# The Shitcom: An American Tragedy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658 "2005-12-02T01:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/21 "2005-12-02T04:49:10Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I will not stand idly by and watch you demoize the best show to ever grace primetime TV. That show being, of course, _Perfect Strangers_. Imagine the poor citizend of Milosh, who had nothing but this amazing show to bolster their ocuntries image! And that theme song! No other song ever performed could instill one with such a sense of awe. > > You sir, have defaced a national treasure, and have earned my contemp for all time. And then, think about the people of Mypos, where Cousin Balki was actually from! ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/22 "2005-12-02T04:50:11Z")
Benson. I remember this as a one joke show. Some character would say something and Benson would make a wise-ass remark. Weirdly enough, it seemed like they reused the whole scenario when they made The Nanny. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/23 "2005-12-02T04:59:56Z")
My dad really likes this show called _Becker_. Since he doesn’t watch very much tv and he always raves about this one, I finally had to check it out. I don’t know what shows come on before or after it but it’s got to qualify as a shitcom just for its pure vileness. It’s one tired cliche, payed-out joke and a string of one-liners balled up together and cooked in raw sewage for 22 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/24 "2005-12-02T05:09:16Z")
I was gonna nominate _Wings_ and _Coach_, both of which sucked the stank out of my sheeyot and were on so long their runs could be measured in geological time, but I’m not sure if either followed a hit. Currently, I’d say _Two and a Half Men_ fits the bill (or would have when it followed _Everybody Loves Raymond_), which, as far as I can tell, recycles jokes and plots from every other shitcom in history and melds them together into one unwatchable pile of ass tumors. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/25 "2005-12-02T05:22:17Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > It’s one tired cliche, payed-out joke and a string of one-liners balled up together and cooked in raw sewage for 22 minutes. I remember an ad for _Becker_ in which Ted Danson spies a co-worker’s coffee cup, reads it, and asks “You actually patronize an establishment called ‘Livin’ La Vida Mocha?’” Still ranks as one of the worst and most badly dated jokes I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/26 "2005-12-02T05:31:21Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > And then, think about the people of Mypos, where Cousin Balki was actually from! You know some of us find solutions to problems instead of just pointing out faults. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/27 "2005-12-02T05:50:05Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > You know some of us find solutions to problems instead of just pointing out faults. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/28 "2005-12-02T05:52:44Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > 😕 He may be referencing a Simpsons line. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/29 "2005-12-02T06:31:37Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Currently, I’d say _Two and a Half Men_ fits the bill (or would have when it followed _Everybody Loves Raymond_), which, as far as I can tell, recycles jokes and plots from every other shitcom in history and melds them together into one unwatchable pile of ass tumors. Oddly, I was going to suggest _How I Met Your Mother_, but didn’t think it met the OP’s criteria because it preceded _Two and a Half Men_. Well, that and it hasn’t been around long enough for its full suckitude to be made readily apparent to the casual observer who judges it good based purely on the physical attractiveness of Ms. Hannigan. Between those two shows, that’s a lot of ass tumors. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/30 "2005-12-02T06:50:03Z")
**Who’s The Boss** was truly horrible. First of all, Tony Danza…has there ever been a more talentless, smug, slimeball? The only fun in watching the show was the fact that everybody could see the child actor was turning Gay before your eyes, but they sort of danced around the obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/31 "2005-12-02T07:00:42Z")
There’s massive point-missing afoot, Watson! There have been legions of bad sitcoms; the OP is talking about ones that were propped up by good timeslots. I personally didn’t care for _Night Court_ (kindergarten-level slapstick, followed by take-what’s-good-for-you doses of cod-liver sanctimony) but at the time it was between _Cheers_ and _L.A. Law_, so I put up with it. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/32 "2005-12-02T07:11:00Z")
I always considered _Mad About You_ and _Caroline in the city_ to be calsssic shitcoms. It must be something about those half-hour staring times. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/33 "2005-12-02T13:19:39Z")
If “Blossom” wasn’t a shitcom, then I hope to never see one. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/34 "2005-12-02T13:28:14Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > I was gonna nominate _Wings_ and _Coach_, both of which sucked the stank out of my sheeyot and were on so long their runs could be measured in geological time, but I’m not sure if either followed a hit. Wings was a very funny show. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/35 "2005-12-02T13:32:12Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > That utterly worthless thing after The Simpsons now, The War At Home. You are so right. I’m one of the many who think the Simpsons has been headed downhill in quality for some time now, but then Fox brings out crap like this and comparatively the Simpsons still look like Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/36 "2005-12-02T13:51:36Z")
The show with David Spade and the daughter who worked at the magazine? With an ex-model and the photographer guy? And Dad, the clueless owner? I forget the name (obviously), but it fits the bill, I think. I did like it, but it’s not what you call a good comedy, by any means. It’s adequate, at best. Something to fill the time until the good show comes on. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/37 "2005-12-02T14:07:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m noticing that “Lost” is now preceded by a Shitcom, “Freddie.” This show is so bad I die a little inside each time I realize that it has not yet been canceled. And then I die a little extra each time Brian Austin Green opens his 90210-refugee mouth. And then I die again, when I realize there are still 28 minutes left, and I’m going to watch the whole thing. So why the Hell are you watching it? I wonder how many of these shows stay on the air because of people too inert to turn off the tube, move off the couch and do something else for half an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/38 "2005-12-02T14:07:30Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > I always considered _Mad About You_ and _Caroline in the city_ to be calsssic shitcoms. It must be something about those half-hour staring times. Mad About You was a number one show. It might have been shitty, but it doesn’t fill the bill as a shitcom. Same with Raymond. I think that _Yes, Dear_ started out between the somewhat highly rated _King of Queens_ and the very highly rated _Everybody Loves Raymond_, which put it into shitcom territory, but it has gone on and on and pulls in better numbers than KofQ now, IINM. > [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > Would the Simpsons count? It was once great, yes, but it has held on for years on nothing more than the inertia from those 10 or so years of brilliance and has since been eclipsed quality wise by many other shows. _Simpsons_ is still Fox’s Sunday Night Anchor show. It has had shitcoms preceed it and follow it. Most recently, of course, _The War At Home_. Does anyone remember _Oliver Beene_? Didn’t have the legs to make it into true shitcom territory but it was getting there. I think it came on between King of the Hill and Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/39 "2005-12-02T14:39:37Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > My dad really likes this show called _Becker_. Since he doesn’t watch very much tv and he always raves about this one, I finally had to check it out. I don’t know what shows come on before or after it but it’s got to qualify as a shitcom just for its pure vileness. It’s one tired cliche, payed-out joke and a string of one-liners balled up together and cooked in raw sewage for 22 minutes. I’m pretty sure that comes on after Raymond. So yeah, it’s a shitcom. Perfect Strangers was my absolute favorite show when I was a kid. I’m not being ironic. I wonder how it would hold up for me today. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658/40 "2005-12-02T14:41:42Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Just wanted to say- I really enjoyed The Single Guy and Veronica’s Closet, and I didn’t mind Caroline in the City and Suddenly Susan. I’m with you (tho my recollection of \*\*The Single Guy \*\* is very hazy) but the last season of **Suddenly Susan** , with Eric Idle, blew chunks in spite of his presence there [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shitcom-an-american-tragedy/333658.md?page=3)