Self-annihilation is not unlike show cancelling and more belt-tightening in the 500 Channel era as all media is
economic in the last instance. When networks/studios order more/less episodes, one can see the vicissitudes of show biz and just as series renewal and cancellations occur, the life of programs, their cast and production staffs hang from a thread. One can perhaps see this in the case of
The Crazy Ones, when one reflects upon how since Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams' return to television since his earlier feud with Disney only made the Mouse seem all the more rat-like. And by contrast how could CBS renew a miscast and dysfunctional
The Millers with its idiotic premise: Will Arnett would have put his parents in assisted living ASAP in real life. Surely its ratings and budget weren't any better. Surely the difference between single and multiple camera production did not signal the artistic end of a deeply memorable career. Ultimately it is always the bottom line and not the front end in the Industry.
(The Crazy Ones) suffered from modest ratings and had an expensive budget due partly to cast salaries
The Crazy Ones was the real comedy wild card at CBS. Modest in the ratings and produced by 20th Century Fox Television, what it did have going for it was a warm critical reception and Williams' clout. The first season, which completed a full 22-episode order but left the schedule a little early to accommodate midseason comedy Bad Teacher, averaged a 2.8 rating in the key demo and 10.5 million viewers.
TNT's summer success also includes Rizzoli & Isles, which ranks as basic cable's #1 scripted series this summer. The show has brought in a whopping 8.5 million viewers in Live + 7 delivery in its fifth season, a slight increase over its summer average last year, and ranks right behind The Last Ship as basic cable's #2 scripted series this summer with key demos. In addition, TNT's new crime-drama Murder in the First has averaged 5.0 million viewers in Live + 7 delivery for its first season, and Perception is averaging 4.6 million viewers in Live + 7 delivery for its third season.
Public Suicide is a Deed of Optionless Intimacy and in the light of the ending of
Murder in the First and Robin Williams' death, public figures have an entirely different sense of their endings. And so emblematic that the demise of a sitcom about advertising in an age of
Mad Men where the conflict between creatives and account executives is punctuated by the recent death of its star.
For The Crazy Ones, the single-camera comedy never quite fit into CBS’ multi-camera-dominated Thursday comedy block. Creator David E. Kelley pitched a second season, which he would’ve overseen, and CBS brass had been intrigued by the idea of keeping Williams on the air. But, after a very soft first season following a big premiere, a renewal was considered a long shot....The two half-hour pilots picked up to series, The Odd Couple and The McCarthys, multi-camera as are all returning CBS comedies, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, The Millers, Mike & Molly, 2 Broke Girls and Mom. It appears that the network’s current foray into single-camera comedy has been short-lived.
The two styles have both gone in and out vogue, with multi-camera comedies dominating the '80s and '90s (Cheers, Friends), and single-camera comedies being the norm in the '60s and early '70s (The Munsters, Bewitched).But right now, multi-cams and single-cams are both plentiful.
In single camera comedies, there's really just one camera doing all the work, so each shot or angle is filmed individually. (Modern Family).
Pros: Clean, bigger-budget, more movie-like look; fewer standing sets means more versatility; light can be changed each shot; can more easily handle visual effects.
Cons: Higher expenses mean a shorter leash for network tolerance and a greater chance of cancellation; high-brow snobbery.
Multi-camera comedies do things the "old-timey" way—or at least that's how they tend to feel sometimes. They're sometimes shot before a studio audience like a play (just ask Whitney), with few interruptions in filming as the characters all perform together while a handful of cameras catch all the action.
Pros: Cheaper and faster to make; the familiar set-up/set-up/punchline formula used in many scenes means fertile ground for zingers.
Cons: The robotic clucking of a laugh track; limited comedy stylings.
In the end, the laugh track always wins.