TV Tuesday: Bringing the Laughs

[yourlibrarian]

It's been noticed that comedies tend to have fewer fanworks than other types of shows, even though they're usually very popular. Whether you enjoy fanworks yourself or not, which comedies would you recommend to someone else?

Comments

[bleodswean]

Hmmmm...I'm not sure this is a reliable premise. The Office? Big Bang Theory? Our Flag Means Death? BTVS is mostly comedic until it's not.

Admittedly, they can be hard to fic in because of tone and the fact that most writers simply cannot write comedy because comedy is HARD.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, the difficulty level has generally been suggested as one of the reasons for why they have far fewer fics, but it doesn't explain the lower level of art, vids, etc. Consider how immensely popular Friends was, for example, but it has not spawned a similar level of fanworks.

My own explanation is that comedies have a lot less potential for angst, which is something fans are very into and which fans are more likely to develop around. Also, they used to be much less serialized so plot developments aren't things people would hook into as much.

[bleodswean]

Comedy can be difficult, no question. But so can angst! No one wants to read melodrama.

It's about tone and inflection and with fandom, it's about staying in voice. I have written quite a bit in comedic fandoms when a "voice" is infectious. Saul Goodman, Sheldon, Dwight, D'Hoffryn. But vicey-versy, I found myself continually hog-tied wanting to write a darker, more serious Ed / Stede for OFMD last year.

I don't know "Friends" but I think it is fascinating to ponder what shows seem to garner crazy amounts of fic and why. I would think that "Friends" simply has a very different fanbase than Buffy.

[reeby10]

I think sitcoms in particular are very mainstream popular, but they don't make a big impact in fandom. Imo it's probably because they rely on fairly stagnant characterization (there are exceptions of course, but generally characters don't show much growth over the series) and the characters' lives are so contained that there perhaps aren't as many obvious jumping off points for fans to create from. I have noticed that the comedies that do get more popular in fandom tend toward ones with fantastic elements, i.e. Ghosts and The Good Place, or that are multi-genre, i.e. Our Flag Means and Brooklynn Nine-Nine, or that have canonically queer characters, i.e. Schitt's Creek and Shameless. Queer multi-genre fantasy sounds pretty typical of fandom to me lol

I'm not a comedy person in general, I prefer shows that happen to be funny but aren't trying to be funny as their main goal. But that being said, I do have a few that I like! I'd definitely rec Freaks and Geeks, Happy Endings, Ghosts UK, and Better Off Ted.

[yourlibrarian]

So delighted to see a BET mention!

I suspect you're right about the containment of characters. I also wonder if sitcoms set in workplaces get a lot more attention than those revolving around families. For example, MASH has a pretty decent fandom after all these years, even if it doesn't match how enormously popular it was in its day.

[author_by_night]

Schitt's Creek had a fairly large fandom for a while! Less so now, people have moved on, but that's exactly it, there was a main queer pairing. Otherwise, it really lacked a lot of the things that usually draws fannish types in. Don't get me wrong, it's a great show if you like sitcoms, but it's very much a sitcom (albeit a deeper one than some).

I also think that you're right about fantasy elements - fannish and media criticism types tend to be drawn more towards fantasy, sci fi and action. I've actually struggled with this a little, as despite being a very fannish and critical person, that's not generally what I'm drawn towards. So I want to be fannish and write fanfic, but the things I'm into... don't often open themselves to that, and the things people are talking/writing fic about, I'm not reading or watching.

ETA: Adding - or even if fannish types do watch comedies, often they're very very casual fans, and still more obsessive about other things. (And when I say casual fans, I don't mean that as a dig. I'm not a weird Reddit incel. But take Happy Endings - I liked it, but I didn't really want to read fic for it, or even think about it beyond whatever episode I watched that week. Versus Schitt's Creek, where it almost became my personality.)

Is Shameless a comedy? I'm not disagreeing, I actually haven't seen it, but I always assumed it was a drama, or at least a dramedy (kind of like The Good Place and Our Flag Means Death).

[mulhollands]

Probably Schitt's Creek (it was recommended to me by a friend and I wasn't sure if I'd like it but ended up loving it)

[yourlibrarian]

The story of that show's rise to the top is also really interesting.

