'Coffee creamer'
By BroadCasting & Cable Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/18/2003 8:00:00 PM
Editor: I want to thank P.J. Bednarski for his wonderful and insightful column ("Let's Be Real Funny," 5/5, p. 29).
I'm been a TV writer of game shows and a comedy writer but never a sitcom writer. I've always felt oddly ill at ease with them, and now I know why! If I happen to watch one, my general modus operandi is to listen to the lines for humor and ignore all the sweetening. Many times, I've found that I'm not laughing all too much.
I've been a big fan of Sex and the City, and it's always seemed odd to me that people classify it as a "sitcom"; I'm now redefining what sitcom means in my head.
I sincerely hope that the laugh track will now become apparent to all those couch potatoes who've been passively fooled by it for years. It's time for a wake-up call! A good joke is priceless. Canned laughter is so obviously inauthentic to the listening ear. It may do the job to encourage the viewer to sense something's "funny," but it's about as real as powdered coffee creamer.
And maybe that's the trouble with most people: They just aren't paying attention and don't realize what they're missing. I don't know where my career is heading, but I do know I want to make a difference in how people perceive things!
This was my first issue of BROADCASTING & CABLE . I look forward to more of your insights.
Ruth Deutsch, Los Angeles
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