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How ironic to be writing about NBC, ABC, & Fox trending overwhelmingly single-camera in their comedy series orders on a day when the syndication sale of a multi-camera sitcom, CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, broke the record for off-network coin held by another muticamera sitcom, Seinfeld. But multi-camera sitcoms suffered another seasonal setback in their attempt to regain ground on broadcast television outside of CBS. With NBC, ABC and Fox done with their new series orders, only one multicamera sitcom, ABC’s Better Together, found its way to the schedule among those three nets for next season. That’s down from 3 last year.
It’s not that NBC, ABC and Fox are retreating from comedy altogether — their combined new comedy series order tally was 10 this year vs. 9 at the same point last year. But 9 of the 10 went to single-camera half-hours.
Over the past couple of years, especially in the context of the economic downturn that hit the TV industry hard, NBC, Fox and ABC executives have stressed that they are looking to diversify their comedy offering with less-expensive multi-camera sitcoms. And they have done it the development stage, buying multi-camera scripts and picking up multi-camera pilots. But when it came down to series orders this year, they went almost exclusively with single-camera shows.
Look at NBC. The network ordered 10 pilots evenly split between the two formats: five single-camera and five multi-camera. It picked up four of the single-camera pilots to series, Perfect Couples, Outsourced, Friends With Benefits and Next, while going 0-5 on the multi-camera side, not picking up a single traditional sitcom.
ABC also had a balanced pilot portfolio, ordering 12 comedy pilots, six of them single-camera, five multi-camera and one hybrid (Awkward Situations for Men). It picked up two single-camera ones to series, Mr. Sunshine and Happy Endings, and one multi-cam, Better Together. Of the two projects the network is keeping in contention for midseason with orders for new pilots, neither is multi-cam: Wright Vs. Wrong is single-camera and Awkward Situations is a hybrid.
Meanwhile, Fox showed a clear preference in the pilot stage, picking up 6 single-camera and three multi-camera pilots. It ended up ordering three new half-hour series, the single-camera Keep Hope Alive, Traffic Light and Running Wilde, and no multi-cam sitcoms. The network even converted one of its comedy pilots originally written as a multi-cam, Strange Brew, to single-camera.
Why is that the three networks’ series choices skewed so heavily single-camera this year despite the fact that multi-cams in general repeat better and sell for more in syndication? I think it has to do with the fact that the breakout new comedy series of this season, ABC’s Modern Family, was single-camera, while the three new multi-camera comedies, ABC’s Hank, Fox’s Brothers and NBC’s 100 Questions all faced a quick demise. (100 Questions is actually yet to air as a summer burn-off). Even CBS, the king of multi-camera sitcoms, struck out in the genre this season with Accidentally On Purpose.
But the eye network is looking good to restore some of the balance between single- and multi-camera series with several buzzed-about new sitcoms, including the already picked up Mike & Molly, from Big Bang and Two and a Half Men mastermind Chuck Lorre, and the almost-picked up William Shatner starrer Bleep My Dad Said. CBS stayed true to its multi-camera comedy identity in its pilot orders. All 8 of its pilots were multi-camera. (The Ant Hines single-camera project was a low-budget presentation)
Still, even with the success of Two and a Half Men, Big Bang and How I Met Your Mother on CBS, the genre seems to be retreating big time almost everywhere else, including non-kids cable channels. TBS is moving from multi-cam sitcoms to hourlong filmed comedies with Glory Daze and Lifetime recently canceled its multi-camera effort Rita Rocks. It seems like there are only two main choices for new original sitcoms on TV these days – CBS and TV Land.
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Well, Modern Family proves that single camera comedies can work.
Not to mention: Arrested Development, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Office, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, etc.
Plenty of great shows doing it before Modern Family was on TV.
ditto. CURB… BERNIE MAC… MALCOLM… ENTOURAGE (sadly)… Earl (sadly)… single cams have been killin’ it for years now. Mod Fam isn’t the first. Not sure why people think it’s reinvented TV. it’s pretty good, not amazing.
