Several new shows, including one only on the Web, suggest sitcoms are rebounding.
The producers of “Nobody’s Watching” swear they had nothing to do with it. But last month somebody dusted off their year-old failed TV pilot and uploaded it to YouTube, the wildly successful video-sharing Web site.
Within days, 100,000 people had watched — thus putting the lie to the show’s title.
“Nobody’s Watching” was written by three sitcom veterans, including the creator of “Scrubs.” It’s an admirable attempt to solve one of television’s puzzles: how to make situation comedy funny again.
The comments posted to the “Nobody’s Watching” Web page by YouTube’s youthful users are overwhelmingly positive, even effusive.
Even the modest amount of buzz created by “Nobody’s Watching” is a rarity among sitcoms today. The best comedies on TV are airing in repeats.
It wasn’t always so. In 1992, 13 of the 20 top-rated shows in prime time were sitcoms, including “Cheers,” “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement.” (And “Seinfeld” was No. 25.)
What the new shows have in common is a willingness to experiment with the dusty sitcom format imitated by every TV comedy from our childhoods.
“Nobody’s Watching”
Airing: 24/7 on YouTube.com. (Type “Nobody’s Watching” in the search box.)
What it is: Two pals from Ohio are flown to Los Angeles to make the next great sitcom, only to find themselves in a reality show as a studio audience watches their every move.
What’s different: Though very meta, the concept works because the show is fast-paced and the show’s writers (two of whom write for “Family Guy”) have a lot of fun with haggard sitcom conventions. On this show, “Yes, Dear” is a verb for what you do in the loo, and Alan Thicke drops by to lampoon his “Growing Pains” character.
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But … People are used to cartoons that make fun of pop culture. Are they ready for a live-action comedy that does the same thing? Some YouTubers complained that “Nobody’s Watching” was a little too “Growing Pains”-ish for their tastes.
“Lucky Louie”
Airing: 9:30 p.m. Sundays on HBO this summer.
What it is: Comedian Louis C.K. plays a working-class dad in a scatological sitcom that makes “Roseanne” look like “Leave It to Beaver.”
What’s different: “Lucky Louie” appears to be a traditional four-camera situation comedy, shot on video in an average working-class apartment. But soon you’re reminded that this is HBO: Louis C.K.’s mouth is as dirty here as on his stand-up comedy specials.
But … It’s unnerving to watch what looks like an ordinary sitcom and suddenly F-bombs start dropping. “People are totally wedded to a signal in their head that says: There shouldn’t be swearing here,” admits the show’s executive producer, Mike Royce.
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
Airing: 9 p.m. Thursdays on FX this summer.
What it is: Four friends (two of them siblings) manage the least successful pub in Philly while making each other’s lives miserable in this over-the-top adult sitcom. This season, Danny DeVito joins the cast as the sibs’ malevolent and freshly divorced dad.
What’s different: Though structured like a sitcom, it cleverly explores one topic a week in a tightly woven set of story lines that build to a laugh-out-loud ending. Rated TV-MA, it has more swearing than a typical comedy.
But … Nobody on this show is remotely likable, which is usually toxic for comedies.