Here's my theory:
When there is a successful sitcom in TV, like Friends or Family Ties - then we the viewers get so acustomed to those characters - that it's tough for us to see the same actors in other roles. This can be mitigated somewhat by the superior acting skill of the actor in question.
When a sitcom's tenure ends on TV, and the characters go their own way and try to do other sitcoms - they always fail. Why? The same actor is trying to be funny again with a completely different character. This never, and I say never, sits well with we the viewers. The masses can't seem to accept this new character trying to be funny. Case in Point - all the Seinfeld cast starting new sitcoms - all were ridiculous and failed miserably. Jason Alexander is George Costanza, damnit. We don't want to see him as someone else. He's George. And Michael Richards, please. If he's not Kramer, he's wasting everyones time. This is what happened to them. When will the network execs figure this out?
When do new sitcoms work? only spinoffs - like Frasier from Cheers, and probably "Joey" next year, although I would get sick of watching Joey alone for a whole half hour. But you see - the same character works. If you asked me about Michael J Fox - take notice - in Spin City, he was essentially Alex P Keaton - the bumbling intellectual. And Newhart - same dude, different families.
Am I right or am I right?
Posted by G at September 30, 2003 07:01 AM | TrackBackFunny.
I was thinking about this last night. Jerry Stiller was added as a regular on "King of Queens" and succeeded at boosting ratings. Why? Well, my guess is that while he is a different person, his character is identical to George's father on Seinfeld which people remember well and liked.
That's right - Jerry Stiller *is* Frank Costanza in king of queens. Forgot about that one.
Posted by: G at September 30, 2003 08:17 PMYeah, but in Watching Ellie and that retarded Kramer show, they also played basically the same characters. Certainly they were more similar than Michael J Fox's two characters (and I, for one, think his success in two TV shows was due to his respected movie career).
That's the reason why networks try reworking successful characters. Sometimes it works. But, as with Seinfeld, sometimes it doesn't.
My own theory is that the success of these followup shows demonstrate the level at which the viewers actually *like* the main character. Everybody loved Alex Keaton; they didn't just love to watch him. Everybody loved Bob Newhart. And Laverne and Shirley. Nobody really liked any of the cast of Seinfeld. They just enjoyed watching them do their thing. And I predict that nobody really likes any of the cast of Friends. Except possibly Joey.
We shall see.
Posted by: vivek at October 1, 2003 05:56 AMfor the record, i HATE all the "friends".
Posted by: lesley at October 1, 2003 06:16 AMAre u sure, Vivek? I never watched those seinfeld shows... but I thought richards and Julia were trying to be different characters. Was is it the same type of humour as Seinfeld? Was Larry David involved in any of those?
Posted by: G at October 1, 2003 07:46 AMI hate Phoebe.
Posted by: Al at October 1, 2003 11:10 AM