Maybe Cheers is actually a workplace/hangout show hybrid? Friends and Seinfeld merely took the work-element out of the majority of its episodes?

I would argue that The Mary Tyler Moore Show did, especially with episodes when she had bad parties and the rest of the cast would pretty much just complain about how bad the party was, try to maintain their social graces and not appear bored in front of her. Although it's primarily a workplace comedy, there was a…

I always tell people that Phoebe is the one character that makes the show "special," when compared to the other shows trying to replicate Friends (like HIMYM). HIMYM pretty much has the same character stereotypes that Friends does except it doesn't have a Phoebe. When you consider all of the crazy off-handed comments…

Seinfeld kills it because the plots are epic. Friends has decent jokes and the once in a while good episode (The One With the Embryos), but the plots don't really have the same payoff as Seinfeld's do.

I think Burrows was a bit too overconfident about The Class. Good show, but cast-chemistry was not that great. To me, it seemed like three shows crammed together to make one show.

I don't think Friends killed sitcoms, but made people/writers think about sitcoms differently. I would argue that (with the exception of Cheers) it was one of the only shows in the past twenty years before its initial air date that attempted to create an emotional connection to the audience and create coherent season…

I just saw the free preview (just wanted to note that I have never watched one of their Youtube videos) and I liked the dialog, but the songs were kind of bland. I fast-forwarded through one of the songs about sports. I appreciated one of the song lines about how sports stars are millionaires and that the games are…

He was in Congo and the best part of the movie.

Older direction: Wiig, Fey, Poehler, Rudolph, and Sharon Horgan (Irish actress from Pulling and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret)

I like Paul Feig, but given the low number of female directors out there, you'd think they'd want to support women in film by having a woman direct a comedy that's not an indie movie for once.

I think the show is going to go into that direction, but they're stretching it out for the sake of the show's longevity. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to make Red and Piper roommates on the show.

Dammit, I just watched her documentary on Netflix so I'm pretty upset about this. She was fucking hilarious. RIP.

Rude

That makes sense. I still think it's odd though, especially since Martin has acted for film.

True, but the single camera elements can still be present with a laugh track. Think of how MASH was filmed. Single camera style with a laugh track. Also, with the hybrids like HIMYM and Grounded for Life becoming more popular, the cutaways/voiceover can be present in shows with laugh track.

When I first saw the promo with Andrea Martin delivering the "interwebs," joke (and calling it a joke is being generous) I swear I heard I laugh track, but it may have just been my imagination in addition to not paying much attention to it and that it had a multi-camera rhythm.

On the character direction: It's like they were acting for a show with a laugh track/audience when it was a single camera. Kacey Rohl seemed like the only one who understood that she should be subtle at some points when delivering the jokes.

I agree. I feel like they're dragging the premise of the two Brits coming to the US and getting their show bastardized out way too long. The amount of excuses to keep them in the US is getting ridiculous.

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