It’s not about what works and doesn’t work, as both work, but about costs. For obvious reasons (smaller casts, no locations) multi-cams are much cheaper to do. I think the reason there’s been a single-cam bias lately has more to do with the fact that single-cams are sexier than multi-cams, which are much more repetitive and limited given the nature of the format. So, a) writers want to write single-cams to show what they can do, and b) execs want to sit down at lunch and talk about their high-concept, “edgy” projects, which almost invariably means single-cam. Nobody brags about setting up multi-cams, which are seen as much more bread-and-butter pedestrian. Which is ironic given that in my experience it is much more difficult to do a good multi-cam given the limitations.
Really? Single cam comedies can work? Thanks for filling the rest of us in. And it’s Modern Family that has proved this? Do you even watch television?
A few years back I was producing a multi cam for the CW network and during one development meeting with the brass at the CW an interesting topic took over the meeting. It was revealed that the network began an intense study using “focus groups”(those stoners in NOHO who show up for coffee and a hundred bucks), the result: younger people hated multi cam shows because it looked “old ” and “outdated”. The brass believed that the days of multi had come to an end.
forgetting about the 4 sitcoms that CMT is prepping…
Who the hell cares about CMT…?
People who sell television comedies for a living care because if CMT is willing to put their skins in the game, it could mean more opportunities for creators. Why would that be a bad thing?
cmt is not an option for any creator worth a damn.
An interesting trend for sure.
Although I’m not sure why the article discounts the kid multicam shows. iCarly got over 11 million viewers recently for a new episode. That’s better than most network sitcoms.
because people on this site are adults, and you obviously have no idea what you are talking about if you feel the need to compare the two. nobody gives a rats ass about kids shows
youre an adult? REALLY?
“really” cannot possibly work in this industry and make the comments he/she has made in this thread….
He/She is either jobless (that attitude would explain it), a HUGE idiot or (probably) both….
Yes, I am an adult. And this article “discounts kids shows” because it is about how there were a ton of multi cam pilots shot (for network TV) but very few picked up. And this yahoo wants to yammer about how much kid loves iCarly. They love popsicles too, what the hell does that have to do w/ pilot season?
The article states “Still, even with the success of Two and a Half Men, Big Bang and How I Met Your Mother on CBS, the genre seems to be retreating big time almost everywhere else, including non-kids cable channels.”
I thought it was odd to discount how well the kids cable channels do with their multicam shows since they have some of the highest rated comedies on TV. And lots of them. So the genre is not retreating. And the tweens and teens who have been watching those multicam shows for the last decade will soon be in the coveted 18-49 demo.
I’d imagine that anyone who makes money from shows on kids networks would care. It is, you know, a BUSINESS.
Because kids grow up to become adults, and they’ve grown up watching 3-camera sitcoms.
When a single-cam show fails, they blame the content. When a multi-cam fails, they now blame the genre. The networks have lost faith in the multi-cam form even though the audience hasn’t, as proven by the success of “Two and a Half Men” and “Big Bang” and “How I Met Your Mother” (which isn’t shot like a multi-cam, but looks and sounds like one, as far as the viewer is concerned).
Younger audiences are raised on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel multi-cams. Repeats of shows like “Friends”, “Raymond” and “Seinfield” remain extremely popular. The audience doesn’t have a problem with the form. They just don’t like bad shows. “Accidentally on Purpose” didn’t fail because it was a multi-cam. The audience just didn’t think it was as funny as the other comedies on that night, so they didn’t watch.
Viewers don’t make their choices based on shooting style. All they know is whether or not they like the characters and if they think the show is funny. But nobody wants to believe the answer is that simple…
You could not have said it better!!!
I concur with Mike 100%. And I guarantee NBC, Fox and ABC will have all sorts of excuses why their single-camera comedies fail without suggesting that a multi-cam would work fine if not better. The continued success of vintage properties like “I Love Lucy” and “The Golden Girls” just shows how idiotically out of tune these programmers are with TV history past and present.
