What's on my TV

Dust. A cat once in a while. A few reruns. It's summer for pete's sake, but I'm thinking about this past year and the upcoming year. And yes, I am able to find a few things I like in the summer - and not just reality shows!

I was raised on sitcoms. As were many of us. I learned to be witty, do a set up and punch. I leanred that moms were about 14 years older than you and very pretty. They could be married to fat or odd looking guys, if they had done well on the comedy circuit. They had about three different kids to appease various demographics, and when the show started tanking they'd have a baby, that seemed to age about 3 years over the summer so it could have story lines as well.

I saw some great 1970's sitcoms that I cringe to watch now. Seriously, "Welcome Back Kotter" had some really bad jokes. And after a while, people were just walking in, doing their signature walk or funny line and then leaving. But my brain was younger and it didn't know better.

Then I matured and started to appreciate good writing. I liked shows like Cheers, Cosby and the Golden Girls.* And looked forward to what they offered. I got to know these people and care.

And then they said that the sit com was dying. And then Seinfeld and Friends came.

And now they say it's dead again. When writers look to see what last year's successful show was, and say it's "2 1/2Men" that amazes me. When "Everybody Loves Raymond" was on, it brought people to that show. Now, without Raymond, they're telling you it is "the show to watch." Is it? What else is on?

When you flip around and see a hundred women in bikinis eat snails and then vote which ex boyfriend should be voted out of the boardroom... When we look through the "Z" list and pair someone up in a dancing competition with a figure skater… I can see their point.

Right now creativity is going into cable and the internet and even regular dramas. Has anyone noticed that the "movie of the week" has been gone for years? And I, a loyal fan of the sitcom, look at my tivo list and can barely find any. I weep for me, I weep for us and I weep for the next generation of fat male comics who won't know that they can marry a hot ex model and have a baby grow three years over the summer hiatus. There will be a generation of people who don't assume that if you have five friends at any time, they'll be ready to meet you at the local coffee shop. of course they can. They're not busy. And most importantly, you'll never learn that it's okay to walk into someone's apartment unnanounced, open their refrigerator and just start eating. How can we communicate with a generation that won't have this knowledge? What will the next generation do if they can't pretend the TV family is their own?

I love some of the innovative dramas. And I have to admit, I like "The Apprentice." But I am committed to helming a top sitcom that revives the genre. One that surprises us, just like Cosby and Seinfeld did, when we thought the sit com was over then too. Sit coms provide us with escape. And a fuzzy feeling. And a family. Dramas help show us families that are more dysfunctional than ours so we can feel superior for 45 min (sans commericals). And their problems go on for whole seasons or longer. Reality shows make us also feel superior and I can't watch people eat insects. Sit coms make us feel a part of something. It has a problem and solves it in 30 minutes. We laugh, and identify, and bond with those people. And sometimes they dress in funny costumes.

I am that rare breed that can't sit and watch music. I want to watch something that reflects who we are at this time or who we could be. Is it that we don't know? Or gave up dreaming? Cosby showed us what a family could be. Cheers taught us that any group of people could make up a family. What do we need to hear right now? What can we say about family that will really grab our hearts - and make us laugh?

Perhaps the next reality show should be called "The Last Sit Com Standing." People could pen sitcoms and the best one gets a show. In a time where quality is often shaved for a saving, it would be the cheapest way to produce a sit com.

I don't think I'm that far off.

The sit com isn't dead. It's just waiting to see what America needs.

And America needs a warm, witty, deep and hilarious 30 minute show to bring us together again.

B.

* Not as much as my gay male best friend. I didn't know they had such a gay following. It's amazing. If you put Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho and Bea Arthur in a show together iat the Ahmanson in LA, West Hollywood would be a ghost town that night.