Breaking Bad - 1995 Sitcom Intro has been added as a related post - related requested by Trancecoach.

I think there's three main points here:

(1) The availability of shows online legally and illegally is what has encouraged people to invest in deeper storylines that build over time rather than episode to episode sitcom with little continuity. The pilot model and short term nature of these shows comes from a different era where there wasn't that same availability to catch up on a show you missed. As a result, people were reluctant to get overly involved in a storyline, nowadays it's the opposite.

(2) I think cable companies are always going to struggle to embrace video on demand because their advertising agreements as a major source of revenue (compared to subscriptions for Netflix) require them to stretch out the broadcast of the show. I'd wager that as an ad sponsor, the value of being able to reinforce a brand weekly as a opposed to dozens of times over short several day binge weekend is much larger.

(3) US TV tends to be based on very short term contracts and consequently short term narratives and story arcs. This becomes particularly evident where shows that never expected to make it to their 4th or 5th season see characters acting irrational and appearing to exhibit multiple personality disorder as writers try to inject drama into underdeveloped characters. You can see the lack of long term planning, and the writing looks like it's been done episode to episode, with the result being a mess. I'd say that this was a big issue with Lost and Heroes (subjectively speaking).

Comparatively, I would argue the success of something like Game of Thrones is partly attributed to a ready-made long term narrative from the source material which avoids these usual issues. In the case of House of Cards, they not only had the UK version to base it on and the additional flexibility that Netflix provided and I'm sure these were major contributing factors to the strength of the show.

Sweet. Loved this ending and am very happy they are apparently not stringing us along for years like most sitcoms.

Ha! <show x> reinterpreted as <genre y>!!?

That's clearly never been done before.
Ever.



edit: still upvoting because it was quite well executed!

Old news... The only cable I've had since '96 is for internet. It's only been recently that I've even started watching network sitcoms...since Netflix and Hulu started streaming them.

I have to say it feels kind of odd to just now be picking up on some of the old-to-everyone-else cultural references.

He'll be the Carlin of a couple of generations, I expect him to pop big soon 'n keep poppin'-He needs his own sitcom written himself or with another of his caliber...

He just needs to incorporate some grunting and get Pamela Anderson as a sidekick and we've got ourselves a sitcom!

Bill Nye is probably the smartest man on TV. Wait I know let's have him and Neil DeGrasse Tyson star in a sitcom it will be like "Big Bang Theory" only you know actually smart.

So true. It's car-crash comedy, in that David Brent vein of truth in profound ugliness. It's a crime there are only six episodes a season. >> ^EvilDeathBee:

Took me a while to get into Peep Show, but at the insistence of some of my friends I did manage it and it really is one of the best sitcoms around. Agonising to watch most of the time, but consistently fantastically hilarious

Took me a while to get into Peep Show, but at the insistence of some of my friends I did manage it and it really is one of the best sitcoms around. Agonising to watch most of the time, but consistently fantastically hilarious

>> ^CaptainObvious:

>> ^BoneRemake:
>> ^CaptainObvious:
aahhhhh, bet that ship feels so much better after dropping those off...

shut the fuck up puppet. You're annoying. Speak when it is relevant, you are not a daily sitcom.

Rude.
Oh please, whatever. Not called for and I do contribute.
Ya got issues and they don't concern me.
Take care tough guy.


BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK !

>> ^BoneRemake:

>> ^CaptainObvious:
aahhhhh, bet that ship feels so much better after dropping those off...

shut the fuck up puppet. You're annoying. Speak when it is relevant, you are not a daily sitcom.


Rude.

Oh please, whatever. Not called for and I do contribute.

Ya got issues and they don't concern me.

Take care tough guy.

>> ^CaptainObvious:

aahhhhh, bet that ship feels so much better after dropping those off...


shut the fuck up puppet. You're annoying. Speak when it is relevant, you are not a daily sitcom.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Wow, congrats! I'm thinking up songs already, maybe a sitcom jingle ...

It's not that bad... for a sitcom.

He must have an amazing, if not photographic memory. I think most actors need to have amazing memorization skills just to do their job but I've noticed that some stand out more than the rest and he is one of them.