# make a sit-com into a drama **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2012, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606 "2012-11-20T11:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 21, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/41 "2012-11-21T22:15:40Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The people who made _Scrubs_ thought _Grey’s Anatomy_ was pretty much a dramatic take-off of their show. Lot’s of similarities including using the term “Bambi” for J.D./George. They even did an in-show gag about this where J.D. does a voice over (note!) talking about how it would be like if someone made a drama based on their lives. They also both aired on Thursdays frequently opposite of each other. You also had _30 Rock_ and _Studio 60_, two shows about the making of a live comedy show that started at the same time. As I recall, Aaron Sorkin and _Studio 60_ were touted by many as the one more likely to succeed. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/42 "2012-11-21T22:30:36Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > MASH was already halfway there. > > They called it “China Beach”. I thought they called it, " ‘M_A_S\*H’ - directed by Alan Alda." ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/43 "2012-11-21T22:33:28Z")
_The Office_ could be turned into a workplace drama pretty easily just by toning down some of the silliness. I remember reading that Mike O’Malley, who plays Burt Hummel (Kurt’s dad) on _Glee_, said that while the show is known as a musical comedy where all kinds of crazy things happen, the scenes he’s in might as well be from a show called _Sad & Serious_. By just editing out the rest of the show, one could turn _Glee_ into a family drama about a blue collar single dad who loves but often does not understand his gay teen son. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/44 "2012-11-21T22:41:12Z")
I really like this [The Darker Side of Community](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InCS4jgEs7w&feature=related) trailer. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > You also had _30 Rock_ and _Studio 60_, two shows about the making of a live comedy show that started at the same time. As I recall, Aaron Sorkin and _Studio 60_ were touted by many as the one more likely to succeed. As I recall, in _Studio 60_, a lot of the drama hinged on the show-within-the-show being full of brilliant satire (which was never pulled off). _30 Rock_ made much of the comedy hinge on the show-within-the-show being dumb. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/45 "2012-11-22T00:09:02Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > As I recall, in _Studio 60_, a lot of the drama hinged on the show-within-the-show being full of brilliant satire (which was never pulled off). _30 Rock_ made much of the comedy hinge on the show-within-the-show being dumb. “Dying is easy; _comedy_ is hard.” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/46 "2012-11-22T01:23:16Z")
A young man who has lived his life as a petty criminal, substance abuser and general low-life hits bottom and vows to turn his life around. His hapless suburban parents have cut him out of their lives and will give him no help, so he moves into a seedy motel room with his mildly retarded younger brother. They also share in the day to day struggles and woes of an immigrant sex worker who also has to work as a motel maid in order to make ends meet. He is the father of two young children, who live with his alcoholic promiscuous ex-wife and her lover, an African -American bar owner with a shady past. The child who bears his name was fathered by her lover while he was married, which lead to the painful break-up of his marriage. He needs to continually be on guard against being manipulated by their scheming ways and to protect his little brother from becoming entangled in their machinations. Our protagonist is not content with just improving himself, he also embarks on a mission to make amends to everyone he wronged, which makes for a long list. In every episode, he must come face to face with his victims and the harsh results of the physical and psychological damage his past actions caused. The story of this man working for recovery by confronting the suffering he inflicted on others makes for compelling drama indeed. . . . . . . . . . . . . My Name is Earl ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/47 "2012-11-22T03:03:16Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > By just editing out the rest of the show, one could turn _Glee_ into a family drama about a blue collar single dad who loves but often does not understand his gay teen son. Not quite the same thing, but imagine **How I Met Your Mother** as it really is: you’re not actually watching the episodes, you’re not seeing the physical comedy; you’re just sitting there, face-to-face, as your dad keeps patiently explaining why he banged and dumped and lied to yet another chick back when. _“I said A-Bang, Bang, A-Bangity Bang; I said A-Bang-Bang-Bangity-Bang.”_ ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/48 "2012-11-22T03:03:43Z")
