How the sitcom slit its own throat

For the benefit of any future generation that might want to strive to understand the fate of the “sitcom,� let today’s date – November 30, 2006 – stand as the day in which the sitcom, barring some unforeseen resuscitation, truly died.

Why? NBC, honestly, truly intent on trying to revive the form, sent out screeners of all four of its offerings tonight. And though none of the episodes involved were truly horrible, they were clearly well below the levels of previous Must-See Thursday shows such as “Seinfeld,� “Cheers,� “The Cosby Show,� "Family Ties" and “Friends.� If these episodes were intended to resurrect the genre, then it is clearly nearly moribund.

We’ll begin with “The Office,� which actually inspired a few laughs. Tonight’s episode was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of the original British version of the show.

It gets off to a decidedly slow start, but builds nicely as the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin discovers it has an ex-con in its midst. After some misguided if ultimately un-incorrect race-baiting, it turns out the perp was incarcerated for insider-trading, and as he describes the conditions of the prison where he did time, “The Office’s� denizens come to realize prison sounds better than their jobs. As boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) opines, “This office is the American Dream and they would rather be in the hole.�

The subplot is also amusing: Jim (John Krasinski) offers unctuous Andy (Ed Helms) disastrous tips on how to win Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) heart, which he too willingly takes to heart. Hence, Jim/Pam fans will be heartened by a renewed hope that Jim still cares.

But even this episode isn’t nearly as clever as what Gervais and Merchant wrote for their own series. And the other shows don’t come close to being even this funny.

The evening kicks off with “My Name is Earl,� which, despite the occasional inspired moment, seems to have lapsed into the sort of deadly self-satisfied posture that has felled shows far greater than it. Tonight offers subplots involving 274 bologna sandwiches, doofus Randy’s efforts to win over the beauteous Catalina, gambling mania and Joy’s anger-management efforts.

I was ready to bail on the episode after a mere 10 minutes, but, to my eventual dismay, held on to the bitter end. “Earl� now trucks in the sort of crazy-quilt plotting that’s more attuned to Adult Swim’s nutty-ass, random shows.

“Scrubs,� which has also been a little too self-satisfied for a while and has likewise indulged in Adult Swim’s brand of logic-free plotting, includes a self-explanatory scene of the whole hospital partying (wacky!).

Tonight, everyone’s dealing with the sundry outfall of getting pregnant, or, in Elliot’s (Sarah Chalke) singular case, of not being pregnant. “Scrubs� – perhaps due to the way it’s been yanked around by NBC – has reached the point that it doesn’t really feel it has to make much sense; its jokes come from relentlessly random angles, which means its plots feel no need to make much sense. Worse, its comic secret weapon, John C. McGinley’s Dr. Cox, has begun to become way overused these days.

Finally, “30 Rock� still manages to be fairly witty long past the point where it’s become apparent that no one cares how good it is; it’s about the TV industry and most of America can’t bring itself to give a $#!t, no matter how much its arms are twisted. Anyone who’s watched the show understands that, given the sketches we’ve been subjected to, NBC would’ve cancelled “30 Rock’s� in-show show “TGS� long ago (although, upon further review, given the fact that NBC picked up “Friday Night Lights� for the entire season, maybe not…).

Tonight, Tracy (Tracy Morgan, who has obviously dedicated himself to outdoing his beleaguered character in real life) gets a Mike Tyson-style tattoo, while Liz (Tina Fey) receives oddly sage relationship advice from NBC exec Jack (Alec Baldwin).

Clearly, NBC executives have been feeding show creator Fey notes insisting she make Baldwin’s fatuously arrogant NBC executive more likable (it’s reaching the point that one pretty much expects a romance between Jack and Liz). To Fey’s soul-draining dismay, she has been obeying. Or maybe that’s the only way she’s been able to keep the show on the air to this point.

Apparently, mainstream audiences have reached the point where shtick is not nearly enough to engage them. Or TV-drama writers have figured out how to include just as many laughs in a show as sitcom writers traditionally managed, while including a measure of emotional dramatic content, rendering sitcoms essentially irrelevant. Or realpolitik has created so much humor no viewer can bear to absorb any more witticisms. At any rate, laughs are apparently so readily available that sitcoms are on the brink of extinction.

- “My Name is Earl:� 8 tonight on NBC.
- “The Office:� 8:30 tonight on NBC.
- “Scrubs:� 9 tonight on NBC.
- “30 Rock:� 9:30 tonight on NBC.