Frowns all round over the state of the sitcom
High above Rockefeller Centre, Bob Wright, the chairman and chief executive of NBC Universal, is wrestling with a business problem that has frustrated some of the best minds in the media business.
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Mr Wright, who is vice-chairman of NBC's parent company, General Electric, and a disciple of its rigorous six-sigma management system, is mulling the broadcast television networks' struggle to produce what was once their staple: the situation comedy.
"We really struggle with comedy," Mr Wright says, looking serious. "It's a troublesome issue."
The plight of the comedy is expected to be a central topic this week during "up-fronts", the annual fair at which the television networks preview their new shows for advertisers in an effort to pre-sell airtime for next season.
For the week ended May 8, there were just two sitcoms rated in the top 30 programmes, according to Nielsen Media Research. One, Everybody Loves Raymond, which airs on CBS network, is going off the air next month.
Comedies are vital to the advertising-dependent broadcast networks because they have the potential to build a wide audience much faster than a traditional drama. They are also the most valuable properties in the syndication market, where programmes such as I Love Lucy continue to generate laughs and cash long after their stars have left the stage.
"Traditionally, it has been important to have comedies because they are so lucrative," said Carolyne Finger, vice-president of TV Tracker.com, an online television development consultancy. "When they work, they're cash cows."
The laughter drought has been particularly pronounced at NBC. The network consistently dominated the ratings race over the past decade on the strength of two comedies, Seinfeld and Friends, which made an unbeatable Thursday night combination. Yet NBC has fallen to last place among the four major networks - albeit by a small margin - since Friends departed last year.
A host of hyped replacements such as Joey, a Friends spin-off, Father of the Pride, an animated series, and Coupling, a British import, have either failed to l ive up to expectations or been outright flops.
"Plenty of genres are working well. The only one that's not is comedy," Mr Wright laments.
The comedy slump at NBC is a rare frustration at NBC Universal, a combined television and film giant that last week celebrated the first anniversary of a merger that has been applauded by Wall Street.
It comes at a time when the mainstream broadcast networks - NBC, Walt Disney's ABC, Viacom's CBS and New Corp's Fox - are struggling to retain an audience that is increasingly tuning in to cable television.
"It is not a good story for broadcasters," said Joe Abruzzese, president of advertising sales at Discovery Networks USA. "Ad dollars continue to shift - we expect another $500m shift from broadcasters to cable this upfront."
Theories abound for the decline of the sitcom.
One factor is reality television. Unscripted dramas, such as Fox's break-away hit American Idol, cost less to develop than do comedies. Executives can also quickly pull the plug on a reality show if it falters, and then finance another.
They also face the challenge of competing against more risque fare available on cable channels, such as HBO. The nudity and profanity of its hit series, Sex and the City, would have made it impossible to air on network television.
In any case, to hear a former comedy producer tell it, they face comepting demands. They are being asked to create programmes that a mass audience will not only find funny, but also "likeable." These programmes must pass the muster of conservative watchdog groups on the look-out for any signs of indecency. And they must do all this in an era when a wide variety of media sources - from the plethora of cable channels to the internet - have sprung up to cater to different consumer tastes.
"Networks want something new and fresh and different - as long as it looks like everything else," an executive who worked on The Wonder Years said in frustration.
Far from giving up, NBC is redoubling its efforts. The network ordered 17 comedies this season, almost three times the number of dramas.
It is also experimenting with new styles. Some of the shows, such as My Name is Earl,feature characters who are darker than in the sitcom norm. Some are also being shot in a single-camera format, a departure from the canned laughter and sound-stage feel of traditional sitcoms.
Optimists note that the death of comedy has been erroneously declared before. The most recent case was in the 1980s, which then gave rise to The Cosby Show, a long-time NBC franchise.
Mr Wright is clearly hoping the magic will return soon. "For broadcast TV, comedy is very important," he says - without a trace of a smile.
