The Current State of TV Sitcoms, w/guest Robert Thompson

If there’s one genre of television that seems to be on life-support, it’s the traditional sitcom. As long-running shows such as Frasier, Everyone Loves Raymond, and Friends have shuffled off the airwaves in recent years, some have commented that the prototypical three-camera sitcom is finally being put out to pasture. Do new approaches to the genre such as The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm represent the future of television comedy? Will we ever see another sitcom that everybody is watching, like Seinfeld? And where does The Simpsons fall into this discussion — and why the need for a Simpsons film while the show is still on the air? Returning as my guest is Robert Thompson, professor at Syracuse University and the founder of the Center for Television and Popular Culture. [Originally broadcast on WLUW’s Under Surveillance in May 2007.]

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