The Lost Art of Character Writing
Shresta Nibhanupudi (she/her)
Editorial Team Member
As people, our flaws don’t make us inherently pathetic. Every person who lives has made mistakes. But that doesn’t make every person a terrible being. If this is an easily agreeable generalization to make for society, then why can’t this translate into sitcom writing? Sitcom writing has deteriorated as a result of society’s consistent failure to recognize romance and comedy as worthy of depth. Comedic writing has potential to portray incredible examples of character development, and yet most modern sitcoms have been reduced to cheap drama.
I am a sitcom connoisseur. I use them as background noise or a show to unwind. But I also enjoy watching the characters grow. A sitcom with lovable characters and a terrible plot will still be made much better with the characters. I haven’t derived this joy from many modern sitcoms at all. Many modern day producers want to reduce beautiful character moral complexity in order to make a show more easily digestible to the consumers. The act of diminishing that complexity destroys character writing as a whole. Characters are people. A singular action or mistake can’t just make them immediately evil. Not every action can be compartmentalized into right and wrong. Flaws do not hold equivalence to monstrosities. But this is what is being portrayed in almost every modern-day sitcom.
The roots of this issue go much farther than modern day, however. Ever since it began, comedy has been consistently looked over for awards. That, over time, resulted in producers creating shows for the consumer rather than to create art. So now, instead of having development over time during seasons, characters are being dehumanized and turned into caricatures. It’s honestly heartbreaking to see a once genuine genre turn into a series of statistical research projects.
There have, however, been some shows that have restored my faith in future comedies. Abbott Elementary and The Good Place are two that excel in that field. Abbott Elementary has already shown all the characters having great development even when it’s only been running for four seasons. Every character has shown great flaws, and yet every one is incredibly lovable. The show just feels so human, and that’s what many shows today are missing. The Good Place is enjoyable and funny, but it still is able to show the depth in every character. The premise of the show explores the relationship between personality faults and moral goodness. The potential of sitcoms is so large, but if they continue to go unnoticed and unrecognized, the genre will turn into a commercial wasteland.
