The Good Place (NBC) TV Show • Page 51

Seinfeld being the greatest sitcom of all time just goes to show multi-camera and live studio audience laughter has nothing to do with how good or bad a show is!

 

Yeah, I was just using Multi-Cam as a barometer of the amount of care I typically see put into the writing.

Shows like Golden Girls, TBBT, & Friends all seem to hit you over the head with the writing in the episodes I've seen. The newer shows you see on TVs at night in restaurangs have made me literally want to claw my eyes out.

Never had it in me to hate Seinfeld tho.

 

Ok now we’re about to fight. I will not have my Golden Girls besmirched anywhere on this site. That show is a treasure and one of the all-time best.

 

Mmmmmmmmm “amount of care”. Someone’s about to get a parable from St. Olaf.

 

I'm probably way out of the target demographic for all of those shows considering the fact I'm a student rn, so yeah, my opinion is probably literally worthless in this matter.

 

I can't watch a show and tell you if it's multi cam or single cam and I refuse to believe anyone can

 

Huh? It’s pretty easy to identify which are single and which are multi.

 

Multi-cams tend to take place on stationary, undynamic stage, whereas single-cam shows display a fully-dimensional set.

 

All jokes about TBBT aside, Seinfeld pretty much ended the multi-camera format forever. Can't stand any of the ones that came after it. It's either single-camera or nothing for me.

 

Also there's something inherently depressing about a show that takes place primarily indoors.

 

I've never really liked a multi-cam sitcom and not for the camera just because I find them mostly unfunny including Seinfeld and Friends.



Y'all need me I'll be in my hole dying over here

 

Friends sucks.

 

I assume Boy Meets World was multi-cam? Great show, a top 5 comedy for me.

 

Multi-cam.

Single cam shows have sets but the cameras can move around in any direction with no 4th wall to be broken. Shows like Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Office, Scrubs, The Good Place, Malcolm in the Middle, etc...

Multi-cam shows are always locked off on a handful of views looking through a 4th wall but often stationary like Friends, Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, Frasier, That 70's Show, etc...

I'm sure there are other more technical definitions and outliers for both of those examples, but that's pretty much it.

 

Also, just because there's audience laughter during a show doesn't mean that it's a live audience. Sometimes they're actually live like Friends or Seinfeld, but other shows have pre-recorded laughter that they just plug and play at the right moments.

 

That's a really good explanation!

Single-cam is also a bit of a misnomer because like the vast majority of the time they'll still be using more than one camera on each take to get coverage. It's rare to do just one single camera at a time because it's a waste of time - you want to get the most consistent, usable footage every time so the editor has options.

 

Yeah, absolutely. Watching bloopers from examples of both really clears it up, like The Office and Seinfeld. Multi-cam setup you'll see a stage with 4 or so cameras where they're all basically in a line and just getting static angles of the set and characters. Single cam setup with have multiple camera people flowing in and out of the set with the actors.

 

Isn't that like 95% of sitcoms?

 

I’m definitely cracking up at the idea of something like The Office not falling under that category by a completely arbitrary rule when their setting is also indoors in an intentionally soul-crushing way.

 

I've been rolling this around in my head and The Good Place is actually the only sitcom where maybe more than 1/3 of the show is outdoors? Pretty much every sitcom is going to have parts of episodes or one whole episode take place outside due to story like Parks and Recreation or Seinfeld or Friends, but pretty much every sitcom takes place in someone's apartment/house or at an office of some kind.

 

Oh wait, Last Man on Earth is definitely primarily outside! Another reason it's one of the most unique and interesting sitcoms ever made!!!

 

Definitely. And you have lots of shows that have outdoor sets involved permanently so it’s not like there’s a line in the sand for shows being outside or not. IASIP even jokes about that when they decide to hang out in the park and realize they’re just doing the same thing but outside now and they hate it.

 

The Office doesn't count cause it has windows, florecent lights & doesn't take place in a house.

(Yes, I'll show myself the door)

 

IASIP is a show that I watched the first few seasons and just dropped. I found most the characters so annoying and it's crazy to me that it's still going. It's just personal taste, but man, I can't stand that show.