Comedy...does it exist anymore?

I'm a big fan of old sitcoms. You know like I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, Green Acres The Cosby Show, etc. These shows were good, clean fun. However, somewhere in the mid-90s, things took a turn and in order to be funny, you have to make sex jokes, insult someone, or just be downright mean. This brings me to ask one question...where is the real comedy?

I say this as I'm watching Chelsea Lately, which has Chelsea Handler and 3 other comedians talking about current events and quite frankly just being mean and insulting to everything and everyone. For some reason, people find this funny. I used to find Chelsea funny, but now she just seems to be mean and annoying.

These movies that are so called "comedies" these days are just as guilty. When they're not forgetting they are a comedy and not a drama, they're full of nothing but sex humor (excluding sex comedies, since they need those kind of jokes), fart jokes, and stuff that just isn't funny.

On the flipside, you watch something like, say, Airplane, and you don't have to do anything but sit there and watch. Within the first 5 minutes, you're on the floor laughing. Yes, there are a few risquee', if you will, jokes, but nothing major.

I don't know, I guess I was just born in the wrong era, but it just seems to me we could use some people that are actually funny (without being mean) and movies/tv shows that don't rely on the rampant sex joke.

What do you think, dear readers?

Laughter

When was the last time you actually sat down and had a good laugh? Can you remember? Or are you so depressed these days that laughter is one of those actions that has gone the way of running and jumping into a pile of leaves.

Over the weekend I was reading a study that said that a good laugh can burn calories, especially sitcoms. The problem with that is that most of the shows in TV now are of the serious, drama type.

I can't prove it, but I think that once sitcoms and comedies started to be replaced with dramas and reality is about the time Americans started getting fat (or at least noticing it).

I'm a huge fan of comedies. That's probably why I watch so much old TV. Back then they knew how to create genuine laughs, rather than just make a bunch of jokes that eventually will come around to sexual innuendo.

Having said that, I'm always looking for new comedies/sitcoms that I either haven't heard of, or haven't been able to watch because of something else on at the same time.

Case in point...Monday nights are usually reserved for Chuck and Heroes, but since NBC has something against showing reruns and believes we need to see even more pointless hours of Deal or No Deal, I was forced to look elsewhere for my Monday night viewing. I was already a fan of How I Met Your Mother, and usually watch it during the summer, but I actually gave the show that precedes it, The Big Bang Theory, a shot. I must say, I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time! I also took the time to watch ABC Family's new sitcom Roommates.

If the whole laughter burns calories thing is true, then I must burned enough calories last night to drop a good 5-10 lbs at least...lol Not to mention I had a much more...I can't think of a good word..but it was a much lighter mood in the house than there is after watching some of the other depressing, drama filled crap that fills the airwaves. You should all try it sometime!

What happened to good TV?

I'm an avid TV watcher. Probably one of the few left in this world of on-line viewing. This season has been...event filled...to say the least. The Writer's Strike caused a temporary halt in production for some shows and other just totally got shut down until the season starts in the fall. This is messed up beyond belief. I mean shows such as Heroes, Chuck, and Pushing Daisies haven't been seen since before Christmas.

It is now summertime, which means networks are bombarding us with all sorts of crappy reality TV they can find so they don't have to put on real programming and, heaven forbid, pay actors *GASP*

Granted, not many people watch television during the summer, myself included, but that doesn't mean useless drivel has to be placed on the tube. Seriously, have you seen some of these shows?

I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Remember those days? Before reality? When it seemed like networks actually cared about the people that watched their shows rather than the almighty dollar. Shows were given a chance to grow despite initial bad ratings. I mean, Seinfeld didn't start getting good ratings until the 3rd or 4th season. Take that in comparison to today. It more than likely would be yanked before the holidays if it were on today. What happened?

Also, along with the over saturation of reality, would someone tell me what happened to sitcoms? Seriously, I mean, a good 90% of all shows are either reality based (a term I more than likely will get into on a later blog) or drama. Where are the sitcoms?

I'm sitting here watching one of the all time best sitcoms of all time, I Love Lucy, and thinking they don't make shows like this anymore. It's true, they don't. People nowadays seem more interested in the dark side of things rather than laughter. WTF?!? In these dark times, we could all use some levity.

There are a few on the air. Mainly on CBS. How I Met Your Mother being the best one (in my opinion). What I do find promising is that Nickelodeon and Disney have sitcoms. This means that kids growing up watching these will want the same kind of shows when they get older. At least, one would hope so.

I'm not saying I hate dramas. Some of my favorite shows are dramas. However, it seems that CSI and Law & Order (and the 50 offspring shows both have spawned) are mostly what's on. I long for the days when comedies ruled the air and drams was relegated to that last hour before kids went to bed.

Speaking of the old days...remember when cartoons used to be good? Not saying that they aren't now, but it's an obvious drop off from the quality of days of old. I was watching Kids WB or CW Kids or whatever the hell it calls itself now. Johnny Test and World of Quest reminded me of what cartoons used to be, Spider Man was worth watching, but everything else was a waste of it. I mean, Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo and Shaggy are obvious attempts to introduce old characters to a newer audience. I applaud them for doing this, but, this does not do them justice, especially the Scooby Doo/Shaggy show. Seriously, Scooby eats a Scooby Snack and can turn into anything? What crackhead thought of that? Probably the same one that thought Underdog should have been a real dog in the live action movie. Ugh!

As with most things, though, thing happen in cycles. I am patiently awaiting this cycle to go to the next stage. I know I'm not alone in wanting reality off the air and for more comedies to return to the air. I just hope it happens before TV goes the way of family dinners, chivalry, and radio broadcasts. Why can't people learn from the past rather than try to forget it?