MovieChat Forums > That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006) Discussion > OT; A Question to American Viewers

OT; A Question to American Viewers

posted 14 years ago by gallifreyrises
8 replies | jump to latest

Are there many sketch shows on American television? And if so, how many episodes do they usually have per series? Because to the best of my knowledge, the average length for an American TV series is twenty four episodes. But in my opinion a twenty four episode sketch show would just not work. You'd need a colossal amount of material and the cost of it would be astronomical.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] suprdrew 14 years ago

The only american sketch show i watch is The Whitest Kids U'Know. Their fourth season just ended, it had 10 episodes.

[–] keylimepie5 14 years ago

There aren't that many sketch shows, and even then very few of that small amount are any good. You're right about how costly and difficult making a 24 episode sketch show series would be. So that's why sketch and comedy shows here don't always run for 24 episodes a series. You'd be more likely to see 12 or 14 in a sketch show or something underground but if something's popular, the show would be able to hire more writers for more shows and most likely do it. The point is while 24 episodes in a series is possible and fairly common for a type of show, shows are by no means required to reach a certain number and there can be many factors contributing to the number of episodes made.

But aside from the cost and difficulty, I have to admit that there isn't much creativity in the way of American comedy anymore. That's why there are small numbers of sketch and alternative shows and an overabundance of sitcoms. I hate to say it but American comedy writers don't like straying too far from the sitcom format. It's comfortable, predictable, and the audience isn't confused or threatened by something slightly different. That seems like a sad but true fact to me. That's why nowadays I'm importing my comedy.
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[–] letterbocks2000 11 years ago

what about SNL? they do a full season of sketchs. it's a live entertainment series, but still a lot of sketches.

[–] boban_2 14 years ago

Chappelle's Show was one of the best, Whitest Kids U Know(still airing) is pretty good as well.
Mr. Show was great too.
The amount of episodes is usually at least 12 but it can vary.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] SleepNotRequired 9 years ago

Well the most popular sketch TV show in America today is 'Key and Peele' which comes in around 10-12 episodes per season.

(SNL might have more viewers, but it is an old, bloated, corporation owned cow)

[–] baileythedog 8 years ago

Are there many sketch shows on American television? And if so, how many episodes do they usually have per series? Because to the best of my knowledge, the average length for an American TV series is twenty four episodes. But in my opinion a twenty four episode sketch show would just not work. You'd need a colossal amount of material and the cost of it would be astronomical.

I love sketch comedy and in my opinion, there are never enough on TV. I think that's testament to how truly difficult it is to pull off good sketch comedy.

Obviously, as mentioned, Saturday Night Live in the reigning champion of sketch comedy in the US just in terms of longevity, cultural relevance and the number of stars that got their start there. But it definitely has way too many episodes per year and any particular episode is only 50/50 in terms of the sketches being any good. SNL recently had their 40th anniversary special and obviously the show was bursting at the seams highlighting all the great skits over the past several decades but they could have easily had a show just as packed with all of the terrible sketches during that same length of time.

Back in the 90s, In Living Color and Mad TV (both now defunct) presented sketch comedy aimed at a different demographic than SNL. Both shows suffered from having too many episodes, though, and had similar problems that SNL did.

In more recent years, there's been The Dave Chappelle Show which got it right in terms of limited number of episodes, limited running time per episode and limited number of seasons. ( <--- Chappelle himself had a rather dramatic exit.)

Key & Peele recently concluded their series after five seasons; they functioned as a partnership much in the way that Mitchell & Webb or Fry & Laurie did in the UK.

Amy Schumer's show currently on Comedy Central has many fans but just as many detractors. In my opinion, she did some amazing work in her most recent season. (S3).

"Portlandia" is hybrid sitcom / sketch comedy program -- it has so many recurring characters and a common setting that it isn't sketch in the purest sense of the term. "Portlandia" has 10 episodes a season.

David Cross & Bob Odenkirk just released on Netflix a revival of their old sketch comedy show "Mr. Show." I'm not through watching it yet, but thus far am liking what I'm seeing.

But yeah, in general, sketch comedy is best in a more controlled and limited season structure. Beyond sketch shows, premium cable originally programming is all migrating to the UK model of fewer episodes in a season as it better supports the long form story structure that viewers are appreciative of.