SITCOMES AT A CROSSROADS COMEDIES LIKE `FRIENDS' AND `FRASIER' MAY NEVER COME ALONG AGAIN.Byline: David Kronke Television Writer When Rachel embarks for Paris (with Ross?) as ``Friends'' bids its fans adieu after 10 seasons on May 6 with a special hourlong hour·long or hour-long adj. Lasting an hour: an hourlong television episode. Adj. 1. episode, and a wedding punctuates ``Frasier's'' swan-song after 11 years on May 13, sitcom audiences may feel a sense of emptiness as they say farewell Verb 1. say farewell - say good-bye or bid farewell greet, recognise, recognize - express greetings upon meeting someone usher out, dismiss - end one's encounter with somebody by causing or permitting the person to leave; "I was dismissed after I gave my to characters they've grown over the years to love perhaps as much as their own family. These departures follow ``Sex and the City,'' which wrapped its seven- season run on HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy earlier this year. After that? Well, two long-running comedies may set off the same sort of seismic emotions as their predecessors with their departures: ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' is expected to bow out next year after a truncated truncated adjective Shortened season, and ``Will & Grace'' should enjoy at least a couple of more seasons of popularity. As for other network comedies, the way things are going ``only the casts may be watching,'' says Brandon Stoddard, former president of both ABC Entertainment ABC Entertainment is a network production company owned by The Walt Disney Company and ABC that created in 1982. It produced shows like America's Funniest Home Videos, America's Funniest People, and H.E.L.P.. and ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Productions and adjunct professor at USC's Peter Stark Producing Program. Call it the farewell to the farewell episode. Ratings juggernauts Sitcoms mastered the art of saying goodbye better than dramas, though the first memorable finale came from the '60s classic ``The Fugitive,'' whose final episode in 1967 garnered a staggering 72 share in the ratings. In 1977, ``The Mary Tyler Moore This article is about the actress. For her 1970s television series, also known as "Mary Tyler Moore", see The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary Tyler Moore Show'' set the gold standard for farewell episodes, with the cast - and their characters - leaving their jobs in a fashion both hilarious and poignant. Six years later, ``M*A*S*H'' bid fans ``Goodbye, Farewell and Amen'' in a 2 1/2-hour epic seen by more viewers than any other single episode of a TV series. When ``Seinfeld'' stepped down after eight seasons in 1998, it too was an event, albeit one that left a sour taste in fans' mouths, with the cast winding up in prison. ``Sitcoms create an illusion of a relationship with the characters of a show - we are their, well, friends,'' observes David Wild, author of the forthcoming book `` 'Friends' Til The End: The One With All Ten Years'' (a truncated version is currently available on newsstands) and the earlier `` 'Friends': The Official Companion Book.'' ``These big farewells are built upon a consensus that this is something we shared, and increasingly we don't share that much,'' Wild continues. `` 'Friends' was old-school; it created that illusion where you assumed a lot of other people were watching.'' Successful finales build upon that assumption. ``When 'Seinfeld' left, it was huge, but it felt unsatisfying,'' Wild says, ``because Larry David (who co-created the series and wrote the final episode) discounted the fact that there was an emotional connection with these characters. He mocked the idea of those characters. When you watch these people for so long, either you love them or think you do.'' ``I know for a fact that Marta (Kauffman), David (Crane, who co-created 'Friends' with Kauffman) and Kevin (Bright, executive producer) looked at 'Mary Tyler Moore' and said, 'Let's go with an episode that's true to the show,' '' adds Wild, who attended ``Friends' '' final taping. ``It was a lesson learned from 'Seinfeld,' where people felt burned. With 'Friends,' the thinking was, let's go Let's Go may refer to: Television
In the future, will large groups of fans really care when sitcoms leave the air? The genre is nearly moribund moribund /mor·i·bund/ (mor´i-bund) in a dying state. mor·i·bund n. At the point of death; dying. mor in a network television landscape cluttered with police procedurals and - more pointedly - reality programs in which contestants capture viewers' imaginations with back-stabbing and bad behavior for a dozen or so episodes, then generally disappear. ``Does sophisticated comedy have a place on TV?'' muses Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is a six-time Emmy and a two-time Golden Globe-winning American actor best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. , who, as Frasier Crane Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane (b.March 10, 1952) is a fictional character on American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for twenty years, tying the record for the longest running character on prime-time