When you look at CBS’ programming guide, you can sort them into three different categories: High Volume shows, Fading Reality Shows, and Universal Comedies. High Volume shows include programs like NCIS and its brother NCIS: LA, Unforgettable, Hawaii Five-O, Person of Interest, and The Good Wife. These shows (typically dramas) can be watched consecutively for long periods of time without much diminishing returns because the plots from episode to episode are generally the same and the characters are easy to warm up too. Their biggest calling card is that they are highly entertaining while simultaneously allowing the viewer to shut their brain off and just enjoy the ride without having to spend much time reflecting afterwards.
USA Network is the king of producing High Volume shows. Armed with their slogan “Characters Welcome”, they boast shows that are filled with them in Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, and formerly Monk. They have found the perfect formula of comedy and drama to keep their audience entertained and hungry for multiple variations of the same show.
Personally, my favorite High Volume show of all is 24. The plot is just edgy enough that if you are watching it continually with a group of people, you don’t need much time to process what just happened in the previous episode because everyone wants to see what happens next. It has one of TV’s most badass characters of the last decade, Jack Bauer, and you always find yourself rooting for him no matter what pickle he finds himself. Jack’s CTU team is always full of a variety of people that constantly clash with each other. Chloe was the leader of the bunch for always being so loyal, and sometimes so incompetent that whenever she did anything brave it was a complete shock. Plus, the central storyline revolves around saving America! How can it get any cooler than that?
While CBS’s reality programming has never failed them, I think that their lineup has become the Tim Duncan of the realm. Shows like The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss, Survivor and its many knockoffs were once prominent shows that killed, revolutionized the genre, and are revered by a generation but now they are merely getting by on reputation and whatever celebrity they can bring on.[1] I cannot judge The Amazing Race because I have never seen it but after seeing enough promos for it over my television watching life, the same storylines seem recycled, only there are different characters trying to get to the end of the world every season. Undercover Boss has a pretty neat concept too; only that it is repeated too many times and every employee at the end of each episode eventually cries out in joy.
Universal Comedies are a bit trickier because they can easily slide into High Volume shows due to their half-hour length, the obvious genre of the show, and the general happiness that the genre produces. CBS currently wears the UC belt due to the undisputed fact that it has a multitude of Universal Comedies that help make it “The Number 1 Channel On TV”. Big Bang Theory appeals to nerds, future nerds, and people that don’t know a lot about nerd culture. 2 Broke Girls bring in the “people who want to laugh at hipsters” crowd. Mike and Molly engage the many who think fat people are funny (Melissa McCarthy legitimately is, the other guy legitimately isn’t). And Two and A Half Men, Rob, and Rules of Engagement draws people who don’t think anything is funny.
Which brings us to the one CBS show that is possibly the most unique show on the network: How I Met Your Mother. HIMYM fits into the intersecting circles of High Volume and Universal Comedy on the TV Show Classification Venn Diagram. Its concept, a retrospective story about how a guy found his wife in New York City told to his kids, is one of the most unique sitcom approaches I have seen. It stands out from the other comedies on the network because it often breaks the mold of your typical sitcom by occasionally crossing over into a cinematic realm with cool montages that Two and A Half Men won’t even try. The running gags in the show are seriously funny and are referenced in casual conversation more than any other show the people in my life watch.[2]
In spite of all its positives, HIMYM is not the funniest show on television. Not even close.
Community and Parks and Recreation are far and away the two funniest shows on TV with Always Sunny in Philadelphia coming in third. Community get hardly any love from anyone other than critics (mostly because nobody watches it) but is the most ambitious show on the boob tube and is willing to try everything and anything to get a laugh, and it usually succeeds. The joke writing is tailored to comedy nerds and usually lands awesomely. The characters have such in-depth personalities that they allow the writers the flexibility to lean on a couple of them for an episode or two at a time and still produce a quality episode.
If I were ever to create a television show on a big network, I would create a fictitious world like the ones that Community and Parks and Rec have spawned. Each show has created a world where only their rules of comedy are allowed to exist. Community and Parks and Rec have cultivated their own worlds, Greendale Community College, and Pawnee, Indiana, into unique brands that a casual viewer can pick out from other comedies.
HIMYM shares few of the qualities that are in Community and Parks and Rec mainly because it is really hard to create a universe within an established setting like New York City and have complex characters. It is not what the creators wanted. They wanted to show a group of normal New Yorkers going through the trials of their mid to late youth while looking for that special someone. There is nothing wrong with going that direction at all. In fact, I applaud the show runners for taking that approach. It is a breath of fresh air from trying to find all of the veiled comedy in Community. That is not a dig on Community. I will love it forever, even after it gets cancelled in 5 months.
If all the comedies were standing in a police lineup, I would be able to easily pick out HIMYM because it is the show that makes me smile the most. All of its subtle gags and joyful characters warm my heart every time I watch it.
This was originally supposed to be a journal post about my thoughts on the first six episodes of HIMYM ever and my evaluations of all aspects of the show but this warped into a complicated post about TV. I promise that one of the next three posts will include a full analysis of HIMYM. I swear it. Until next time…
[1] I feel bad using Tim Duncan to describe the decline of reality TV because he’s the greatest power forward ever but it’s the right fit. Survivor must’ve been an awesome show 20 years ago but when you have famous people like Jimmy Johnson on there, things must really be going bad for you.
