OK, this may be a stupid idea, but I’d like to see what you guys think.
I thought it would be cool if they made a comedy out of the side characters in various sitcoms. For example, the comic book store guy from Big Bang Theory, the bartender on How I met your mother, one of the side characters on Two and a Half Men, etc know each other and each episode of these sitcoms devotes a tiny fraction of its time (say, around 30 -45 seconds) advancing the story of the “viral” comedy.
The reason I call it “viral” comedy is that, like a virus is not alive by itself and can only live inside other hosts, so too would this multiple-sitcom-spanning comedy not have an existence on its own, and can only exist within other sitcoms.
The cool parts:
[ul]
[li]We get to learn a bit more about the funny side characters[/li][li]It can be a sort of “glue” that binds the shows together, providing an incentive for people to check out sitcom B if they already watch sitcom A, just to be able to see the continuation of the story of the viral comedy[/li][/ul]
In practice, it would be a logistical nightmare
[ul]
[li]Which writers would get to write the viral comedy parts? The writers of sitcoms A,B, and C, or writers specifically hired for the viral comedy? [/li][li]Depending on who writes it, how would the style of the viral comedy mesh with the style of each individual sitcom?[/li][li]Most likely getting the studios & networks to agree would be impossible[/li][li]The viral storyline should be such that it gives you an incentive to watch all sitcoms that are host to the viral comedy, but, if you choose to not watch one or more of them, the sitcoms you do end up watching are not lacking in any way.[/li][li]Sitcoms are set in different cities, so it’s hard to have side characters that know each other (or at least interact with each other much)[/li][li]And many more…[/li][/ul]
What do you guys think? If you exclude all the logistical issues, would this be something that you’d find fun to watch?
I don’t know much about fan fiction, but from the little that I know about it, it has nothing whatsoever to do with what I propose in the OP.
In fact what Wikipedia says confirms my suspicion: “Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters (or simply fictional characters) or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator”
I have no idea how you saw the idea in the OP as relating to fan fiction.
Developing backstory and interrelationships, including cross-overs, between minor supporting characters from popular works. You really should read some of it sometime.
(I think there may be more fanfic featuring That Cabbage Guy than about major characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender.)
However, you do see a difference between that and what I’m proposing, right?
[ol]
[li]I propose that the interrelationships and cross-overs be written by the authors themselves, and not by fans, which should go a long way to making them suck less (since you say “Most of [fan fiction] is crap”) [/li][li]I propose that the interrelationships and cross-overs be shown within the actual shows themselves, and not, as separate shows or books (which is what fan fiction is, if I’m not mistaken). What I propose is as if some fan fiction about a cross-over between Star Wars and Star Trek made it into both the next Star Wars and Star Trek movies.[/li][/ol]
Yeah, I know Although back when I originally had this idea (around 8 years ago) I don’t think the term ‘viral’ in its present meaning was that widespread (at least as far as I was aware)
In any case, the term is not important. I was curious to see if people would consider the thing I described in the OP as something they’d find fun to watch.
There has been a little of that in various sitcoms by the same writers. Ursula, the surly waitress from “Mad About You” was the twin sister of Pheobe, of “Friends”, for instance.
Although back when I originally had this idea (around 8 years ago) I don’t think the term ‘viral’ in its present meaning was that widespread (at least as far as I was aware)