to-make program. So good-bye daytime dramas (they need writers AND actors) and hello yet another low-budget talk show. The game shows that go on in the early evening hours are cheaper than buying re-run dramas that cable channels will buy. "Talent" shows like the American Idol wannabes are inexpensive to produce so the more the merrier. Same with elaborate game-dramas like Survivor, Big Brother, that Trump thing, and the secret boss show. Not nearly as expensive to produce as something like The Good Wife. The networks can't even count on prestige for dramatic programming as long as there are stations like HBO, USA, and AMC willing to take chances on really original programming instead of yet another doctor or lawyer show.
And if you don't care for today's comedies, I don't either, but keep in mind that styles in humor change with time just as styles in clothes do. When today's 25-year-olds turn 55, they will be nostalgic for the [ahem] genius that was Two-and-a-Half Men the way many older people today say, "There's nothing on now that's as good as the Dick Van Dyke show." I guarantee you young people today would watch it and gripe, "What's so funny about that?"
I love the Big Bang Theory. Probably the best sitcom on TV right now. It is consistently hilarious, sometimes touching, and has the most talented cast of any show on the major networks. That being said ... the characters are basically stereotypes. They aren't true geeks and nerds so much as what non-geeks and non-nerds think geeks and nerds are. This was much more apparent in the first season. The writers have gotten better about this, but I still see very little reality in the characters themselves. But hey, it's a sitcom. I'm not watching it for the realism. I'm watching to get a few laughs, and TBBT always delivers.
Comedy has changed a lot in the last 20 years. What was funny then is not necessarily considered that funny to a younger demographic (ie the people they want to advertise to). So I can definitely see people who loved shows from back in the day not really liking shows nowadays. Today's comedies have to be sarcastic and wacky. There are shows with good writing today...there's also a lot of crap too.
I love the Big Bang Theory. Probably the best sitcom on TV right now. It is consistently hilarious, sometimes touching, and has the most talented cast of any show on the major networks. That being said ... the characters are basically stereotypes. They aren't true geeks and nerds so much as what non-geeks and non-nerds think geeks and nerds are. This was much more apparent in the first season. The writers have gotten better about this, but I still see very little reality in the characters themselves. But hey, it's a sitcom. I'm not watching it for the realism. I'm watching to get a few laughs, and TBBT always delivers.
I agree - i think this is one of the best shows on right now. And - you are right, it is stereotypical. But that's what grabs us - we recognize a type. I still think the Sheldon character has Aspergers. He plays a high-functioning Aspie. My sister has that and it cracks me up to see that in another character. You can't sit in her chair. She has a rigid schedule. She has an eidetic memory. She can have 4 books open at the same time and read all of them simultaneously -- then she recites them back to you. God help you if you get a date wrong... "No! It was 1862, NOT 1863!" As if she were there when it happened. I love her dearly, and she makes me crazy... kind of like Sheldon.
With a VERY few exceptions, good writing no longer exists on the major networks. It's all formula.
All the good writing is on cable -- AMC, FX, HBO, etc.
Bingo.
The 21st Century has been the most varied and compelling television that has ever existed. We are living in the new golden age of television, and writing has never been better. I'll agree that networks are more miss than hit, largely because they're poorly trying to mimick formulas that were funny 15 years ago and failing. But with FX, AMC, HBO, Showtime, and so-on, TV programming is at an all-time high.
One reason the networks are probably so weak is just how much TV programming there is these days. The days of having 13 channels on the dial are over. The good writers are stretched thin. There's a lot of crap out there, and unfortunately that's typically what's popular and in your face, but the good stuff is obvious if you know what to look for. And even on the networks, I can think of some great comedies over the past several years. On NBC there's 30 Rock, Community, The Office was great for a good four seasons or so before it ran out of steam. Parks and Rec can be funny. On CBS Big Bang Theory is funny.
I still like quite a few of today's sitcoms. The Big Bang Theory is just one of my favorite sitcoms. And I'm a senior citizen. OTOH, I can't tolerate any reality shows.
Ok, guess I'm in the minority here but I tried to watch The Big Bang Theory and ... no, not funny, not smart, not well written, nor well acted. I'M SORRY!
The only show that I covet for being 'well written' is not made here in The States, Downton Abbey! But to recall, the last well written stuff, S-M-A-R-T, is Freaks & Geeks but the nut-jobs at NBC decided to let that go ... sadly. Isn't it about time we do away with the how these shows are rated, Nielsen ratings are completely outdated.
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