January 18, 2007

Where have all the weirdos gone?

In the past many sitcoms were built on the premise of one really strange character being thrown into a mix of normal people. They have been anything from genies to monsters to witches to aliens. Mostly aliens (Mork and Mindy, Alf, Third Rock from the Sun).

In fact, I can recall playing a video game based on the show Alf when I was very young for the Commodore 64 ( a computer so powerful, it could display text without hemorrhaging sparks into your lap). The game was filled with vibrant colors (three, I think) and a rich story about a brown smudge - that represented Alf - running around a PacMan-esque environment trying to devour cats and avoid capture.

Sure it was exaggerated a bit, but the game is essentially based on the sitcom. I can't think of any sitcoms nowadays, or in recent memory, that are worthy of a video game - even a poorly designed one. Could you imagine playing a game based on According to Jim or Two and a Half Men? I can, and it involves me shrieking and putting a foot through a monitor.

Sitcoms today still use the idea that one character can stir up all the madness, but now it's usually a cocky kid or an exuberant homosexual. We need to get back to our comedy roots with some extreme ideas. Like how about a couple who inherit a large expensive house, but the catch is that the home is already home to a blind ogre.





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um, I agree with your post for the MOST part. However, Three and a Half Men is a bad example...cause it actually IS a sitcom with a weirdo...I mean, Charlie F'n Sheen!! Tell me he's not the spawn of man on man-bot love?

Sam said...

Smudge narrative was one of the founding methods of electronic storytelling. Think of all the significant smudge symbolism in the history of gaming...

The red smudge that illustrated the death of Frogger.

The jellybean junkie smudge in A Boy and His Blob.

The plethora of plot-significant smudges in Maniac Mansion.

It's a rich tapestry, with Alf in smudgy green laurels.

/rach said...

Oh, what about Perfect Strangers? Did you ever watch that? I can only remember it vaguely... Pineapple!! I'm glad that my post encouaged you to partake on the glory that is pineapple. Did you wear gloves and share it when you ate? Did you cut it yourself? Now that I found Pineapple on a Truck Man, I refuse to cut my own pineapple. But, I haven't seen him in a while. Um, I've kind of made a habbit out of reading your previously posted comics every night before I try to sleep. It kind of helps to giggle before I try to sleep (I have better dreams, as I usually dream about painful deaths), but it's keeping me awake too late. Thanks, though.

Anonymous said...

Perfect Strangers rules. One of my favourites from my childhood. Also, as a rule, I never ever cut my own pineapple. I wouldn't even know where to begin.