Modern Family (ABC)

In TV terms, EVERYONE did like Friends. If the actors and producers and writers had wanted to keep doing Friends, you can absolutely bet NBC would still be trotting it out every single Thursday night. In it's final season, it drew an average of 22 million people. A show like The Office (NBC's most recognizable comedy) has never, even at its peak, had HALF the viewers Friends did. The fact that it's kind of cool to diss it now had nothing to do with it going off the air.

Modern Family, btw, is averaging about 12 million viewers.

 

Plus, there's NFW the Colombian soccer team keeps up with the Dutch these days.

 

I was looking up Facts of Life a couple days ago for the Clooney thread, and the ratings writeup noted that even in those awful last seasons they were averaging well over 20 million viewers. And that was on a Saturday night.

 

I don't watch this show (my wife loves it, though), but the dog in it end this Triumph clip hilariously.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/keenan/triumph-the-insult-comic-dog-crashes-the-golden-co

 

That's a factor of less competition for eyeballs. Facts of Life didn't have to compete against Internet, iPhone, iPad, On Demand, DVRs, 500 cable channels, etc.

 

Oh, I know. I'm sure Gimme A Break even outdid Modern Family on its best day. Just interesting to recall how little was actually on in the '80s.

 

Which is why I think Friends is a more realistic -- though still not exact -- comparison to the shows of today. The first half of The Sopranos, for instance, occurred during the second half of Friends' run. That's modern TV canon.

 

Friends didn't have to deal with Hulu, smartphones or nearly as many DVRs and high-speed modems. TiVo was just gaining footing around the time of Friends' last season. I don't think many, if any, cable companies were offering their own DVR boxes for cheap rates, as they do now. And many people, me included, were still on dial-up in 2003-04. I think I went to cable in Summer 2004, might have been been 2005.

 

Clowns really make me laugh. I think part of it is that I wasn't exposed to them much as a child. But that clown funeral ... I was rolling on the floor laughing my fucking ass off.

 

I must admit, Lily doing a spittake on Mitchell had me laughing my ass off...

 

Pretty good last night but quite a comedown from last week's episode.

 

The last clown scene redeemed that storyline, but Cam needs to put that makeup away from now on.

My beef was more of a logical one. Claire -- a hyperinvolved gossipy helicopter mom -- wasn't on Facebook yet? Bullshit.