喜剧不笑怎么办？
在洛克菲勒中心(Rockefeller Centre)的大楼的高处，美国国家广播公司(NBC Universal)主席和首席执行官鲍勃?怀特(Bob Wright)正在与一个商业难题角力，在这个难题面前，已有若干媒体业的大亨们都已弄得灰头土脸。
怀特(Wright)先生现在是美国国家广播公司的母公司――美国通用电器公司(General Electric)的副主席，是通用电器六西格马管理系统(six-sigma)的一位信徒，他正苦苦思索如何重现广播影视公司主打产品的辉煌――情景系列喜剧。
“喜剧制作真难办，”怀特看起来有些严肃，“这个问题很棘手。”
喜剧面临的困境是本周“展望”(up-fronts)年度会展上的一个中心议题，在会展上各电视台都会竭力向广告商预演他们的新制作的节目，以提前售出自己在下一季的播放时间。
截止5月8日这一周，尼尔森传媒研究(Nielsen Media Research)发布的报告中，仅仅只有两部情景喜剧列入了30个最高收视率的节目名单中。其中的一部，《大家都爱雷蒙德》(Everybody Loves Raymond)正在哥伦比亚广播公司电视台(CBS network)播放，下个月就停播了。
喜剧对于以广告收入为支柱的广播公司来说至关重要，因为它们具有比传统戏剧更快地吸引大量观众的潜力。而且，它们也是辛迪加市场上最有价值的财产，它们的一些诸如象《爱露西》(Love Lucy)这样的节目，即便明星们已经息影多年，这些节目还是能继续让人们开怀大笑，并不断地为公司创造丰厚的利润。
“电视追踪”(TV Tracker.com)网站是一个在线电视发展咨询公司，该网站的副总裁卡罗林?菲尹格(Carolyne Finger)说， “从传统上讲，经营喜剧至关重要，因为它们非常赚钱。一旦成功，那就成了摇钱树。”
情景喜剧的枯竭在美国国家广播公司(NBC)尤其明显。在过去十年里，这家广播公司凭借两部喜剧力作，《宋飞传》(Seinfeld)、《老友记》(Friends)让该公司在收视率上一直占主导地位，这两个节目一直是周四晚间最受欢迎也是最不可或缺的节目。但是，自从去年《老友记》停播后，国家广播公司在四大媒体中的排名便落到了最后一位――虽然差距就只那么一点。
许多大作广告宣传的替代节目，例如《老友记》(Friends)的续集《乔伊》(Joey)、肥皂剧《自豪的父亲》(Father of the Pride)、从英国进口的喜剧的《冤家成双对》(Coupling)，要么没有达到预期效果，要么干脆一败涂地。
怀特感叹道：“许多节目都表现不错。唯独喜剧表现欠佳”。
喜剧出现衰退是美国国家广播公司所遭遇的少有的难题，这个合并了电视和电影业的巨头，上周刚刚庆祝完合并一周年，华尔街对这一合并也赞誉有加。
这个难题又恰恰发生这么一个非常时期，主流媒体，其中包括国家广播公司(NBC)、沃尔特?迪斯尼的美国广播公司(Walt Disney’s ABC)、维亚康下属的哥伦比亚广播公司(Viacom’s CBS)及新闻集团的福克斯公司(New Corp’s Fox)，都试图留住原有的观众，而他们的观众却越来越多地改看有线电视。
“对于广播公司来说，这不是一个好消息，”乔?阿布卢瑟斯(Joe Abruzzese)――美国探索网络广播公司(Discovery Networks USA)的广告销售部总裁，他说，“广告费继续在转移，我们预计将有5亿美元的广告费会在此次会展上从广播公司流向有线电视。”
市面上充斥着对于情景喜剧衰退的种种看法。
其中一个因素就是“真人秀”节目的出现。这是一种没有剧本的戏剧，例如福克斯公司一举成名的《美国偶像》(American Idol)，这种节目比喜剧开发成本更少。如果一出“真人秀”收视率不稳，经理们可以激流勇退，转而投资下一个节目。
他们也面临与有线电视频道上更多所带来的挑战。例如美国“家庭影院”频道(HBO)一炮走红的系列连续剧《欲望都市》(Sex and the City)，由于其裸体镜头、暴露的画面，使它无法在广播电视中播放。
无论如何，一位喜剧制作前辈谈道，他们面临相互竞争的要求。他们需要为大众制作不仅有趣，而且还要“值得喜爱”的节目。这些节目必须符合保守监督群体制定的规定，不能有丝毫下流的镜头。他们必须在消费者的口味众多，并且可以广泛选择多种媒体的时代――从众多的有线频道到互联网，来迎合不同观众的需要。
一位为“神奇年代”(The Wonder Years)工作的经理人沮丧地说：“网络要图标新立异的东西，但又要与其它视频产品类似。”
但国家广播公司(NBC))并未放弃，而是加倍努力。这一季公司订购了17个喜剧，几乎是电视剧的三倍。
并且它还在尝试新的作品风格。其中一些节目，例如 《我叫厄尔》(My Name is Earl)，其中的人物比情景喜剧中的标准人物要更有深度。另一些还使用单机形式拍摄，与传统情景喜剧录下来的笑声和摄影棚的感觉有所不同。
乐观人士认为宣告喜剧终结的命运还为时尚早。例如，最近一次情况出现在20世纪80年代；“考斯比秀” (The Cosby Show)是一个长期由国家广播独家经营的节目，这个节目播放后，情景喜剧更加受到观众的欢迎。
怀特先生希望能很快重新找回喜剧的魅力。“对于广播电视来说，喜剧是至关重要，”他非常严肃地说。
