--- description: The broadcast sitcom is more than just a casualty of the streaming wars. Its death is a sign of a fragmented society. title: Pour One Out for the Network Comedy—And a Culture of Laughing at Ourselves image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de803811691241b/698a1cf38fd2ee9746362ec9/network-comedy-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pour One Out For the Network Comedy  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Sep 17, 2021 4:43 PM CUT  Cheers: Everett Collection; The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Friends: Getty Images  by [Judy Berman](/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close TV Critic Sep 17, 2021 4:43 PM CUT The problem with TV these days, as everyone knows, is that there’s too much of it. By the time you clear out last month’s backlog of binges, another truckload of content has piled up at your doorstep. Streaming services and to a lesser extent traditional networks will maintain that wearying momentum throughout the fall, with a [huge variety of new and old programming](https://time.com/6089615/fall-tv-shows-2021/ "undefined"). In September alone, HBO rebooted Ingmar Bergman’s _Scenes From a Marriage_; Showtime countered with a crime drama, _American Rust_, that sounds like _Jeff Daniels of Easttown_ ([but unfortunately isn’t](https://time.com/5953833/mare-of-easttown-review/ "undefined")); Apple unveils an elaborate Isaac Asimov adaptation, _Foundation_; and PBS has [Ken Burns](https://time.com/4941025/the-vietnam-war-ken-burns-lynn-novick/ "undefined")’ _Muhammad Ali_. FX has frontloaded [B.J. Novak](https://time.com/4771597/mindy-kaling-bj-novak-relationship/ "undefined")’s provocative anthology _The Premise_, an ambitious reconsideration of cult comic-book series [_Y: The Last Man_](https://entertainment.time.com/2010/06/08/top-10-post-apocalyptic-books/slide/y-the-last-man/ "undefined")and a [long-awaited season of American Crime Story](https://time.com/6093019/impeachment-american-crime-story-review/ "undefined") that takes on the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Also this fall, Disney+ continues its run of Marvel and _Star Wars_ spinoffs. Many buzzy series—including HBO’s delightfully excruciating Murdochian satire [_Succession_](https://time.com/5304233/succession-hbo/ "undefined")—are due back after lengthy COVID-related hiatuses. America’s favorite fictional serial killer Dexter is, for reasons known only to the network execs who greenlighted his comeback, on the prowl again. This abundance of shiny new shows makes it easy to overlook what’s missing from the upcoming season’s primetime schedule—namely, NBC’s venerable Thursday-night comedy block. Anchored in the 1980s by [_Cheers_](https://time.com/collection-post/3101498/cheers/ "undefined") and [_The Cosby Show_](https://time.com/collection-post/3101507/the-cosby-show/ "undefined"), then [_Friends_](https://time.com/5842533/best-friends-episodes/ "undefined"), [_Seinfeld_](https://time.com/2954097/seinfeld-25th-anniversary/ "undefined")and _Frasier_ in the ’90s, the lineup more than earned its “Must See TV” branding throughout the late 20th century. Even as appointment viewing waned in subsequent decades, it remained an oasis for smart, imaginative sitcoms: [_The Office_](https://entertainment.time.com/2013/05/16/six-ways-the-office-mattered/ "undefined"), [_30 Rock_](https://entertainment.time.com/2013/01/31/30-rock-finale-i-lizzed-i-cried/ "undefined"), [_Parks and Recreation_](https://time.com/5829960/parks-and-recreation-reunion-2020-review-recap/ "undefined"), [_Community_](https://time.com/41776/community-six-seasons-movie/ "undefined") and, in a last gasp of greatness, [_The Good Place_](https://time.com/5770162/the-good-place-last-good-sit-com-review/ "undefined") and _Superstore_. That legacy has ended, as the network just last night aired the series finale of long-running cop sitcom _Brooklyn Nine-Nine_. Come October, NBC will devote Thursday nights to _Law & Order_ spinoffs, driving scripted comedy off the primetime schedule entirely. Other Big 5 broadcasters seem to be losing faith in comedy series as well. The CW belongs to superheroes, Archie Comics and B-grade nonfiction programming now. While Fox’s Sunday adult-animation block is still going strong, there isn’t a single live-action sitcom on its fall schedule. ABC has carved out Wednesdays for family comedies, but the only “new” title is a _Wonder Years_ reboot. CBS seems like a relative haven for the genre, until you realize that one mega-producer, _The Big Bang Theory_ bard [Chuck Lorre](https://time.com/3716408/two-and-a-half-men-finale-chuck-lorre/ "undefined"), has a hand in four out of its six fall sitcoms. Among the [Emmy nominees](https://time.com/6080005/emmy-nominations-2021-broken-institution/ "undefined") for Outstanding Comedy