Everyone after Charlie left Two and a Half Men

No I think the opposite is true. Before Seinfeld, I can't think of any sitcom that was just friends hanging out. As far as popular older shows like that, just that and Friends and the Friends clones like Caroline in the City, Two Guys and a Girl etc. Pretty much every old sitcom was work or family based.

I am A) showing my age and B) going to get hammered for this, but I really didn't like either Ben Browder or Claudia Black in the latter days of Stargate.

Interesting that you mentioned Brooklyn 99 since it always felt like an updated version of Barney Miller to me. I think its more of a cyclical thing. The work place sitcom is not a new thing, there's been things like Cheers, Mary Tyler Moore, Mash, Sports Night, News Radio, Taxi, Night Court, Murphy Brown etc there may be more of a concentration of them now. I have to admit i don't really keep up with modern comedies so i can't say for sure

The cameraman in the Office

Randy in That 70s show

Friends was a big hit. Later, The Office was a big hit.

> I hate that we have to pretend this character was there because the characters were brainwashed into fake memories

There’s like two episodes where we “pretend she was there” and the whole time the show is like “she’s tricking everyone!” The show never asks you to believe Dawn was always around and we just didn’t notice. They even have Joyce mention how she’ll be happy to have the house to herself again when Buffy moves back to the dorms at the beginning of the Dracula episode so that we know that Dawn didn’t exist at the beginning of the episode.

I'd also argue it's the exact opposite. It's so much easier to meet people now than anytime in the past. Before you had people you went to school with, people you lived next to you, friends of the family, or colleagues. You had to be close to get to know people and keep in contact. Now people can have much more diverse friend groups through hobbies, by meeting online, have long distance friendships through texting or FaceTiming. Its easier to have a lot more acquaintances and keep in casual contact through social media than a handful of constant companions. You can fade in and out of people's lives and still keep track of them without spending all that time face to face. And if you don't like them, there are always hundreds, thousands, millions more people at your digital fingertips ready to meet and socialize with... like here on reddit, discord, etc. Before people kept hanging out with crappy friends that caused conflict because getting new ones was hard, and a shared history was enough to hold the group together. Now people have more discerning standards and a workplace is a much more convenient place to have chaos through forced proximity, which suits a sitcom situation.

So many comedies back in the day were about toxic families that stayed together..... because??? That's just what they did, even when they were miserable. That was the whole joke of the show. Nowadays that dynamic would be considered borderline emotional and verbal abuse. Same with a lot of the shows with friend groups. They're practically bullies who constantly insult and undermine each other, or act as sponges who use each other.

In a workplace you're under no obligation to like each other and can have zero in common with those around you. Dynamics that wouldn't be tolerated in most friend groups. But because the characters work together they're forced to bear it and at least act polite, hence creating the situation for comedy.

'Seven' in Married... With Children.

There is just far far less community now and sitcoms tend to reflect situations that are relatable to people.

The sad fact is since the 80s the copper wire has been stripped out of the walls with regular people having to do more to keep the dysfunctional economy going. More people will be able to relate to workplace situations than having a group of friends at this point.

Hell look at the front page of reddit where there normally is a thread on how to make friends as an adult. We're just a desocialised society

Just about everyone who got added after Michael left in The Office (US).

The three Temps seemed to have nothing to add, Nelly was awful, and even Will Ferrell and James Spader were so over the top the show had a completely different feel than the earlier seasons.

> The most awarded movie in cinema history, EEAAOA

Is it really? The Oscars haven't even happened yet.

I thought Dawn’s storyline and character on Buffy was great.

They have shown the Earth below in the original cartoon, it isn't a deadzone, just parks, homeless folk and walking birds.

because white people bad

I smell another "Velma".

We need Danny Devito as Mr Spacely.

https://youtu.be/HjfxyKdTlPg

Joe Lo Truglio and Nicole Byer being Barney and Betty is inspired. And manny jacinto as their son?

Cue the vince mcmahon meme

Or Dino being brutalized over and over for comedic effect. Or a criminally insane Pebbles.

Wasn't there also a Bonanza crossover?

Of wow it’s happening. Last time I heard of a flinstones reboot it was sarah underwood on attack of the show on G4 announced that Seth MacFarlane was going to run it. Then right after that Kevin Pereira made a fun adult comment that went over my too young boy brain.

Flintstones in the style of the Sopranos would have been sooo nice.

It has humor. It does a lot of tongue in-cheek jokes about the politcal/cultural climate of our day, but the best description that I can give of the whole run is that through it all, the one thing it tries to be is earnest. Despite the cynicism, it tries to be optimistic where it can.