http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:23:38 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/01/181220.php#comment-34853 I'd buy your premise if you had left out Futurama and Family Guy. (I've never heard of Hidden Hills so have to give you a pass on that one :-) 34853@blogcritics.org Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:23:38 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/01/181220.php#comment-34843 Ken - I agree with you on Scrubs. That actually almost didn't come back this year, but I'm sure glad it did. I also wonder about Tivo. As the technology gets better maybe this will allow people greater ease in watching. I'll admit it, I hated recording with VHS. :-) As for the laugh track... Sports Night should not have had that. I always thought that took away from the show. Phillip - I agree with you on South Park, the same could be said with the Simpsons. The difference between these two successful shows, as I see it, is they didn't start out as intellectual. As the show gained in public, the teams behind them refined their writing styles. 34843@blogcritics.org Fri, 2 Jan 2004 02:44:49 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/01/181220.php#comment-34837 This is a great article. Including the law of intellectual property. I wonder ... perhaps on some level south park should be consider to be Type B as well. I've found that its messages are very subtle, even when they presented overtly. 34837@blogcritics.org Fri, 2 Jan 2004 00:22:16 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/01/01/181220.php#comment-34827 Brilliant insight. I'd nominate "Scrubs", "Arrested Development", and "The Simpsons" as all worthy Intellectual Comedies currently airing on network TV. I think the combination of slapstick and deeper humor for the introspective is very effective. Perhaps the writers include the slapstick so that the show will have enough staying power with the general public to get a foothold among the Intellectual Comedy fans. A thought: does the lack of a laugh track make it more likely that an Intellectual Comedy will fail? Look at "Police Squad", "Sports Night", or (currently-airing) "Arrested Development". Were these failures on network TV, because the general public didn't know when to laugh? As a side note, I'd propose that the invention of TiVo makes it possible that more Intellectual Comedies will survive, because people can watch shows that air at odd times. I have no clue, for example, when "Arrested Development" airs. It simply appears on my "Now Playing on TiVo" screen, and I watch it when I durn well please. Then I talk it up to everyone I meet, spreading the word. Since the TiVo company can collect and report audience metrics (assuming I don't opt-out of sharing my data), network producers can get a true idea of how many people are watching these smart shows. I'm gonna share Van's Law with my friends. It will likely produce some great discussions about other shows that fit the "Intellectual Comedy" genre. 34827@blogcritics.org Thu, 1 Jan 2004 23:18:50 EST