Does anyone watch sitcoms anymore?

I'm good at inexplicably getting hooked on random TV shows. Sometimes I stick with it, sometimes I get bored quickly, but I happened to catch How I Met Your Mother a while back, and now watch it every week. The only real sitcom I can stand (aside from Arrested Development, but that hardly counts.) Everyone I know thinks I'm batshit insane for liking it as much as I do, but I honestly think it's great. I like the concept, the characters and the actors who play them (A collection of "that guys" from the last 20 years..."Doogie", "Band-Camp Girl" and "The Boyfriend from Freaks and Geeks" are three of the 5 main characters, Bob Saget does the voiceover and "Winnie Cooper" was in this weeks episode...not bad.)

Maybe I'm a sucker for New York stories...But this show just works. I swear. The last episode played out like a Pinter play. See, the whole series is based on this guy in the future telling his kids about his single life leading up to how he met their mother. This week, he was telling a story of how he blacked out one night, and woke up the next morning with a strange woman and a pineapple in his room. Pieces of the night all got filled in by various friends the next morning who cover different patches of the night. I thought it was actually brilliant. I mean, it's still a network sitcom, but it is so much better than everything else out there. Anyone else with me on this?

Comments

[Rachael]

i've been watching as well. last week's was definitely the best. good to see there's some good sitcoms still making their way on tv.

[CitySpecific]

Have to concur. It's definitely above average. It's like the only show I actually try to catch. And who can resist the one-two punch of Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris?

[chrisarah]

I caught it for the first time this week and I liked it. It was pretty funny, and the characters were interesting and likeable. I think I'll be tuning in from now on.

[heather]

They have good music on there also. Belle and Sebastian and Jon Brion, for instance. Plus I have to watch any show with Jason Segel, aka the boyfriend from Freaks and Geeks. Neil Patrick Harris gets the funniest lines though.

[Jeff]

Agreed about the music...they even had the guitar riff for We Are Scientists' "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" jamming away in the background a few weeks ago.

[Annie]

Seriously... where have all the good sitcoms gone?! Even HBO is staggering these days. Sigh. Arrested Development is the only network sitcom I tune in to and even that looks like it’s coming to an end. After reading your post, I’m definitely checking out How I Met Your Mother next week.

[Jeff]

Oh! Forgot about The Office! I watch that every week too. It's great...but still, not a conventional sitcom.

Also, forgot to mention that Neil Patrick Harris' character has a fictional blog, documenting the events of the show from his perspective. Very clever. I always thought this idea would have been ideal for Seth Cohen.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/barneys_blog/

[chutler]

The first two episodes were good enough for me to set up the season pass on the ol' TiVo. The show feels like an old friend and a blast of fresh air after all the reality tv muck out there.

I like it too. It ranks right behind Arrested Development, the Office, and My Name is Earl. If you haven'y watch My Name is Earl yet - check it you (but make sure your wearing diapers cuz you gonna piss your pantalones!) YEEE HAAAA!

[Conor]

Who ever says the sitcom is dead just doesn;t bother to watch the good ones. This show gets better every week.

[Heather]

Oh, also is "Everybody Hates Chris" considered a sitcom? It's a half hour and it's funny. I think it's pretty good.