In the depths of the New York City legal system is a place no petty criminal wants to end up. The prosecuting attorney is a creep and a letch, willing to do almost anything in the hope that a good conviction record will overcome his reputation and lead him to a better post. The judge, well, some may call him whimsical, but really, he knows that he has his position because nobody else wanted it, so he’s pretty much God. The defense attorney still shows some youthful idealism, but is constantly tested by the events going on around her. And the bailiff? He may seem like a gentle giant, but whispers abound about how overly attached he has been known to become with his partners, and how frequently they have turned up dead afterwards. So be careful if you’re visiting New York City, for you don’t want to risk the justice of the _Night Court_. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/49 "2012-11-22T07:18:22Z")
Man slowly goes insane as he imagines his automobile possessing the soul of his deceased mother. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/50 "2012-11-22T07:42:07Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > _I Dream of Jeannie_ would probably have to address or skirt the slavery issue. An astronaut has a mental breakdown in which he imagines he has conjured up a beautiful female genie, but his own personal morality prevents him from using her sexually, despite her eagerness to obey his every command. He successfully hides his delusion from his commanders as NASA, but every episode is another close call. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/51 "2012-11-22T17:57:32Z")
I just remembered that there was a movie made in the '60s that seemed like _I Love Lucy_ remade as a drama (or not very funny dramedy): Shirley McLaine vehicle _[My Geisha](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056267/)_. I happened to catch this on cable once, and though it’s not a particularly good movie my whole family found it oddly fascinating how much it resembled a feature-length _I Love Lucy_ episode minus most of the laughs. McLaine plays a redheaded comedic actress _named Lucy_ (!) who’s married to Yves Montand, a dark-haired film director with a foreign accent. He’s set to direct a film version of the opera _Madame Butterfly_, and she wants to be in the show. He understandably feels that a Japanese actress would be better suited to playing the part of a Japanese woman than Shirley McLaine, and heads to Japan. She follows, disguises herself as a geisha, and wins the role as “Yoko”. She successfully keeps up the deception throughout weeks of filming, thus proving that her husband is either dumber or more nearsighted than Ricky. Weirdly enough, even the Japanese setting and geisha disguise had already been done by Lucille Ball on _The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour_ in the episode “The Ricardos Go to Japan”. Here’s a [clip from the show](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0V3BrqI5wo), where Lucy (Lucille Ball) crashes a drinking party her husband is attending with the help of some real geisha. And here’s a [clip from the movie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCNhONF1lHI), where Lucy (Shirley McLaine) crashes a drinking party her husband is attending with the help of some real geisha. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/52 "2012-11-22T20:25:38Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Here’s the story of a man named Brady. > > He and his three young sons are struggling to cope with the untimely death of his wife. Devastated and emotionally vulnerable, he falls for the wiles of an attractive divorcee whose deadbeat ex-husband has cut off child support for their three daughters. At first, she simply sees a ride on the gravy train as the trophy wife of a successful architect, but her feelings deepen as the two work to build a life together with their blended family. > > The new living arrangements affect the children in various ways. As they approach puberty, Greg and Marcia must balance their intense sexual desires for each other with societal taboos. Peter and Jan’s typical middle-child anxieties escalate to near-psychopathic levels. Bobby and Cindy, previously doted upon as the respective babies of their families, face alienation as they must fight for the attention once freely given to them. > > Meanwhile, Mr. Brady’s loyal housekeeper, who once hoped to fulfill more than his domestic needs, stays in his employ due to her love of the children, but dies a little each day as she watches the man she secretly loves build a new life with someone else. She drowns her sorrows in a nightly Bailey’s binge and a torrid affair with the local butcher. Here’s the story of a lovely lady who is tricked into a sham marriage by a gay architect. Economically trapped because of her dependent daughters, and not realizing until after the wedding that she’s merely his beard, Carol starts a sordid life of a suburban swinger, addicted to Valium, that '70’s panacea. The architect’s oldest son, Greg, confused in his formative years by a lack of a sexual role model, hits on his new step-mother and his step-sisters. StG ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/53 "2012-11-22T21:22:52Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Man slowly goes insane as he imagines his automobile possessing the soul of his deceased mother. My fave so far. