Every time a new local sitcom is announced I make sure that I catch it live or PVR it and watch it later. And every time it turns out to be a disappointment. It's either overacted, badly written, or both. Now, I'm not saying I have never laughed at one or two of those rare funny moments or lines that do come along, but shouldn't our sitcoms also have the usual "three laughs a page" like our international counterparts? To sit through 24 minutes of toe-curling embarrasment for just one giggle isn't really worth it, and you're tempted to switch to Series channel to catch re-runs of Frasier or The Nanny.
Now here's what really bothers me. If I, as a viewer, am unimpressed by the unfunny scripts and overacting in our sitcoms, do the people who produce these shows (i.e. the experts) really believe that what they are putting on screen is hilarious? If you listen to the laugh track you'd swear the show was the funniest thing those people had ever seen! But, of course, it's all added in later. Is that to remind us that it's supposed to be funny? I mean, we all know it's fake, and we all know that in overseas sitcoms people don't usually burst into rapturous, uncontrolled and side-splitting hilarity just because someone walks into a room and says 'hi' or just pulls an arbitrary funny face. And yet, the South African laugh tracks, if they were actually real, would make me think that the audience was bussed in from a home for the mentally challenged who had been plied with cheap alcohol (or even meths!) Who are we trying to fool here?
Who is writing these things? And do they have "funny bones" - that elusive X-factor thing that the comedians talk about? And what about the commissioning editors? Do they honestly sit at their desks reading the submitted scripts with tears running down their legs? I cannot honestly believe that they do! Or do they hope against hope that the actors will "make" it funny on the day of the shoot. That doesn't work. As the old saying goes, 'if it doesn't work on the page, it won't work on the stage'.
Where are the comedy writers, producers and commissioning editors who are sick to death of lame scripts crammed with politically correct claptrap that bears no resemblance to reality, and acting that would make school plays look professional? Let's have something different, edgy, risky, dangerous, and something that (God forbid) might actually offend someone! (Anyone who watches Conan, Jay, or South Park will know exactly what I'm talking about!) Oh no, in the sitcom landscape of South Africa, everyone loves each other, conflicts are unreal and superficial, and life is perfect, sweet and homogenous - like blancmange. And if you've ever eaten blancmange, you'll know it's no laughing matter!
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