Multi- camera sitcoms have a huge upside.
ABC and NBC really need to take the corks ‘outa their asses and let T.V. comedy breathe.
Is that really it for NBC, ABC and FOX? No new ones to be announced. Was really hoping “Freshmen” would get a pickup for ABC. It hadn’t been mentioned as not going, and the script was really funny.
Multi-cams that shoot in front of live audiences tend to suck as a result of the intelligence of the audience dictates the lowest common denominator writing in order to get a laugh.
This is what truly frustrates me about the networks especially NBC — some of the greatest sitcoms of all time have been multi camera series — cosby show, friends, family ties, cheers, frasier, home improvement, roseanne — can you name me one single camera sitcom that has gotten over 15 million viewers, you’re lucky to find even one over 10 million. Don’t networks get it???
Lately I find Multi Cam comedies to be associated with LOW BROW-sex comedies (THREE HALF MEN for example)….Single cams to me anyway denote more sophistication.
As a viewer I read the above with interest. I watch a comedy because it works. If it doesn’t I don’t. I could care less how many camera’s are used. For the most part I don’t even notice as I’m sure the vast majority of viewers doesn’t either. Funny is funny, no matter how many cameras a show uses.
“Multi-cams that shoot in front of live audiences tend to suck as a result of the intelligence of the audience dictates the lowest common denominator writing in order to get a laugh”
Artsy Fartsy doesn’t pay the bills, while ABC and NBC are chasing their tales with single cam comedies, CBS and Warner Bros are cleaning up in the syndication market. Multi cam comedies can be run over and over and over again, just ask Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, and as a bonus they’re fast and cheap.
Remember it’s the viewer that makes the final decision, not the writers, directors, actors or producers.
“Accidentally on Purpose” seemed to be doing just fine on Monday nights. Then even kept the same numbers “Gary” had on Wednesdays. While not a runaway hit, “Accidentally on Purpose” really shouldn’t be called a strikeout. “Hank?” Now that was a strikeout.
The problem is that Multi-cam world is a group effort being governed by 20 television executives that think they know what funny is. That doesn’t happen in the single camera world. They don’t have 20 people, who’s lives hang in the balance, who have degrees from Yale business, sitting there micro managing the comedy. It’s absurd.
The executives keep their hands off the single-camera comedies? You obviously have no idea what you’re talking about. Or have worked for ABC.
Network comedy executives do their best to keep funny characters off of television. Try to write flawed characters and you get notes about what a loser that guy/girl is. Everybody has to be good looking and only superficially flawed– “He’s a handsome, successful CEO who isn’t the boss at home…”
“Taxi” would never get on the air today. A bunch of ugly losers who sit around and drive taxis? Who wants to see that? God bless Tina Fey for being able to make Liz Lemon such a loser. I’m sure she faced a lot of flack at some point.
Multi-cams are limited because, when a smart joke doesn’t get a laugh from the audience, the executives don’t go, “Well, that was a smart joke. The viewing audience will get it.” They say change it to dumbed down joke the studio audience will get.
The reason shows without audiences are funnier is you only have to make the writer’s room laugh. The Simpsons, Larry Sanders, The Office, Modern Family, 30 Rock– If it’s funny in the room, it’s on. Plus, on single cams, you get a lot more laughs from reaction shots.
Also, Modern Family was written on spec, without development execs. Big surprise there.
Why can’t 30 Rock or The Office draw 12 million or more viewers?
30 Rock, The Office and the majority of single-camera sitcoms tend to be more niche because, as “been there” stated, you only need to make the writer’s room laugh. 30 Rock and The Office don’t have the mass appeal of a multi-camera sitcom shot before a studio audience. Everyone in the studio has to find it funny, so the stories have to be highly-relatable. In turn, a greater part of the viewing audience is also relating to the material.
With a single-camera sitcom, different people are laughing at different things at different times in different spots. It becomes a matter of what the writers and actors find funny (which you don’t have to find funny) as opposed to what we all can find funny.
