By NYU Staff

Courtesy of Twittermoms.com

As a newly minted television intern, I’ve been more compelled than ever to pay attention to television. Some speculate that it’s going the way of print, just slower. But what is certainly dying is the sitcom (situational comedy).

Cable is notorious for the reality-show (Real World, Road Rules, Housewives of Anywhere USA, The Hills, etc) and semi-reality show (e.g., Curb Your Enthusiasm) format. The list of shows goes on and on, but now, more than ever, network television is getting into the foray.

One needs only to watch NBC’s The Office and 30 Rock, and now, ABC’s Modern Family to see that television is dipping into the semi-reality show cookie jar (a la HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm).

These shows are moving away from the traditional scripted jokes, laugh tracks, and studio sets to more real life settings, limited scripts, and the laugh track…well, it’s us.

The best aspect of this format is that the actors and writers feel more real and the dialogue is more improvisational. But overall, I’m not a fan. I’ve watched a couple episodes of The Office and was barely moved. And 30 Rock was able to keep me glued for maybe half an episode. While I am fond of the Modern Family concept (three different types of families—a gay family with a newborn child, a married heterosexual couple with 3 kids, and an older man, the patriarch that binds all three families, who married and has a child with a South American-born woman)–I feel the Real Worldesque “confession room” segments just feel forced. For me, I have to re-program myself, but the millions that watch these shows every week have made them incredibly popular.

The benefit to television studios is that this format  is cheaper than sitcoms–less writers, editors, and infrastructure is needed. But, what it also shows is that network television is forced to do the once unthinkable in a battle for the dominance it held since the early 20th century.  If content is king, then these days, cheap content is God.