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.