Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, said to the country’s critics at the Television Critics Association’s press tour In Los Angeles that while he respects sitcoms on his network such as
Community, 30 Rock,and
Parks and Recreation — shows that are, as he said, “sophisticated” ones that “critics love,” his plan for the fall involves “broadening the audience.” The idea that the way to reach a broad audience is by going less sophisticated is an odd one, and one that suggests a problem NBC might have for its sitcom development in the near future.
Look at some of the most broadly popular sitcoms of all time. Would you say that
Friends or
Cheers or
All in the Family were not sophisticated? Of course not. What Greenblatt seems to mean in his formulation is that “broadening” is actually a process of programming shows that are less personal visions of the world by their creators, and more big, easily grasped concepts packaged as big-laff heart-warmers. At least, that’s the
impression I get from seeing the pilots of the shows on NBC’s fall schedule, including Animal Practice, Men With Babies, Go On, and The New Normal.
I’m not saying these are bad shows — I want to write more nuanced reviews of them when they premiere, pointing out their good as well as their poor elements — but they do represent a shift away from NBC’s admirable support over the past few years for its non-blockbuster, award-winning Thursday-night sitcoms. The new shows can be easily tagged —
Men With Babies (the title tells you all you need to know about a half-hour devoted to dads wrestling with little kids);
Animal Practice is already lodged in your brain as “the one co-starring a monkey in a lab coat” — in a way that you can’t so easily summarize, say,
Parks and Recreation or
Community.