NPH clip of the week: Sitcom style

Did anyone know that NPH did another sitcom before HIMYM?  It’s true!  It was called “Stark Raving Mad” and it was on for about 10 seconds.  NPH plays a fussy Felix Unger-esque editor for Tony Shalhoub’s character.

And here’s a clip from it!

Thursday nights: sitcom heaven

Thursday nights have really had some great sitcoms over the last 30 years.  The Cosby Show, Taxi, Cheers, Wings, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, Scrubs…

And now, tonight, two of my very favorite sitcoms, and two of the best shows on television, 30 rock and the Office.  Oh, shows, how I’ve missed you.

Welcome to John Adams High…

If you are a child of the 90s, there’s a pretty good chance you know what I mean when I say “Plays-with-squirrels.”  If you don’t understand that, you probably at least know the Feeny call or the very specific intonation of “*gasp* Topanga.”

Old Person I’m Obsessed With: Sitcom Style

After some careful deliberating, I realized that I had the perfect clip of an Old Person I’m Obsessed With that ties into Sitcom Week.

Sir Derek Jacobi has done a lot of amazing theatrical work. He’s done Shakespeare (on stage and film), Cyrano, and the most epic Masterpiece Theatre production ever–I, Claudius. Right now (and ending this week), he’s playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night in London, making me again curse my fate of being not English (making this fate easier is the news that David Tennant’s Hamlet will be filmed!). Among all these renowned and prestigious performances is the clip I’m going to share with you. Derek Jacobi on Frasier.

–YoSaffBridge

LAUGH, damn it!

I’m going to do something bold here.  I’m going to defend the indefensible.

I’m going to say something good about laugh tracks.

I know.  I’m going to have to turn in my “television fan” card, and be forced into a cave of humorless darkness, with nothing but hours of According to Jim reruns to occupy my time, the incessant over-the-top laughs cues SCREAMING AT ME TO LAUGH.

I’ll take my chances, though.

Five awesome (non-NPH) reasons to watch How I Met Your Mother

I think you all know how I feel about Neil Patrick Harris, and God knows I could write an indecent amount about why he and Barney Stinson are reason enough to watch How I Met Your Mother. But there are SO MANY OTHER REASONS. Here are the five I picked.

*Snap, snap*

Nowadays, when you bring up The Addams Family in casual conversation (as I am wont to do), chances are you’re going to hear about how much people love the movies. And that’s fine. I love the movies, too. The humor is perfect and the cast is spot-on. But I will always have a special place in my heart reserved for the TV Addamses, and it is the TV show alone that I want to glorify in celebration of Sitcom Week.

The Addams Family only ran for two seasons, but it’s iconic. Everyone knows who they are, what their quirks are. They’re instantly recognizable. So what makes this show so great? The humor’s a little hit-or-miss. A lot of the humor depends on finding it hilarious when outsiders stumble into the Addams home and find out how weird they are. And we already know how weird they are, so that gets old a bit fast. (Or maybe you find it funny when for the 15th time we find out that Kitty Kat turns out to be…a lion!) That’s not to say the show isn’t funny. One of the things I love about this show is the way it takes normal sitcom tropes and turns them on their heads. Like, the old amnesia plotline. Character gets a bump on the head, character gets amnesia. Hilarity ensues. In this case, it’s Gomez, and when he gets amnesia, he becomes…normal.

In defense of the sitcom

Oh, sitcoms.  A popular punching bag of so-called sophisticated television viewers, the sitcom has been an important staple of television for most of its history.  There is a tendency to dismiss sitcoms as a) stupid b) unimportant and c) unfunny.  Some sitcoms are like that.  A lot aren’t.  Some of the greatest television– past and present– comes in sitcom form, so calm down and stop being a snob.

This week, in honor of good news on the Arrested Development movie front, as well as the return (finally!) of How I Met Your Mother, we’re going to have Sitcom Week here at TIRB.  Come back each day as we talk about our favorites, past and present, share some fun moments, and defend our love of sitcoms.