Great historical write up Barry. Never knew the details prior to reading this. Great info.
David: For the last fifty years traditional sitcoms always had the noisy/annoying but funny neighbor or co-worker. Mel Cooley was one on the Dick Van Dyke Show, Danny Devito was the best on Taxi. Chuck Lorre, the producer/writer of Big Bang, took those annoying characters and in Cybill, Rosanne, Two and a Half men, and even Mom, brought them center stage and built the show around them. What I saw of Two and a Half men was at first funny, then annoying. As with his others the characters never grew, they remained disgusting and immure. And on this show it was often the women, their mother, wives and girlfriends that help ruin these men. Big Bang was an apology for Two and a Half Men! The characters, some disgusting at the beginning, remained funny but grew and matured. Women made them better. It’s good it ended now because in real life Sheldon is 46, although he plays a role ten years younger. But he experiences growth from being self-centered and annoying to being thoughtful and caring. (And we know he will even be a father!) Delaying that would have been frustrating on that show. The character of Penny should also be mentioned. She was introduced as a pretty air-head who wanted to be an actress, but was a waitress. She also slept around with not terrific guys. Give her credit and the writers credit for letting her grow up too. She finds a serious job, does well and becomes more understanding of others. (But she never had any real girlfriends. Even at the end she just was friends with the two co-stars.) I love Young Sheldon, a show that totally took me by surprise. (Which is why I will never totally give up on TV) And the ending this week was the perfect coda to The Big Bang Theory. I REALLY feel that that could also reach out to young people having a hard time and give them some hope that their future can be better. That ending was unforgettable!
One interesting point regarding the decline of Broadcast TV. The last episode of MASH drew over 100 million viewers. The last episode of Cheers drew 80 million. The last episode of Big Bang drew 18 million. Johnny Carson drew nearly million people to the tonight shown in 1993 Combined the three late night hosts get 7 million. Colbert, with nearly 3 million viewers is the winner.
David,Sometime struck me as very funny. I bet we’d never predict this. You and I discussed three years ago the cancellation of Last Man Standing.At the time, it was produced by Fox and being broadcast on Disney (ABC).Now it’s produced by Disney and being broadcast on Fox!Would you have believed me if I told you that would happen?😁