....With Club Sauce.
The target market for shows like "Friends" and "Simpsons" and to a lesser extent "Life on a Stick" can be compared to "Jeopardy" watchers. Where am I going with this? Well, I think this is the main reason why "Arrested Development" is struggling and "Everyone loves Raymond" has been around for 27 years. Let me explain:
Jeopardy is a popular game show that has been around for decades. People enjoy watching it because they can play along and guess the questions along with the contestants. Now, some times during the year Jeopardy goes into creative mode and has "Teen Jeopardy" and "College Edition Jeopardy". These competitions have easier questions and more not-smart people can enjoy and buzz in with the right guess every few minutes. On the opposite spectrum, the current "Tournament of Champions" has incredibly brilliant contestants trying to answer extremely difficult questions on subjects like nuclear physics and third century artisans. The average person watching probably has a difficult time getting any questions right so they stop watching. It is too frustrating for them to realize that maybe they aren't that intellectual after all.
You see, "Arrested Development" is the sit-com's version of "Tournament of Champions". It is an incredibly smart comedy that is underappreciated by the masses. Why? Because, one would argue, the masses are idiots. Too often television comedy is fart jokes and physical comedy made famous by the late Chris Farley i.e. nearly every SNL skit for the last 6 years. People can't get most of the jokes so it frustrates them. AD makes you think about the jokes and many people just can't grasp the connection between Felidia Featherbottom and Mrs. Doubtfire/Mary Poppins. I am not saying people who don't watch AD are not smart enough to "get" the humor but because the show has struggled, many people follow the lead of the majority and don't bother to tune in. Some people just need that laugh track to give them a heads-up on when a joke was made. It is a sad state of affairs.
Other shows like "Stacked" with Pam Anderson and that Sketch Show with Kelsey Grammar probably have similar ratings because there are people out there that like to watch the "poop in the flaming bag" routine over and over. These are the same people who thought movies like "Kung-Foo Enter the Fist" and "Welcome to Mooseport" were classics. They buy Carrot Top dvds and laugh at the "Gellin" commercials. They read (and believe) tabloid magazines and buy large amounts of scratch-off lottery tickets.
Thankfully, Fox seems to have been cock-blocked by critics who view AD as one of the best comedies of all time and will probably be forced to keep it on the air until it loses its luster and/or reality television takes over 24/7. Even if the show is cancelled, it will hopefully turn to HBO and tackle racier subjects without limits to content and language. Who knows? It could even be a good thing.
Jeopardy is a popular game show that has been around for decades. People enjoy watching it because they can play along and guess the questions along with the contestants. Now, some times during the year Jeopardy goes into creative mode and has "Teen Jeopardy" and "College Edition Jeopardy". These competitions have easier questions and more not-smart people can enjoy and buzz in with the right guess every few minutes. On the opposite spectrum, the current "Tournament of Champions" has incredibly brilliant contestants trying to answer extremely difficult questions on subjects like nuclear physics and third century artisans. The average person watching probably has a difficult time getting any questions right so they stop watching. It is too frustrating for them to realize that maybe they aren't that intellectual after all.
You see, "Arrested Development" is the sit-com's version of "Tournament of Champions". It is an incredibly smart comedy that is underappreciated by the masses. Why? Because, one would argue, the masses are idiots. Too often television comedy is fart jokes and physical comedy made famous by the late Chris Farley i.e. nearly every SNL skit for the last 6 years. People can't get most of the jokes so it frustrates them. AD makes you think about the jokes and many people just can't grasp the connection between Felidia Featherbottom and Mrs. Doubtfire/Mary Poppins. I am not saying people who don't watch AD are not smart enough to "get" the humor but because the show has struggled, many people follow the lead of the majority and don't bother to tune in. Some people just need that laugh track to give them a heads-up on when a joke was made. It is a sad state of affairs.
Other shows like "Stacked" with Pam Anderson and that Sketch Show with Kelsey Grammar probably have similar ratings because there are people out there that like to watch the "poop in the flaming bag" routine over and over. These are the same people who thought movies like "Kung-Foo Enter the Fist" and "Welcome to Mooseport" were classics. They buy Carrot Top dvds and laugh at the "Gellin" commercials. They read (and believe) tabloid magazines and buy large amounts of scratch-off lottery tickets.
Thankfully, Fox seems to have been cock-blocked by critics who view AD as one of the best comedies of all time and will probably be forced to keep it on the air until it loses its luster and/or reality television takes over 24/7. Even if the show is cancelled, it will hopefully turn to HBO and tackle racier subjects without limits to content and language. Who knows? It could even be a good thing.
posted by Eric at 12:27 p.m.
2 Comments:
Dude, I'm pumped for Stacked. Pumped.
Or not.
agree
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