[2] I would reference more of my favorite comedies but nobody else watches them. A lot of them are on NBC but everyone knows what channel that is, right? This is the only bitter hipster rant I will have during this post. I promise. I am done.
USA Network is the king of producing High Volume shows. Armed with their slogan “Characters Welcome”, they boast shows that are filled with them in Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, and formerly Monk. They have found the perfect formula of comedy and drama to keep their audience entertained and hungry for multiple variations of the same show.
Personally, my favorite High Volume show of all is 24. The plot is just edgy enough that if you are watching it continually with a group of people, you don’t need much time to process what just happened in the previous episode because everyone wants to see what happens next. It has one of TV’s most badass characters of the last decade, Jack Bauer, and you always find yourself rooting for him no matter what pickle he finds himself. Jack’s CTU team is always full of a variety of people that constantly clash with each other. Chloe was the leader of the bunch for always being so loyal, and sometimes so incompetent that whenever she did anything brave it was a complete shock. Plus, the central storyline revolves around saving America! How can it get any cooler than that?
While CBS’s reality programming has never failed them, I think that their lineup has become the Tim Duncan of the realm. Shows like The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss, Survivor and its many knockoffs were once prominent shows that killed, revolutionized the genre, and are revered by a generation but now they are merely getting by on reputation and whatever celebrity they can bring on.[1] I cannot judge The Amazing Race because I have never seen it but after seeing enough promos for it over my television watching life, the same storylines seem recycled, only there are different characters trying to get to the end of the world every season. Undercover Boss has a pretty neat concept too; only that it is repeated too many times and every employee at the end of each episode eventually cries out in joy.
Universal Comedies are a bit trickier because they can easily slide into High Volume shows due to their half-hour length, the obvious genre of the show, and the general happiness that the genre produces. CBS currently wears the UC belt due to the undisputed fact that it has a multitude of Universal Comedies that help make it “The Number 1 Channel On TV”. Big Bang Theory appeals to nerds, future nerds, and people that don’t know a lot about nerd culture. 2 Broke Girls bring in the “people who want to laugh at hipsters” crowd. Mike and Molly engage the many who think fat people are funny (Melissa McCarthy legitimately is, the other guy legitimately isn’t). And Two and A Half Men, Rob, and Rules of Engagement draws people who don’t think anything is funny.
Which brings us to the one CBS show that is possibly the most unique show on the network: How I Met Your Mother. HIMYM fits into the intersecting circles of High Volume and Universal Comedy on the TV Show Classification Venn Diagram. Its concept, a retrospective story about how a guy found his wife in New York City told to his kids, is one of the most unique sitcom approaches I have seen. It stands out from the other comedies on the network because it often breaks the mold of your typical sitcom by occasionally crossing over into a cinematic realm with cool montages that Two and A Half Men won’t even try. The running gags in the show are seriously funny and are referenced in casual conversation more than any other show the people in my life watch.[2]
In spite of all its positives, HIMYM is not the funniest show on television. Not even close.
Community and Parks and Recreation are far and away the two funniest shows on TV with Always Sunny in Philadelphia coming in third. Community get hardly any love from anyone other than critics (mostly because nobody watches it) but is the most ambitious show on the boob tube and is willing to try everything and anything to get a laugh, and it usually succeeds. The joke writing is tailored to comedy nerds and usually lands awesomely. The characters have such in-depth personalities that they allow the writers the flexibility to lean on a couple of them for an episode or two at a time and still produce a quality episode.
If I were ever to create a television show on a big network, I would create a fictitious world like the ones that Community and Parks and Rec have spawned. Each show has created a world where only their rules of comedy are allowed to exist. Community and Parks and Rec have cultivated their own worlds, Greendale Community College, and Pawnee, Indiana, into unique brands that a casual viewer can pick out from other comedies.
HIMYM shares few of the qualities that are in Community and Parks and Rec mainly because it is really hard to create a universe within an established setting like New York City and have complex characters. It is not what the creators wanted. They wanted to show a group of normal New Yorkers going through the trials of their mid to late youth while looking for that special someone. There is nothing wrong with going that direction at all. In fact, I applaud the show runners for taking that approach. It is a breath of fresh air from trying to find all of the veiled comedy in Community. That is not a dig on Community. I will love it forever, even after it gets cancelled in 5 months.
If all the comedies were standing in a police lineup, I would be able to easily pick out HIMYM because it is the show that makes me smile the most. All of its subtle gags and joyful characters warm my heart every time I watch it.
This was originally supposed to be a journal post about my thoughts on the first six episodes of HIMYM ever and my evaluations of all aspects of the show but this warped into a complicated post about TV. I promise that one of the next three posts will include a full analysis of HIMYM. I swear it. Until next time…
[1] I feel bad using Tim Duncan to describe the decline of reality TV because he’s the greatest power forward ever but it’s the right fit. Survivor must’ve been an awesome show 20 years ago but when you have famous people like Jimmy Johnson on there, things must really be going bad for you.
[2] I would reference more of my favorite comedies but nobody else watches them. A lot of them are on NBC but everyone knows what channel that is, right? This is the only bitter hipster rant I will have during this post. I promise. I am done.