TV Genres: Comedy Vs. Drama

I love TV. I think television is the greatest. I'm a big fan of movies but very rarely do you connect with a movie character the way you can with a character on a TV show.

I recently realized, however, that what I enjoy watching on TV and the TV shows I would actually buy are the opposite genres. Reality TV excluded, of course, what I tune in regularly to watch are the exciting dramas like Lost and Grey's Anatomy. For me to take time out of my day to watch something week to week, it must captivate me and make me wonder what will come next. I've seen How I Met Your Mother a few times, and I think it's hilarious but I rarely remember it's on and make a point to watch it. That is because most sitcom episodes can stand on their own because their allure is the humor, not so much the plot. However, a drama always leaves you speculating about what will happen next.

So why is it that I would rather own my favorite sitcom on DVD instead of The Sopranos? For me, the answer is that I can watch any number of episodes of Friends in whatever order I wish without it losing any of the things that make it great. However, if I want to watch my favorite episode of Lost, I have to remind myself of what came before so that it makes sense.

So why do I not make as much effort to watch my favorite sitcoms? I think it probably has something to do that I'm going out of my way to watch a measly 22 minutes. In addition, it's usually an episode that I could catch any other time and because it can usually stand alone, it would be like I didn't miss a thing. That's the kind of thing that makes people wonder if sitcoms should be an hour long. But frankly, I don't think that's effective. I love The Office but when they tried to do hour long episodes, it really felt like an hour. Sitcoms are short and sweet and unfortunately, because of people who feel the same way I do, they are a dying breed.

But in the end, while I might not remember in 10 years why Tony killed Big Pussy on The Sopranos, I'll be able to recite entire Seinfeld episodes. That alone, makes that genre worth maintaining.