US Sitcoms

With the passing of Friends, Frasier and Seinfeld, is the US Sitcom on its last legs? Jason Deans in Media Gaurdian (free registration required) investigates.

In the past few years sitcoms have been waning in popularity and now find their place in network primetime schedules being usurped by reality TV. US entertainment industry trade paper Variety recently reported that there were only 33 comedies on the networks last autumn - down by nearly 50% from a high of 62 in 1997.