When
The Big Bang Theory ended it also seemingly ended something that has
been around for ages. The multi camera setup that so many sitcoms use.
You know, three cameras on a stage while a studio audience watches? Many
of the greatest shows ever made utilize this method, starting with
Lucille Ball herself on I Love Lucy all the way to Mary Tyler Moore to
Family Ties to Cosby to Seinfeld to Friends to Will & Grace to
Everybody Loves Raymond (and dozens more). These differ from Single
camera shows, poorly named for a show which uses more of a movie format
than the three camera one with no studio audience or (usually) a laugh
track. These have been around for ages too. From Andy Griffith to The
Munsters to The Brady Bunch to Happy Days first two seasons to MASH to Doogie Howser, M.D.—there are
plenty of classic examples of that format.
While single camera is great, for me it’s the classic multi camera show that I am a sucker for. It just doesn’t feel like a real sitcom when it isn’t. It was one of the things I liked about The Big Bang Theory, that it was a traditional sitcom! I like shows like The Wonder Years for example, but it’s a different feeling when watching single camera shows as opposed to a multi camera show like Frasier. In 1988 The Wonder Years won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and I was appalled. How is that show a comedy? I still don’t quite get it. Last week I watched the Emmy Awards and as they went through the nominee’s for outstanding comedy show, they were all single camera shows which felt like light drama’s more than a “sitcom”. And don’t get me wrong, I am sure Barry and all the others out there are fine. But to me, that just isn’t a sitcom!
Ok ok I am not trying to be a grumpy old guy yelling about how “things were better in my day”. The multi camera shows that do exist are still different in style from what we had in the old days. It’s just that multi camera sitcoms seem to be fading. There was a time when the opposite was true. In the 80’s almost every sitcom was multi camera. Then In the late 90’s single camera format took off with Scrubs and The Office. They were both hits, so other shows came along like 30 Rock, Community, Parks and Rec, Modern Family, The Middle all the way to The Good Place and Young Sheldon. There just aren’t very many multi camera shows out there now, unless you count Will & Grace and The Connor’s which I don’t (because they were revived 90’s shows). And the few shows that are multi camera, like The Neighborhood, are not given any kind of respect. It seems like it’s almost becoming a black mark indicating low quality to be a standard multi camera show! There’s also the fact that a lot of these shows are one streaming services like Netflix which probably would make a traditional multi camera show shot before a live studio audience a trickier. Fuller House being one of the few that manages it.
Single camera shows have their advantages. For instance they have a lot more freedom to explore their own universe, not being confined to a stage week after week. Imagine if on Cheers the gang were able to get out into the city more often (aside from the occasional teaser). But Cheers is one of the greatest sitcoms ever made, not because it was multi camera but because it was so damn good. The big pro to multi camera format is that the focus is tighter on the characters so we get to know them better which makes us care about them more. There is a reason why when a multi camera sitcom signs off its an event while not so much for a single camera sitcom (with exceptions of course, MASH for instance),
I guess television evolves like any art form and while the sitcoms of today aren’t as funny as their predecessors, or at the least are a different kind of funny, they are very very well written and very very well performed shows. Which is a nice thing to see after the reality TV craze a few years back seemed to make scripted TV a thing of the past. In the end I suppose it doesn’t matter, as long as the work is quality then who cares if there is a studio audience laughing or the show is a more dower than laugh out loud funny? And as I have said before, the old stuff is still out there available if I am feeling pains of nostalgia for the way things used to be.
So what do you guys think? Which format do you prefer? Have we seen the last of the Multi camera sitcoms or will they made a resurrection at some point? Comment and let me know.
While single camera is great, for me it’s the classic multi camera show that I am a sucker for. It just doesn’t feel like a real sitcom when it isn’t. It was one of the things I liked about The Big Bang Theory, that it was a traditional sitcom! I like shows like The Wonder Years for example, but it’s a different feeling when watching single camera shows as opposed to a multi camera show like Frasier. In 1988 The Wonder Years won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and I was appalled. How is that show a comedy? I still don’t quite get it. Last week I watched the Emmy Awards and as they went through the nominee’s for outstanding comedy show, they were all single camera shows which felt like light drama’s more than a “sitcom”. And don’t get me wrong, I am sure Barry and all the others out there are fine. But to me, that just isn’t a sitcom!
Ok ok I am not trying to be a grumpy old guy yelling about how “things were better in my day”. The multi camera shows that do exist are still different in style from what we had in the old days. It’s just that multi camera sitcoms seem to be fading. There was a time when the opposite was true. In the 80’s almost every sitcom was multi camera. Then In the late 90’s single camera format took off with Scrubs and The Office. They were both hits, so other shows came along like 30 Rock, Community, Parks and Rec, Modern Family, The Middle all the way to The Good Place and Young Sheldon. There just aren’t very many multi camera shows out there now, unless you count Will & Grace and The Connor’s which I don’t (because they were revived 90’s shows). And the few shows that are multi camera, like The Neighborhood, are not given any kind of respect. It seems like it’s almost becoming a black mark indicating low quality to be a standard multi camera show! There’s also the fact that a lot of these shows are one streaming services like Netflix which probably would make a traditional multi camera show shot before a live studio audience a trickier. Fuller House being one of the few that manages it.
Single camera shows have their advantages. For instance they have a lot more freedom to explore their own universe, not being confined to a stage week after week. Imagine if on Cheers the gang were able to get out into the city more often (aside from the occasional teaser). But Cheers is one of the greatest sitcoms ever made, not because it was multi camera but because it was so damn good. The big pro to multi camera format is that the focus is tighter on the characters so we get to know them better which makes us care about them more. There is a reason why when a multi camera sitcom signs off its an event while not so much for a single camera sitcom (with exceptions of course, MASH for instance),
I guess television evolves like any art form and while the sitcoms of today aren’t as funny as their predecessors, or at the least are a different kind of funny, they are very very well written and very very well performed shows. Which is a nice thing to see after the reality TV craze a few years back seemed to make scripted TV a thing of the past. In the end I suppose it doesn’t matter, as long as the work is quality then who cares if there is a studio audience laughing or the show is a more dower than laugh out loud funny? And as I have said before, the old stuff is still out there available if I am feeling pains of nostalgia for the way things used to be.
So what do you guys think? Which format do you prefer? Have we seen the last of the Multi camera sitcoms or will they made a resurrection at some point? Comment and let me know.
Oh, I so want multi camera to survive. But what can you and I do?
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