You know how you're always hearing from media analyzers and pundits that TV is dead because nobody sits and watches it like people did in the olden days anymore, but streams on their computers or iPhones—especially The Kids? Guess what? Not true.
Hannah Montana, Jonas, iCarly, Drake & Josh and Zoey 101 are among the top shows on cable, they're often the most-watched shows in all of broadcast in their time slot, and they're No. 1 among a demo that includes ages 6 to 11 and 9 to 14. The Disney channel is the No. 1 choice for tweens. But here's what's really interesting. The writers on these shows are veterans of old-school sitcoms like Roseanne, The Jeffersons and The Facts of Life. And these shows all stick to the tried-and-true multi-camera/laughtrack formula made popular by golden-age-era TV shows like I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners.
I heard this report on NPR's All Things Considered tonight, and it totally stopped me in my tracks. The writers on these shows model them on those they consider the classics: Taxi, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Cheers, Dif'frent Strokes, et al. In an episode called "I Love Sushi," Drake and Josh do an updated version of the old Lucy-and-Ethel-at-the-chocolate-factory gag. But with sushi. And it killed. Still funny after 50 years.
At a time when everyone is panicking about how to keep up with the new-fangled whims of Kids Today—their wee brains wired so very differently from their parents, what with all that growing up with computers and cellphones and iPods and whatnot—here they are, perfectly happy with cheesy old-fashioned TV shows just like the ones their great-grandparents watched. Written by people who are considered too old to hire for primetime broadcast and cable shows.
Deliciously ironic, don'tcha think?
Comments