Naturally, adult comedies get way more viewers normally than sitcoms with a demographic geared towards kids. People have such a different reaction when it comes to seeing the name of a sitcom and knowing which network it's on. If you see any show that's from the networks ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, to name a few, you really get the feeling you're about to watch something very mature - to a certain degree. If you see any show that's from the networks Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, there's that sense of dread flowing through you, based on how old you are and if you aren't someone stuck in the past or someone that hopes a sitcom will just be teaching you what to do. But is it really fair to say adult sitcoms are that much better than kid sitcoms?
I can say these are some of the things today that I find people will find wrong about each kind of sitcom. For adult sitcoms, it's the crude and gross jokes, the sex jokes that are free to be in your face because you're old enough, and even too much references to pop culture to get a laugh. For kid sitcoms, it's the acting and the writing people will find wrong. What gets people watching a kid sitcom now is if they are either a "sitcom" that's only going to be teaching kids lessons or ones that have the fame concept. Not that either of these are bad, and I promise to explain why shows with the fame concept aren't that bad.
I'm not going to add characters not being good role models for why kid sitcoms get criticized because we've had great comedies in the past for older audiences like I Love Lucy and Three's Company. And those shows weren't loved by people because they had role models. So why should kid sitcoms be that way when not even adult sitcoms today would ever do that? Because by the time you're old enough to watch a sitcom mainly for adults it doesn't matter what the characters do onscreen? As I said in my last blog, really needing a sitcom that raises a child says a lot about parents and the education system. But also at the end of the day, people make the choice whether to do something or not.
Moving on, if not all of adult sitcoms, a lot of adult sitcoms atleast have a live audience, while kid sitcoms are usually contained with a laugh track. We often hear how annoying the laugh track is. Heck, it was even used in cartoons like the Flinstones once upon a time, which for me I never understood why that is. It's not true that every line you hear has a laugh coming right after, but in Disney Channel and Nickelodeon's defense, I don't hear it literally every time. There is a moment of silence from the "audience". Several moments where they can just talk. And if something does seem funny to the writers or the team making the episode of that show, then that's when the laugh track is usually used. I think it is understandable for the purpose of the laugh track as some jokes may not be as funny when they've been done over and over, hence why live audiences aren't always around for the making of a show. I can understand wanting something funny to be fresh with all viewers for the first time around. I think when we're with a bunch of people, friends especially, we tend to laugh a lot more about something. For me, though, laugh track or live audience, I don't always have that feeling that I'm sitting with an audience. I can still laugh about something I saw, but I don't laugh so much that I feel like I'm overdosing on endorphins. That's kind of tough for me to do.
And speaking of live audiences, I find there are some problems with having a live audiences. Not just because a joke isn't as fresh to the audience unless the directors feel like they got a scene done right. But because if we're going to talk about realism in a sitcom, live audiences tend to end up contradicting that when a character says something totally true or something that means they've won the argument and if they've said something really funny. Actors have had to stop and wait for the audience to quiet down before they can talk again. And for a scene that takes place with just a couple of people, how real would it be if someone was winning an argument or said something funny or totally true but then suddenly stop because they feel interrupted? Sticking with the scripts, the characters wouldn't question if something's up with that character for them to suddenly stop talking. One other thing about live audiences that can be annoying, that makes me appreciate the laugh track sometimes, is whenever there's a kiss onscreen or if someone says sex or implies sex, the audience, assuming it's a live audience, go extremely mad over this. Too much, I should say where you could hear someone go, "Ow! Ow!" But if you watch a kid sitcom where a couple kiss, most of the time, the "audience" doesn't go crazy over a kiss or if someone is trying to flirt with someone or turn them on. And the most recent thing to happen that made me annoyed with live audiences, is with the show 2 Broke Girls. You couldn't watch last week's episode without hearing the woman in the audience either laughing or making noise. It was far more annoying than any show with a laugh track could. Normally, I'm not phased with live audiences and laugh tracks. I will atleast give writers of any sitcom credit if they actually try to make their show funny. But just know, no matter what, the sound of an audience is always going to be tedious at some point. (Even Three's Company had that once in a season 7 episode when a woman couldn't stop laughing when Jack was really drunk and was getting out of his clothes. It was funny to me hearing the sound of that laugh, as opposed to the person laughing too much all throughout last week's 2 Broke Girls. It wasn't as annoying either.)
For adult sitcoms, the best ones I've found that don't rely so much on sex jokes, crude or gross humor, or pop culture references much are Wendell & Vinnie and The Big Bang Theory. And both feel as if they can be watched not just for adults but with kids too, atleast probably not kids too young. Both are really funny and I find those two to be some of the best multi-camera sitcoms that are on the air right now.
Now, for kid sitcoms, not all of them are just shows that pretend to be sitcoms to teach you a lesson or are about fame. Kenan & Kel, Drake & Josh, and Sam & Cat have their moments where something serious happens. Even some really nice moments. If there is any messages from any of those shows, it's not in your face, and is rather pretty subtle. Victorious may have had the fame concept, yet it was still showing kids that were still as normal as they were and not in the spotlight in Hollywood, they are not living their dreams like in Hannah Montana, Sonny With A Chance, and Shake It Up yet. iCarly may have been about three kids with a popular web show, but the characters still lived their lives normally, they just had a popular web show they loved making for years. Those two are not so different from the other kid sitcoms that came before them just because they had the fame concept to go with the shows.
I find these shows I've named for adult sitcoms and kid sitcoms, as well as shows like I Love Lucy and Three's Company, they don't rely or rely completely on the things that can easily attract or appeal to an audience. And all kid sitcoms in general, a lot of them may not be able to do even two out of three of the jokes adult sitcoms can get away with and it may not be easy to make a kid laugh as some would suggest. But if a writer for a show geared to kids can make a kid laugh and if they can get a family invested in it, the writer is doing something right. And you're doing something right if you can make your shows loved by more than just kids/adults. Laughter shouldn't divide age groups. A sitcom should be able to bring all age groups together. That's what I think a good sitcom really is. When it's geared to a certain demographic but written so it can be watched by people of different ages and families, I think that's when you know you've written a good show. Not everyone is going to like a sitcom but if someone can watch something with their children or their parents, siblings and friends, it can't be that bad. When you think about it, writing for one demographic will feel easy to a writer. But writing a sitcom that'll hopefully be enjoyed by all ages, no matter what network you're on, could be one of the toughest jobs to do as a comedy writer and a great accomplishment if you can pull it off.
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