That brand new episode of American Idol will probably only air once in it's life, and it got beat by a rerun of a sitcom that will surely be rerun a thousand more times. I'd like to think my hatred of AI from 5 years ago played a part in this, but a really it's a testament to the power of the Big Bang Theory and CBS.
Check out the ratings (taken from 2 months ago when nothing was in reruns) and pay attention to the sitcoms:
| 1 | Big Bang Theory, THE-02/14 | CBS | 5.5 | 6995 | |
| 2 | American Idol-WEDNESDAY-02/13 | FOX | 4.3 | 5458 | |
| 3 | Modern Family-02/13 | ABC | 3.8 | 4787 | |
| 4 | Two and a Half Men-02/14 | CBS | 3.8 | 4780 | |
| 5 | American Idol-THURSDAY-02/14 | FOX | 3.7 | 4717 | |
| 6 | 2 Broke Girls-02/11 | CBS | 3.6 | 4526 | |
| 7 | How I Met Your Mother-02/11 | CBS | 3.2 | 4099 | |
| 8 | MIKE & Molly-02/11 | CBS | 3.0 | 3763 | |
| 9 | Person Of Interest-02/14 | CBS | 3.0 | 3759 | |
| 10 | Rules of Engagement-02/11 | CBS | 2.8 | 3517 | |
| 11 | Grey'S ANATOMY-02/14 | ABC | 2.8 | 3491 | |
| 12 | BACHELOR, THE-02/11 | ABC | 2.7 | 3479 | |
| 13 | Scandal-02/14 | ABC | 2.7 | 3467 | |
| 14 | Amazing Race 22-02/17 | P | CBS | 2.5 | 3162 |
| 15 | FOLLOWING, THE-02/11 | FOX | 2.4 | 3093 | |
| 16 | Family Guy-02/17 | FOX | 2.4 | 3043 | |
| 17 | SURVIVOR: CARAMOAN-02/13 | P | CBS | 2.4 | 3034 |
| 18 | Once Upon A Time-02/17 | ABC | 2.4 | 2987 | |
| 19 | ELEMENTARY-02/14 | CBS | 2.3 | 2884 | |
| 20 | BONES-02/11 | FOX | 2.2 | 2834 |
Big Bang, Modern Family, 2 and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Mike & freaking Molly, and Rules of God Damn Engagement! So basically the sitcoms that are dominating are Modern Family and everything on CBS. And all of those CBS shows are multi-cam.
That's 6 multi-cam shows in the top 20. So why isn't everyone jumping on the multi-cam bandwagon?
The networks keep sinking money into the likes of 30 Rock and The New Normal and Don't Trust the B and The Mindy Project. All seem promising. All have "cult" followings. None have big, broad audiences.
I think part of the problem with single-cam is reality shows - Duck Dynasty, Honey Boo Boo, The Kardashians Fuck Black Guys. These aren't really reality shows, they are actually single camera comedies too. They are just as structured, just as scripted, just as jokey, but they do it with real people. And it's extremely difficult to compete against reality.
Honey Boo Boo is more amusing than any character on Happy Endings for a very good reason - Honey Boo Boo and her mom are real, if disgusting, people. How do you top that? You can't. It's way more fun to watch a real character than the one Elisha Cuthbert is trying her darndest to play.
Meanwhile, multi-cams are like a different species. There's a watchablity and a re-watchabality that single-cams don't have. I would cite the thousands of times I've watched each episode of Friends and Seinfeld as examples. Maybe there's an authenticity there. It's more like a play. It's a performance, but a less manipulated one.
I would compare it to Saturday Night Live vs. In Living Color. In Living Color had it's moments, but I always liked SNL more. There was something about the editing and the canned laughter that was off putting with In Living Color. SNL felt less artificial.
But Modern Family, you reply. Well, I would argue that Modern Family successfully replicates those reality shows with that faux documentary bullshit. As did The Office before it. They LOOK like those reality shows stylistically. They're cheating with those interview things, and it sorta works. But how many single cams can successfully use that lame device? Two, apparently.
Who knows if my theory is right, but as with most of my theories, it doesn't matter. Because the evidence is clear: multi-cam is kicking single-cams ass, in first run and in syndication. And it's not close. Yet, here are the stats for this development season:
Multi-cams ordered to pilot: 13.
Single-cams ordered to pilot: 36
Strange.
Let me be clear, I don't approve of all of this. I prefer single-cam. I WORK in single-cam. I'm just saying, isn't it weird that NBC, ABC, and FOX have all abandoned this thing that clearly works on another network, and has worked throughout TV history?
Single-cam can work. I love the show I work on (and loved it before I worked on it) and a few others, and they do solid ratings. But with that top 20 that I posted, 36 to 13 seems bizarre. Why isn't it the other way around?
I guess it's the perception that multi-cams are old fashioned, and tired, and stale, and not hip. But with cable chipping away at their audience, they need big tent shows. And multi-cam is big tent. "Not Hip" is kinda the business they're in.
Big Bang Theory makes BILLIONS of dollars. 2 and Half Men too. Friends is still running. So is Seinfeld. George Lopez keeps getting shows because his dumbass sitcom kills it in syndication. What more evidence do you need than George Lopez being successful. You know it's not him, it's the power of multi-cam.
Hopefully, for my jobs sake, there's room for both.
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