GUYS DON’T WATCH SITCOMS. They watch a lot of sports on TV, some news, and an occasional crime show. That’s it. There’s been an unheralded migration of men from sitcoms, the half-hour comedies about funny families or jobs that once dominated TV viewing. I know about this. I’ve participated. So has every guy I know. My friend Juan Williams says watching a sitcom is “a challenge.” He’d rather avoid the agony of sitting through one. What guy could blame him? How can I be so sure of the mass flight from sitcoms? Well, there are the ratings of the top television shows. They’re half or so of what they used to be for sitcoms, and I suspect the half that vamoosed is all male, both men and boys. Of course I can’t prove it. I’m extrapolating from my own experience and the anecdotal evidence of most of the guys I’m acquainted with.
But ask yourself this. How many times have you heard a guy say something like, “I missed ‘Will and Grace’ last night, but at least I remembered to tape it.” Or “Man, that episode of ‘That ’70s Show’ last night was really great!” Or “Let’s make sure we’re home in time to watch ‘Friends.’ It’s going off the air soon.” The answer to how often you’ve heard comments like these is never. These shows are for and about women.
Once guys did watch sitcoms. I certainly did when I was growing up in the ’50s and early ’60s–“I Love Lucy,” to cite one. And in the late ’60s and early ’70s, my wife and I would watch “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Mary Tyler Moore” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” I thought they were funny. I still do.
Since then, there have been few sitcoms worth watching. I once appeared in a “Murphy Brown” episode, along with John McLaughlin and Eleanor Clift of “The McLaughlin Group,” and it was pretty funny, even witty. And “Seinfeld,” I’m told, was an extremely funny show. But now, there’s zilch. (I’m not counting “The Simpsons” because it’s a cartoon.) It’s not only that guys would rather watch sports. There’s no real alternative for them.
How do I know sitcoms are bad now if I never watch? Good question. In truth, I watch snatches of sitcoms. There are women living in my home who turn these shows on, and, as I’m walking by, I’ll pause a few minutes to watch. So I get a fairly good idea what “Friends,” say, is all about, namely three guys and three women who live in the same house somewhere, or maybe it’s an apartment.
“Friends” is a good example of why guys don’t watch sitcoms. This is a popular show, especially at my house. Sure, the women on “Friends” are good looking, but the guys on the show are wimps. They’re fully grown, but act like they’re junior high girls. Can you imagine them in the Army? With guys like them in Iraq, we’d have lost the war. Guys get this treatment in other sitcoms, too. They are dopes, oafs, or weenies. Whatever’s going on, they usually haven’t got a clue.
A few years ago, I met Patricia Heaton, the star of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” as successful a sitcom as there is these days. She was one of the speakers at a pro-life banquet in New Jersey. Heaton is quite attractive and very courageous. It doesn’t do her career any good to be known as a serious foe of abortion. Hollywood frowns on such sentiments, but she persists. She also testified before Congress against cloning. I was impressed.
So I was determined to watch and like “Everybody Loves Raymond.” I failed. Heaton is a fine actress, but the show is chiefly about the husband of the character she plays. He’s Raymond. His most conspicuous trait is his fear of his parents, who are constantly dropping by. His father is a grump. His mother is a bozo. But Raymond doesn’t see them that way. For much of the show, he is oblivious to what’s really going on. Guys don’t identify with this type of character.
If guys can’t watch hit shows like “Friends” or “Everybody Loves Raymond,” then what can they watch? News, but only for short periods of time. And sports. Which, for guys, is the viewing choice of either last resort or only resort. Fortunately, there’s plenty of sports on TV, most of it wonderfully produced. Have you ever seen “SportsCenter”? Best show on television. Witty hosts, but no laugh track.
The real test of guys and sitcoms came several years ago when a sitcom about a show just like “SportsCenter” went on the air. It was supposed to attract guys. In my case, I wasn’t for even a fleeting moment tempted to watch. And soon enough it was off the air.
–Fred Barnes