American television with on his soon-departing series and on ``Cheers'' before it, has played a single character for 20 years on TV - a record he now shares with James Arness This biographical article or section needs additional references for verification. Please help [ to improve this article] by adding additional sources. Unverifiable material about living persons must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. , who from 1955 to 1975 played Marshall Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. on ``Gunsmoke.'' ``I'm not sure the networks are interested, that anyone is interested,'' Grammer says, answering his own question. ``Audiences are responding to people behaving badly Behaving Badly is a thoroughbred racing mare born on April 5, 2001 in New York and a top sprinting distaffer. Sired by Pioneering, a Mr. Prospector son (going back to Secretariat), out of Timeleighness (by Sir Raleigh), she was bred by Thomas and Lakin, and owned by Patti and Hal J. , and as long as they do, there will be no room for quality sitcoms. Right now, no one has cracked the nut as to how to get viewers without being sensational or crass ... ``It's impossible to program a show without assuming (viewers are) all idiots. That being the basic focus of today's programming, we have some growing up to do before we have a need for sophisticated comedy again.'' USC's Stoddard opines Opines are low molecular weight compounds found in plant crown gall tumors produced by the parasitic bacterium Agrobacterium. Opine biosynthesis is catalyzed by specific enzymes encoded by genes contained in a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA') , ``The sitcom has not evolved to any great degree over the years. Single-camera comedies have produced some interesting shows, but none that have broken through. It may be that the single-camera show (without a laugh-track) doesn't share in the community of laughter, and therefore it's hard for humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was to translate or be communicated. Some of them are interesting and fresh, but so far there's an audience cap on them.'' Commitment-phobic viewers Today's sitcoms also struggle to engage viewers, Stoddard adds, because ``there are so many shows on the air, (and that) affects the frequency of viewing over the course of a season. When I was at ABC, there were staggering statistics: 'Roseanne,' even when it was a monster hit, was only seen by the average viewer four or five times a year - vs. the early days of TV, (when) people watched 'The Andy Griffith Not to be confused with Andy Griffiths. Andy Samuel Griffith (born June 1, 1926) is an American actor, producer, writer, director and southern gospel singer.[1] He gained prominence in the starring role of A Face in the Crowd Show' every week; out of 39 episodes, you saw 30. As TV has proliferated, the frequency of viewing has dropped out. That complete and total connection to the characters has dropped out.'' In fact, Stoddard adds, ``There's actually a negative feeling on the part of the viewer - they don't want to get hooked. There's a sense that a show is going to own their lives - and they don't want that to happen. In reality programming, there's less of a commitment, and less of a commitment is an advantage.'' Wild agrees. ``With reality, the commitment is intense, but it comes in spurts: 'Let me care for six or eight weeks at a time,' '' he says. ``Take 'The Bachelor' - I couldn't name the people I avidly watched a few weeks ago. I'll commit for those weeks, but I don't want to think about it now.'' Hollywood Reporter TV critic Ray Richmond Ray Richmond (born October 19, 1957) is a globally syndicated critic and entertainment/media columnist. A longtime fixture on the Los Angeles journalism scene, he is best known for his years with The Hollywood Reporter. summarizes: ``There will always be scripted shows that stand the test of time and qualify for TV's version of the gold-watch send-off. But maybe the period of time a show has to run in order to qualify for the Big Finale treatment - which stands right now at nine or 10 years - will soon shrink. ``Shows that stick around for four or five years will become the new eight or 10 years. We can have our short attention spans and still find prime-time closure down the road. It's just that the road promises to be shorter.'' David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke(at)dailynews.com FRIENDS What: Two-hour finale with the first hour a retrospective of the series' favorite moments. Where: NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. (Channel 4). When: 8 p.m. May 6. FRASIER What: Two-hour finale with the first hour a retrospective of the series' favorite moments. Where: NBC (Channel 4). When: 8 p.m. May 13. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) GOODBYE to LONG-RUNNING SITCOMS (2) The cast of ``Frasier,'' which is ending after 11 seasons, had high hopes for the series when it premiered in 1993. (3) The popular ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' has spawned many imitators that have tried to re-create its family-comedy dynamic. |
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