[wendelah1]

I love comedy. (And I have been told I write it well.) Most vintage sitcoms do not age well. Get Smart, a spy spoof from the sixties, is still funny. Green Acres has moments. I Love Lucy is still funny despite how dated it is. I was not a MASH fan back in the day and I doubt I would like it better now. I don't have streaming so I have not seen most recent comedies. I liked The Good Place, Brooklyn 9-9, and Parks and Recreation. I didn't get on with Ghosts, though maybe I should try it again. Oh, The Big Bang Theory was cute, and its characters did grow and change. So did the characters in The Good Place; it was baked into the premise. Parks and Rec characters developed, too.

[yourlibrarian]

That's true about how older shows may not age well. Some things are perpetually funny but humor is so subjective to begin with and a lot also depends on the social norms. I gather it's why things like action shows and movies are more likely to do well around the world.

[china_shop]

Rosehaven is a low-key smalltown comedy starring Celia Pacquola, which I really like. Apparently Pacquola has referred to it as "hangover tv".

Bojack Horseman is a weird animated self-conscious and sometimes disturbing look at Hollywood, in which some of the people are anthromorphic animals. Definitely for adults. Some excellent background gags, as well as some terrible self-involved behaviour from the lead.

I loved the first season of Rose Matafeo's sitcom, Starstruck, about a New Zealander in London who unknowingly hooks up with a movie star.

Also Timewasters, which is a British sitcom about a time-travelling Black jazz quartet (season 1 is on Youtube). Cheerfully silly and fun.

I could go on, but I'll stop there... except that even though this is tv_talk, if we're talking sitcoms I have to mention John Finnemore's radio sitcom Cabin Pressure, about the employees of a tiny airline. It even has 3,853 works on AO3.

[yourlibrarian]

Utterly loved Cabin Pressure. I'm surprised that, given these days of adaptations or reboots of everything, that there hasn't been one of it.

British sitcom about a time-travelling Black jazz quartet

And apparently there is a show about everything!

[jo]

Most of my fave comedy series date back to the 70s and early 80s. I'm thinking of shows such as M*A*S*H, SOAP, Taxi, Barney Miller, Maude, Black Adder, Police Squad, Newhart, Yes Minster/Prime Minister, etc. I find most of what passes for comedy these days would be better classed as "mildly amusing" rather than actually funny. I mean, I expect to actually laugh -- not just maybe smile, while watching. But in terms of more recent shows, I'd recommend The Thick of It, Party Down, Coupling (the original British one, not the horrible US remake attempt), Community, and Colin from Accounts.

[yourlibrarian]

A number of those are my favorites as well -- all British it would seem (except for Community)! I remember my mother loved Yes Minister/Prime Minister and she wasn't a big comedy fan.

I have not heard of Colin from Accounts before though, so it sounds like I should check that out.

[jo]

It's Australian. Not sure what it's available on for non-torrenters... Maybe Prime?

[yourlibrarian]

Ah, speaking of Australian comedies, I tried out Fisk recently. Also not a big laugh sort of show, but I did find it entertaining. (Currently on Netflix in the U.S.)

[requiella]

Veep and Absolutely Fabulous are two of my favorite shows, they're mostly just horrible people who are out for themselves and I have no idea why I find that funny or amusing. But "awful people being awful" is one of my favorite genres in general.

[yourlibrarian]

I wonder if that trope is one of the reasons fans have trouble making fanworks for comedies, since usually someone is either being awful or rather stupid. I'm just thinking of how popular the enemies to lovers trope is and so often fanworks are redeeming a problem character. But, if you do that in a comedy...

[requiella]

Especially if it's the woman who is being horrible.

[fleurviolette]

It depends on the comedy in question. Some comedies have big fandoms but it’s generally mainstream with more casual fans sharing memes or humor edits. I remember seeing The Office, Parks and Rec, B99, etc as “incorrect quote memes” with other shows and movies on tumblr a long time ago.

Plus some comedies are lighthearted and well written enough, that I don’t have to seek out any fix it fanfics or fluff fics. (Dramas or movies on the other hand, is a different story…)

At the moment, I recommend watching BBC Ghosts and Abbott Elementary.

[yourlibrarian]

Hmm, yes, there might be fewer fix-it prompts alright. You're right about the memes. For example, Community was not a very typical comedy but it definitely was one. And one of the most common memes I can think of is Troy arriving with pizza.

[fleurviolette]

Like that you mentioned Community! 😄 yeah the fandom felt smaller yet more vocal and active in its hey day. There was even Communicon, its own “con” run by fans. It was a unique fandom experience.