# "Committed" is the least funny sitcom I've ever seen - ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726 "2005-03-03T06:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/21 "2005-03-03T20:37:09Z")
I can’t picture why a Jew would even get in line to go to Communion. The person would have to be the world’s most ignorant Jew to not know what was going on. The Communion host should be consumed while still up at the altar. Usually the priest (or other minister) hands it to you, you take a step to the side and then you eat it. If given one accidentally, you should give it back to the priest. But when they hand it to you, the priest says “The Body of Christ”. Was the person so clueless (even by TV sitcom standards) that they didn’t understand this? The recipient should say “Amen”. So if the person walked up and looked dumbfounded, the priest would be wise to it. Also, at most weddings, the priest explains who can come up to receive Communion, since there are normally a significant number of non-Catholics in attendance. And we have to tell all those people from various Protestant denominations, “No host for you!” ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/22 "2005-03-03T20:50:09Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > I’ve watched it a few times, and this is definitely the worst episode. That homeless guy thing was really not funny. The other episodes I’ve seen have been okay (way better than “Yes Dear” or most other sitcoms. I think it has potential. Or it could get worse. > > ME I have stated that I enjoy it and it quirky and fun at times. But I fear it has been getting worse, not better. I hope that I am wrong, since I am a fan of the sitcom format and there are so few good ones on right now. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/23 "2005-03-03T20:57:31Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > It’s just a wafer. I think Freud said that sometimes a wafer is really a cigar. The irritating thing to me is that they have Tom Poston on the series and even had a cameo by Bob Newhart and couldn’t make either one funny. When Bob Newhart can’t get a laugh, it ain’t the talent that’s the problem… And the Urkel-in-a-wheelchair guy is a one joke bit that’s propelled several episodes. Nudity might help the show but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/24 "2005-03-03T21:35:03Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > **Askia** , to you it may be, but to a devout Catholic it’s much more, which is, of course, the point of the whole question. According to my cite, transubstantation doesn’t occur until: 1) it’s eaten and 2) blessed by a priest. Until it’s eaten, it’s just a wafer. A _consecrated_ wafer, but it’s not yet the body of Christ. The real mystery is why he wasn’t freaking out that he drank the wine that usually precedes/accompanies the host. Maybe our AME communion is different. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/25 "2005-03-04T00:14:33Z")
This episode pissed off the Catholic League, so much, [NBC will never air it again.](http://www.catholicleague.org/05press_releases/quarter%201/050301_NBC%20Will%20Not%20Air.htm) Apparently, many Catholics complained about the mockery of the Eucharist. I was raised Catholic, but I don’t go to church that much, but it appears that to devout Catholics, the Host is not “just a wafer.” [The Catholic Church on the Sacrament of the Eucharist.](http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm) The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Only validly ordained priests can…consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord” (1411) and “By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about.” (1413) So it appears the wafer becomes the Body of Christ after it is consecrated. I remember there was a thread a while back about an episode of _King of the Hill_ the League complained about and what happens if you accidentially drop the Eucharistic wafer on the floor and when it actually becomes the Body of Christ, but I could not find it. I think it might have been lost in the Winter of our Missed Content. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/26 "2005-03-04T00:32:03Z")
> [@Sam Lowry](#): > > I didn’t see the first episode, what is the premise that sets up all the jokes for the show? He (the male lead) is a genius (with the I.Q. and the M.I.T. degree) but he comes from a family of geniuii(?) who traditionally accomplish something great and then commit suicide. His method of not “following in the family tradition” is to never amount to anything. He is also very OCD and this causes him lots of trouble (he has particular trouble with fire exits and extenguishers, they MUST be accessible and inspected as he will ALWAYS check repeatedly). She (the hottie female lead) is just nutty-as-a-fruitcake with her own quirks and the attention span of a cricket. Tom Poston is a dying clown who came with the rent controlled apartment, he will just live in the pantry (it’s like a life estate deal). Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/27 "2005-03-04T01:38:59Z")
You guys are missing the entire point - the character is a Jew, so the Eucharist shouldn’t matter to him AT ALL, regardless of how Catholics view it. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/28 "2005-03-04T01:53:05Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > According to my cite, transubstantation doesn’t occur until: 1) it’s eaten and 2) blessed by a priest. Until it’s eaten, it’s just a wafer. A _consecrated_ wafer, but it’s not yet the body of Christ. > > The real mystery is why he wasn’t freaking out that he drank the wine that usually precedes/accompanies the host. Maybe our AME communion is different. No, I think you misread your cite - which was sloppily written so it’s not surprising. Your cite is saying that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus after the priest speaks the blessing. The phrase “consumed by worshipers” is just trying to specify which bread and wine they’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/29 "2005-03-04T02:33:25Z")
> [@](#): > > According to the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the presence of Jesus in the sacrament of Communion. Through transubstantiation, the bread and wine consumed by worshipers become the body and blood of Jesus **when a priest, acting on Jesus’ behalf, speaks the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” over them.** Emphasis mine. Not to belabor this, especially since I’m not a Catholic and don’t particularly care about the Eucharist, but it not so clearly says in your cite that it’s after the priest says the words that it becomes transubstantiated. Anyway, I see that somebody has already pointed this out. Regardless, the show was spectacularly unfunny, and maybe I picked a bad episode to watch, maybe not, but I don’t think it’s really worth watching again. Except for the main girl. She’s keep-in-bed-able. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/30 "2005-03-04T03:47:38Z")