The humor is niche. The appeal is niche. The viewership is reduced. The networks have lost sight of this and why they are in the situation they are in.
the humor isn’t niche. smart, funny comedy is smart, funny comedy. The problem is that a significant number of people in this country are morons. They are the same people that voted for Sarah Palin. Yes it’s all connected and yes they’re ruining television for all of us.
Funny you mention Palin, since that is why any property with Tina Fey automatically loses at least half of any potential audience. That’s very bad when one is in the entertainment business. I never saw people flip off a movie poster before like I saw some people do to a “Date Night” poster in a theater lobby.
She and a fawning media dug that hole for her, and now she is damaged goods. You smug liberals get to enjoy her all by yourselves.
Okay, first off, you are a moron. “…any property with Tina Fey automatically loses at least half of any potential audience.” That sounds like a fact there, huh? And not just some bs statement you came up with to prove you asinine point. When really you are making mine. Half this country, including you, are morons. If people where you live were ‘flipping off’ a movie poster just because it featured a comedian who satirized some idiot wanna be politician… you are a redneck who shouldnt have a vote. No one dug a hole for Tina Fey. Date Night may have been a POS, but it still made money even if, and probably because of that spot on impression of your dim-witted idol. She won an emmy for that impression and has a critically acclaimed sitcom on the air for going on five years now. I’d hardly call that damaged good. If your friends don’t like it, it’s because they don’t get the joke. It’s them. We will enjoy her all by ourselves… if only because your kind don’t understand. Go check out 2 1/2 men on CBS. Great poop jokes.
Yeah, and mocking Bush was box office poison for that crazy liberal Will Ferrel. That guy had no career after that.
Idiot.
With the advent of the Red Camera System and the Arri Alexa shooting direct to digital, multi cam costs will decline considerably from Panavision film cameras. The cost and time for post will also decline considerably which puts the focus squarely where it needs to be… content.
TV Hall of Fame’s All-time Classics: Married With Children or Modern Family?
…nuff said.
Modern Family hands down for me. Married was Ok, in its time it was new, edgy,different and hilarious, no matter its repetitive nature.
Modern Family is great, no doubt. Married With Children is also…ran for 11 years, critically acclaimed for much of its run…major money-maker for Sony. Don’t diss without knowing your facts.
Modern Fam is good — not great. MWC will be remembered, MF will be… reminded.
I took my girlfriend to a taping of her favorite show Big Bang. She looks around the stage and asks, “What are all the cameras for?”
your gf is a bit of an idiot, huh?
She must be. I mean… how could anyone assume it possible to accomplish anything with just a single camera?
Maybe she should spend less time watching television shows and more time learning how they’re made. That’s where the real comedy is.
Actually, that IS where all the real comedy is… on the writers room/cutting room floor…. because of all the notes from the Networks demanding it be dumbed down because the lowest-common-morons like your girlfriend out there wouldn’t understand a funny joke if it was explained to them and can’t seem to figure out what all the cameras are for. Not to mention her favorite show is “Big Bang’ which is a whole ‘nother red flag right there.
Why should his girlfriend know anything about television production or have a need to learn anything about it? Why is she an “idiot” or a “lowest-common-moron” because she asked a simple question I suspect anyone who has never been on a soundstage would ask? I would guess that most viewers never think about how many cameras it takes to make their favorite show (or any technical aspect of television production for that matter) nor do they have reason or desire to learn about it. Should surgeons assume a patient is an “idiot” because she doesn’t understand that a ventriculoperitoneal shunt obviously needs to be inserted into her skull to relieve hydrocephalus? And if not, should she spend more time reading the Textbook of Clinical Neurology (3rd ed.)? As far as her taste in entertainment goes, well that’s another story; but “Big Bang Theory” isn’t necessarily the nadir of network situation comedy production.
