What Happened to the Multi-Camera Sitcom?
Some of my best memories involve my family surrounding the TV after dinner and laughing together at whatever episode of Reba was on that night. Then, my sister and I would go upstairs to the extra bedroom and watch reruns of Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. These days, not many multi-camera TV shows are making it, or even being made at all. The way TV is being made is changing and becoming more cinematic.
What is a multi-camera TV show? A multi-camera setup is when several cameras are being used on set to record the scene at the same time. (see figure below) This allows the show to shoot the same scene, at multiple angles, within the same shot, without calling cut every 30 seconds. This setup is popular with more light-hearted entertainment like talk shows, sports, and game shows.
A multi-camera TV show is also very common for the sitcom genre. Dating back to I Love Lucy in the 50s, the multi-camera sitcom was a staple for every Network. But, where have they gone? If you pay attention to recent comedy premieres and shows on streaming services, most of them are single-camera comedies. The majority aren’t comedies at all but that's a whole other conversation.
I grew up watching sitcoms with my parents. I enjoyed that the laugh tracks told me what was supposed to be funny. I liked the idea that I could cackle along to the jokes with the studio audience. So, what happened? Where is the new Reba or Friends? The new All In The Family of I Love Lucy? The Nanny or Seinfeld?
I have a couple of theories. The first is that TV is becoming more cinematic. Directors treat many of their projects like mini-movies by amping up the drama and including impressive cinematography. If we look at a popular show like Stranger Things, every episode is like a mini-movie. We also see this with shows like Game of Thrones, Wandavision, and The Queen’s Gambit. TV has gotten more intense and the lighter genre is being cast aside.
Another reason is that comedies aren’t what people want to watch anymore. Drama’s and limited series’ are taking over TV. Viewers enjoy being taken on a trip for an hour more than they want to be sitting on their couch laughing for a half hour. For me, I enjoy kicking my feet up after a long day and turning on an episode of That 70s Show that I know I’m going to laugh at. My friends and family are more into the intensity of Shadow and Bone or Big Little Lies. Those types of shows take their audience on an emotionally invested journey.
The combination of production value, intense cinematography, and dramatic TV, has helped the multi-camera sitcom become a thing of the past. But, I have one more theory that I believe is a big one. Historically, the most popular multi-camera sitcoms featured a predominantly white cast and the industry is slowly trying to diversify its talent.
Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Cheers, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Two And A Half Men, Last Man Standing, Everybody Loves Raymond, How I Met Your Mother, etc…, all have white casts. The shows that I have listed previously in this article all have mostly white casts, too. Sure there’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, The Jeffersons, and The Cosby Show. But the ratio of African American lead multi-camera sitcoms to caucasian lead sitcoms is in favor of the latter. Especially when it comes to popularity and awards. With Hollywood taking steps to diversify their TV shows (not fast enough), the multi-camera sitcom gets shelved. According to IMDb, the only current multi-camera sitcom on the air is The Neighborhood. Some other shows are airing their last seasons, but have ended or have been canceled. There are not a lot of original multi-camera shows airing on streaming services, either. This makes sense because many of the new multi-camera shows have been failing on networks in the past few years. The only original multi-camera sitcom on a streaming service that comes to mind is the Wanda Sykes series, The Upshaws, that recently launched on Netflix. I have yet to watch the show, mostly because I had no idea it was being released, but it has good reviews and I’ve added it to my list.
The fact of the matter is, my dream of sitting on the couch with my children and watching a show like Still Standing, is dying. Thank goodness for syndication.