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/54 "2012-11-23T23:57:44Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > A young advertising executive must surreptitiously study the lunar calendar, lest the social engagements required by his demanding boss fall on the full moon, when his beautiful, blonde wife will be in the backyard of their suburban-Connecticut home, dancing naked and sacrificing a live goat. The resulting stress causes him to drink heavily. > > My idea for the finale of _Married, With Children_ was for Al to kill his family (and the neighbors) with an ax and be acquitted by a jury of twelve shoe salesmen. > [@Baker](#): > > Okay, I give up. Which one is this? > [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I believe that’s “Bewitched.” This took me a couple of reads, mostly because I forgot Darrin was an adman. My girlfriend suggested: a man reflects on his loss of innocence during his '60s childhood. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/55 "2012-11-24T00:41:16Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > An alcoholic ex-athlete, his life now one long anticlimax after his peak at age 30, steps behind the bar, where he can be the center of attention for a crowd of harridans, rubes, failed artists, and the constant stream of dead-enders who come in to numb their pain. No one brings anything small into _Cheers_. Soundtrack by Tom Waits. Tom Waits! Does he ever do a guest role? What night is that on? I want to set the TiVo. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/56 "2012-11-24T01:07:10Z")
Two young men, desperate to find an apartment in San Francisco, pass themselves off as women in order to rent space in a females-only apartment building, only to find that gender-bending and transvestitism begins to make them question their sexual identity. … A group of aliens, the advance scouts for an invasion force, pass themselves off as a human family in order to spy on their future minions (and, possibly, food source). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/57 "2012-11-24T02:27:23Z")
“Bosom Buddies” and “Third Rock From the Sun”. * * * In a small town family in the 1950’s, a clean-cut high school boy befriends a tough punk from a street gang. Despite the tough guy’s background and need for street cred, he sees in the kid’s family what he didn’t have in his own home life. They welcome him in, though things don’t always go smoothly. They spend their evenings hanging out at the local diner, where the tough guy ensures the other kids don’t get picked on, and dispenses street advice. Everything is great, and nobody notices when the kid’s older brother goes upstairs to his room and is never seen again. * * * I was gonna try to do “Homeboys In Outer Space”, but I don’t know anything about that show except the title. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/58 "2012-11-27T00:53:57Z")
A struggling radio station run by the owner’s well-meaning but incompetent lazy son hires an out of towner to come in and change the format from an easy listening adult contemporary music station into a hard rock punk rock and gangsta rap station that attracts thugs and hoodlums as new listeners, forcing the flamboyant but straight and lustful advertising salesman to leave the safety of selling to geriatric care centers and Ensure to enter the seedy world of tattoo parlors and underground clubs, all the while lusting after the hot slutty blonde secretary, who in all fairness, is lusted after by practically everybody else on the show. A white has been disc jockey and a romantic soul brother must now start playing punk rock and eventually gangsta rap to keep up with the bigger stations, while the plain girl (who is actually smoking hot herself but doesn’t realize it) just cannot get anybody to notice her. On the positive side, the nerdy newscaster STILL gets to do lead stories about hog reports, winning the coveted silver sow award! (That could actually be a TWO-PART episode! I’m pretty sure you all know the show that I’m referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/59 "2012-11-27T00:56:47Z")
A couple of unlikely international spies are recruited to help out America during the cold war. They are a dim-witted moose and his smarter friend, a flying squirrel. Each week they court dangers from Soviet spies, Fearless East German Leaders, man-eating plants, and yes, even some space aliens, all the while coming out victorious despite the dangers. No I’m not talking about “24” but that was a good guess. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606/60 "2012-11-27T01:20:57Z")
A sad and lonely man slowly falls into schizophrenia as he comes to believe his horse (which he possesses for some inexplicable reason) is talking to him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-sit-com-into-a-drama/641606.md?page=4)