> [@](#): > > You guys are missing the entire point - the character is a Jew, so the Eucharist shouldn’t matter to him AT ALL, regardless of how Catholics view it. True, but in your OP, you said it wouldn’t matter to a Catholic either. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/31 "2005-03-04T05:28:26Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > It is, however, better than that Miami thing that was on for a while, or some of the other horrible sitcoms that NBC tried to put between Friends and Will & Grace. We can agree that Coupling is way than Committed, given that I couldn’t even make it through an entire episode of the former and I’ve watched a several of the latter. But I thought Good Morning Miami was quite funny and charming in its way, even if its way was to be lame most of the time. And way way way better than Committed. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/32 "2005-03-04T12:59:47Z")
**Neurotik** and **audiobottle.** Whoa. I seriously gotta disagree --consuming it completes the transubstantiation and fulfills the purpose for which they were blessed in the first place. Either that or admit my impressions of this ritual have been badly mistaken for 30 years! In the AME churches I grew up in and the Catholic school I went to, the wafers and wine would be waiting for us as we approached the altar. First Sunday communion was received either by hand or on the tongue immediately after the clergyman said, “This is the body of the Christ, eaten for the nourishment of our bodies and our souls… take this in remembrance of me.” Then we out eat. Immediately the minister or priest would do the same thing with the little glasses of wine. And everyone kneeling beside you would do this in unison. Then we would get up, and the next row of parishioners would follow right behind us and repeat the same things until everyone in church (who so desired) received communion. All the repetition left me with the distinct impression that the wafers and wine weren’t the body or blood of Christ until after the blessings and after they were eaten. Hey-- as altarboy I had to help clean up after services were over and I remember distinctly tossing out unconsumed wine and occassional leftover wafers. Either AME attitudes for communion differs more from Catholic services than I realized or … something. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/33 "2005-03-04T13:35:27Z")
They must, because unconsumed wafers are put away in the tabernacle in Catholic churches. The wine is all consumed. If a consecrated host falls on the floor, it is picked up and eaten. If the wine spills, it is wiped up and the cloth burned. Transubstantation occurs with the priest’s consecration of the bread and wine (as your cite says) and they would never just be discarded. The prayer is said once over the bread and wine and then they are distributed to whomever comes up in line. If only a few people came up, the rest of the hosts would be put away, not thrown out. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/34 "2005-03-04T13:57:05Z")
Ah… sounds like the AME is different from the Catholic church then. At the Catholic services I’ve been too the priest says the words just once over the bread and then again over the wine. Do Episcopelian churches also believe in the literal transubstantiation of the bread and wine? I used to attend a Christian Reformed church when I was younger, and they’d sometimes have communion on big holidays, but the official stance was that the bread/wind was symbolic, not literal. And since this is supposed to be about Committed, the show is at least as unfunny as Scrappy Doo and more likely down there with locally made TV commercials. Has the male actor lead been in other shows/movies? He looks really familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/35 "2005-03-04T14:08:16Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > All the repetition left me with the distinct impression that the wafers and wine weren’t the body or blood of Christ until after the blessings and after they were eaten. Hey-- as altarboy I had to help clean up after services were over and I remember distinctly tossing out unconsumed wine and occassional leftover wafers. Either AME attitudes for communion differs more from Catholic services than I realized or … something. Well, you have the Catholic services wrong. In general, the wafers will be blessed by the priest, then the wine. At that moment, they are transubstantiated. Then, either the priest, along with any eucharistic ministers, will take the newly transformed body and blood and feed it to the parishioners in attendance. Eating it has nothing to do with it. Any uneaten transubstantiated wafers are not tossed out, but are instead placed in the tabernacle. Any transubstantiated wafer that falls to the floor is immediately eaten - any untransubtantiated wafer that falls to the floor is thrown away. In fact, from the online Catholic [encyclopedia](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05573a.htm#3): > [@](#): > > Since Luther arbitrarily restricted Real Presence to the moment of reception (in usu, non extra), the Council of Trent (Sess. XIII, can. iv) by a special canon emphasized the fact, that after the Consecration Christ is truly present and, consequently, does not make His Presence dependent upon the act of eating or drinking. On the contrary, He continues His Eucharistic Presence even in the consecrated Hosts and Sacred particles that remain on the altar or in the ciborium after the distribution of Holy Communion. The idea that the wafer does not transform into the body is a doctrine developed by Protestants and firmly rejected by the Catholic Church. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726/36 "2005-03-04T20:16:28Z")
I think the only redeeming feature in this show is Tom Posten as the dying clown (best kind of clown, in my opinion, but that is a phobia for another post) in the pantry. I’d love to see more of him, but not on his own program, just showing up in other NBC shows. Coming out of a closet on Will and Grace maybe be a little too spot on, but I’d love to see him popping out of closets on Joey, American Dreams or even Crossing Jordan. What a great peice of surrealism . Just wander out of various closets, don’t say anything, don’t interact with the cast, just get what you need and leave. Brilliant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/committed-is-the-least-funny-sitcom-ive-ever-seen-ever/292726.md?page=1)