Sitcoms Go Interactive!

Do you wonder why so few sitcoms really attract a fan base these days? Many new sitcoms that find their spot in primetime every fall become beleaguered and forced out by the effects of heavy competition with an established show. They never create the fan base needed to stay on the air and are set out to “sitcom pasture” early. In our technologically advanced world, people want to become more interactive with their favorite TV characters. Sitcoms seem to be able to accomplish this better than other dramatic shows that are heavier in content. The days of TV shows being “ read-only”, a phrase from Lawrence Lessing’s “How Creativity is Being Strangled By the Law”, are severely numbered. “Read-only” refers to the traditional concept of watching a television show it still happens and having no way to respond to what they saw or share their opinions publicly, except through those brutal ratings, of course! Gone are the classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy , The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Cheers. The new wave of sitcoms to seems to arrive with the a website as part of their territory. Now, the sitcoms become “read-write” with their fans, encouraging opinions and thoughts to be shared. This new “read-write” culture is considered “media democracy”, which and (as defined by Wikipedia) a social movement that aims to reform big media. It could be described as a grass-roots issue where proponents are fed up with big media and feel a need to increase public broadcasting and explore alternative media in order to empower the average citizen so all members of society can benefit.
Several newer sitcoms have joined the social networking and fan-based website. Some of these shows include “The Office”, “30 Rock” and “Two and A Half Men”, and are incidentally some of the most highly rated sitcoms on television. One of the most prominent of these shows is “The Office”. “The Office” has, I think, the most comprehensive fan-based sites for a television series. If you look at its website, you are almost mind-blown by all the interactive features they offer. The website has the features that every TV show website has like “cast bios”, “cast pictures” and an “episode guide”, but it also has much more. The website also features specialized blogs from the cast, trivia games, contests, a Dunder store, and ringtones to buy. “The Office” is also one of the only TV series for which the cast have set up Myspace pages for themselves, offering their own blogs and pictures.