The drop in viewership of sitcoms has compelled the networks to offer less and less of them over the last five years. Since "Everybody Loves Raymond" in 2005, no sitcom has landed in the top 10.
This year there will be only six new comedies launched in the fall, which for the networks will represent less than 20 half-hour sitcoms. That's less than half that were offered five years ago.
There are two reasons given for the downfall. One is some people simply prefer watching reality TV instead of sitcoms. They like to see real life dumb stuff rather than scripted.
Executive producer James Burrows, says viewers "would rather see real people fall down and hurt themselves than fictional characters."
With no current comedy drawing near the viewers Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, The Cosby Show and Frasier drew, some feel the quality simply isn't there any more. The former shows, some feel, had a lot more heart and played to the audience more; people connected with them.
Fox entertainment chairman Peter Liguori said that the lack of sitcoms is related more to the quality of those developed than it was to "a greater philosophical decision and strategy away from comedy."
Either way, there is definitely a move away from the shear number of sitcoms and from large numbers watching them. It's also probably the growing number of comedy option on the Internet is playing a part in the broadcast changes as well.
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