Unprovoked attacks on another’s intelligence… really? Sounds like you need a ventriculoperitoneal shunt inserted into your…
It ain’t about the kind of camera… it’s about whether or not it’s FUNNY… and the moron execs at the studios and networks will never get that… because they don’t know what’s funny. The only time a funny show ever gets on the air is because the creator/showrunner ignored network and studio notes and did what they wanted. No network or studio exec has EVER given a good note that made anything funnier. And that’s been the elephant in the room for the last 30 years. And it will never change. So be grateful for that one or two series that actually gets on the air and makes you laugh… it was because a writer ignored the network notes and did what he wanted and left whether the show got picked up to pure luck. And that’s how it works, folks. Pure luck.
Brandon Tartikoff and Chris Albrecht were good at picking successful funny shows. Kevin Reilly and Jeff Gaspin are both pretty good.
Brandon Tartikoff at NBC and Chris Albrecht at HBO were good at making shows better. Kevin Reilly at Fox, John Landgraf at FX and Jeff Gaspin at NBC are all pretty good at making shows better. But, for the most part you’re right.
Yes, Tartikoff did pick some good shows and he let writers write… about 30 years ago. And you must be kidding about Albrecht. I won’t even touch that one. And let’s talk about Reilly and Gaspin. The last few seasons of Fox, what has Reilly picked as the winning sitcoms? Sit Down Shut Up. Brothers of Tuscon or whatever the hell it was called. Til Death. I’m sorry, I can’t even remember the names of all the failures. And Gaspin? When did he become the resident genius? I thought it was Zucker and/or Ben Silverman. No wait, let’s just talk NBC comedies over the last 10 years. 30 Rock, which is NOT a hit but is occasionally funny in an on-the-nose way. And The Office, which was created in England and copied… and is a pale imitation. Okay, sorry… what’s the rest of the big, hilarious sitcoms over the past 10 years on NBC? Please, ask any good writer who is successful and he will tell you… execs at the studios and networks are morons. You just hope that they make one of their moronic decisions in your favor.
Kevin Reilly took a chance on a comedy known as Glee which is both very funny (it beat Modern Family at the Golden Globe Awards for best comedy). Under Chris Albrecht’s tenure at HBO, there was the Larry Sanders Show, Dream On and Curb Your Enthusiasm. And under Gaspin at USA, most of their shows like Monk, Burn Notice, Royal Pains and White Collar are hugely successful dramedy’s. Most network executives are morons especially Stephen McPherson who didn’t even believe in Desperate Housewives, Lost or Grey’s Anatomy according to others I have read in the past. But, Kevin Reilly, and Jeff Gaspin are guys that take chances an have a history of success with it.
I meant to also say that Glee was risky.
please don’t pretend Glee is a comedy just because it’s in that category. It’s not funny. I get it. You like the cute songs. It’s not a comedy.
and it’s certainly not funnier than Modern Family, you dim wit. Glee is lucky the golden globes category is Musical/Comedy and it is this year’s fad.
Friends, Will and Grace, Mad About You, Frasier, Cheers, Seinfeld…NBC should be embarrassed.
Parks and Rec and Community, you think they’re gonna get 2 million an episode?
I dunno, but Community is pretty awesome.
Rex, all of those shows are on average almost 20 years old. What has NBC done lately?
Younger audiences prefer single-camera. It’s no coincidence that multi-cam thrives on CBS, who has the oldest demos. Multi-cam feels retro and stale. The laugh track forces a predictable rhythm that savvier viewers have grown tired of. Long live single cam.
Modern Family won Best Writing Emmy but you can’t argue that it is sophisticated.
Gay jokes, Latino jokes, Old Rich White Guy jokes and Stupid Yuppy Couple jokes. Please,the kids are the Stars of the show because the are written to be smarter than the adults. Which is no modern concept.
Keep up the Exspensive Shakey Cam thats why I watch.
Exactly! Big Bang Theory is hilarious and is multi camera…outsourced was canceled and it was single so why not mention that.
Most multi cam shows are taped in front of a live audience and while they may boost the actual laughter with a track, most of the laughter is genuine. I know this because I have worked on both single cam and multi cam sitcoms.