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TV Sitcoms’ Most Boundary-Breaking Families

By Michelle Rafferty on

Despite a shaky start, we have high hopes for The New Normal, which officially debuted last night on NBC (tonight, the series’ second episode will air in its regular Tuesday time slot). As discussed in our fall preview, we felt the pilot a touch too didactic and the characterization teetering on offensive, but we’re hoping these things even out because the show’s talented cast, inclusive premise, and promise for sitcom-defying weirdness promise to far outweigh the bad. If you’ve followed TV news the past month, then you’ve probably heard about the backlash from One Million Moms, and then of course the Salt Lake City NBC affiliate’s decision not to air the show, behavior not entirely unusual in the scheme of TV sitcom history.

When networks have introduced “new normals” in decades past, the initial response wasn’t always warm — nor was the execution always perfect. But bit by bit, the sitcom has evolved, eroding the notion that a family can only look one way, and we hope the pattern continues. Click through for an abridged looked at some of these most boundary-breaking families, from the Ricardos on through the Lear era, and to the “anti-family” shows of the late ’80s that cleverly left us fumbling for a firm handle on what it means to be “normal” anyways. … Read More

Television

10 Fictional TV Duos We’d Like to See Team Up Again

By Emily Temple on

This week we heard a delightful bit of news: apparently, Beverly Hills, 90210‘s Kelly and Dylan — um, excuse us, Jennie Garth and Luke Perry — are rejoining forces to develop a new sitcom, currently being shopped around to networks. Could it be a post-spinoff spinoff? Or a whole new show? Whatever it is, we’ll probably watch it. Inspired by this re-coupling of a classic TV pair, we’ve put together a list of fictional TV duos that we’d really like to see team up again, no matter what the project. Come on, you guys. If Kelly and Dylan can be in it for the long haul, so can you. … Read More

Television

25 of the Best Dance Numbers in TV History

By Michelle Rafferty on

Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Bunheads is having one of those freshman seasons where everything is struggling just a little bit to come together. But since this isn’t an uncommon attribute of other shows we’ve come to love (Parks and Recreation, for starters) and because we are really enjoying the show’s ballet numbers (which are surprisingly seldom), we’re sticking it out. Having found ourselves unexpectedly enthralled with the dance aspect of the show, we’ve decided to highlight our favorite performance so far (an environmental allegory!) as well as the other dance sequences in TV history that have left us amazed, amused, and flat-out inspired to get up and move our legs in time. Have a favorite we missed? Let us know in the comments! … Read More

Design

Stylish Posters for Classic CBS Shows

By Judy Berman on

These days, CBS is home to Two and a Half Men, 2 Broke Girls, and other wildly popular shows about irritating duos, but that doesn’t mean the network hasn’t featured some excellent programming over the years. In seven stylish black, red, white, and gray posters created to complement a series of short ads for CBS’s current slate, Ty Mattson celebrates some of those high points. Click through to see tributes to The Twilight Zone, Gilligan’s Island, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and more, and visit Mattson Creative to check out more of the designer’s work. … Read More

Television

TV’s Most Realistic and Ridiculous Representations of New York City

By Romy Oltuski on

While Hollywood still sits on top of a celluloid empire, TV production is rapidly moving east. New York may not have the temperate filming climate that Los Angeles boasts, but it does offer producers a 30 percent tax credit, instated in 2008, and of course the authentic New York City backdrop against which many shows are set. This season, 23 prime-time series are being filmed in New York, up from a measly nine in 2006.

But flying a film crew out east and renting out a Brooklyn loft doesn’t ensure that a show will get the aura — or the facts — right. New York shows have tried and failed to accurately portray New York City on screen, often apparently because they were too busy collecting a library of picturesque Central Park shots to pick up on the kinds of food New Yorkers eat, how much rent they pay, the way they talk to their neighbors, and the fact that most of us actually don’t spend all that much time in Central Park. We’ve rounded up our favorite Big Apple shows and ranked them from realistic to laughable. Which city show do you think is most representative of the real New York? … Read More

Television

10 Fictional Bars We Wish We Could Frequent

By Emily Temple on

Everyone — real or fictional — needs a good neighborhood bar. And though here in New York City we’re surrounded by some great (and real) ones, we can’t help but think wistfully after the top notch drinking establishments in some of our favorite films and TV shows, which tend to take the cake every time. After all, they’re where our favorite characters hang out, which means they must be cool, right? Right. Click through to see our list of fictional bars where we would totally become regulars, and let us know which ones you’d choose in the comments! … Read More

Television

Television’s Most Memorable Living Rooms

By Alison Nastasi on

TV sitcoms are all about family. Even if the characters aren’t related by blood, friends and enemies alike still form bonds on the small screen for our viewing pleasure. They’re a tribe. Network shows provide someone for families to identify with, gawk at, and be envious of — all in the comfort of their own home. While technology has certainly made it possible to watch your favorite TV shows from just about anywhere, most families who loaf together with a little boob tube do so in their living room (or as it is sometimes aptly dubbed, the family room). Over the years there have been many famous TV living rooms where we watched our favorite characters grow up, share valuable life lessons, make us laugh, and more. Click through to revisit some of television’s most iconic living rooms, and recall what made them special. Who would you add to the list? … Read More

Television

Why Lucille Ball Still Matters Today

By Marina Galperina on

Tomorrow is Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday, in case you’re wondering what’s up with all of those I Love Lucy marathons on TV. Her rebellious housewife adventures might seem tame by today’s standards, but Lucy is responsible for defining “today’s standards” in a few nifty ways. So, let’s pay some tribute to the late ginger-locked comedienne and gander at a bit of boundary-breaking legacy from 200 episodes of one of the longest running television sitcoms ever. You might want to get your mom/grandma in here for this one. … Read More

Television

The Best Besties in Sitcom History

By Christine Jordan on

Sitcoms aren’t shy about their underlying formula: take a protagonist who’s thoroughly average in every way, give her a colorful best friend, and set their pun-laden exchanges to a laugh track. Not all shows sink to those depths of formulaic cheesiness, but even the greatest ones know it’s hard to misstep with the one-two punch of a pair of strong characters made even better by the depth of their friendship. After the jump, check out our favorite sitcom besties and be sure to chime in with the the ones we missed in the comments. … Read More

Television

10 TV Shows That Quit While They Were Ahead

By Judy Berman on

It’s been a rough few weeks for fans of quality TV. When AMC and Matthew Weiner finally worked out a deal to keep Mad Men going, we learned that Weiner is planning to end the show after only three more seasons. And now, because of Alec Baldwin’s big mouth (which, lest we forget, has gotten him in trouble before), we’re not sure whether or not 30 Rock will stop production next year. Instead of going into premature mourning, we’ve decided that this may well be for the best. Although many great TV series keep going for years after they’ve lost their magic, some wise showrunners make the noble decision to forsake a reliable paycheck and quit while they’re ahead. We look at ten shows that did just that after the jump. … Read More