Series, only one—ABC’s [_black-ish_](https://time.com/3419268/review-blackish/ "undefined"), whose eighth and final season is expected to premiere in 2022—hails from a broadcast network. Scripted comedy isn’t going anywhere. Cable channels and streaming services are bursting with great examples, as multimedia conglomerates like NBCUniversal shift new projects from creators with cult followings (Mike Schur’s [_Rutherford Falls_](https://time.com/5956934/rutherford-falls-review-peacock/ "undefined"), Tina Fey’s [_Girls5eva_](https://time.com/6050055/best-tv-shows-may-2021/ "undefined")), to platforms such as Peacock, where they might pay for themselves in subscription dollars. But watching [_Hacks_](https://time.com/6046663/hacks-review-hbo-max/ "undefined") or [_Ted Lasso_](https://time.com/6081493/ted-lasso-season-2/ "undefined")or [_Never Have I Ever_](https://time.com/5827768/maitreyi-ramakrishnan-never-have-i-ever/ "undefined") at your own pace isn’t the same experience as ducking into Cheers or Central Perk every Thursday evening and reliving the highlights of each episode at the watercooler Friday morning with people you knew had tuned in last night. I’ve been frustrated for a while by a growing sense that free, linear TV is devolving into nothing more than a way of filling time between commercials or, worse, an endless advertisement for the streaming subscription service operated by each broadcaster’s corporate parent. But beyond that, there’s something depressing about having to bid farewell to the precise kind of network comedy we’ve lost. Since the _Cheers_ era, most of NBC’s best and most beloved sitcoms have centered on groups of unrelated adults—people who share a workplace or hangout, community college students or dead souls damned to a hell designed by a demon with the avuncular charm of Ted Danson. Unlike most family comedies, which date back to the dawn of television and now predominate among the last surviving network sitcoms, with their interchangeable living-room sets and preordained generational hierarchies, the typical Must-See TV show threw together characters from all walks of life. _Superstore_ put a white business-school dropout (Ben Feldman) to work at a big-box store under the supervision of a Honduran-American mom (America Ferrera) who chose supporting her young family over college; the larger cast of characters represents a broad range of racial, sexual, class and religious identities, as well as disability and immigration statuses. A similarly diverse cohort of fresh-faced high school grads, stay-at-home moms, oddballs and con artists in need of mid-career credentials form a study group in _Community_. Though their chief purpose was to make us laugh, these sitcoms were premised on the idea that people from very different backgrounds, with very different beliefs, could get along. Even the most homogenous among them thrived on friendly banter between adults with divergent, sometimes ill-informed worldviews; think paleontologist Ross arguing evolution with space cadet Phoebe on _Friends_. These shows’ vast, often demographically diverse audiences all found something to chuckle about—because they didn’t take themselves or each other too seriously. The network comedy is, from a business perspective, a casualty of the streaming revolution. But its death is also emblematic of a culture that has become so politically, socially and generationally fragmented, with heightened sensitivities on all sides, that large swathes of the American public can’t even agree on what’s funny anymore. With that in mind, as we feast on all that pay-TV has to offer, let’s also pour one out for the kind of show that got tens of millions of us to gather in our living rooms at the same time each week, to laugh at the same jokes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/"},"headline":"Pour One Out For the Network Comedy","datePublished":"2021-09-17T16:43:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:16:16.091Z","description":"The broadcast sitcom is more than just a casualty of the streaming wars. Its death is a sign of a fragmented society","url":"https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/","keywords":["Television","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de803811691241b/698a1cf38fd2ee9746362ec9/network-comedy-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Judy Berman","jobTitle":"TV Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/judy-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5de803811691241b/698a1cf38fd2ee9746362ec9/network-comedy-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"network-comedy-tv","caption":"","creditText":"Cheers: Everett Collection; The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Friends: Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/","name":"Pour One Out For the Network Comedy"}}]}] ```