How to Create a Hit Sitcom

Using inputs from IMDB, I think these are the shows he is alluding to.<p>&#62;Roll your freelance success into your first sitcom staff job. ... After three years of miserable, seventy hour weeks someone ... cancelled<p>My Two Dads <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092410/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092410/</a><p>&#62;Facing unemployment, fight to get on a hit show that everyone else is fighting to get off of because the star ... my agent a mack daddy?"<p>Roseanne <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094540/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094540/</a><p>&#62;the star, while undeniably talented, has a few personal issues not to mention a coke-addicted boyfriend<p>Roseanne (BoyFriend was Bill Pentland)<p>&#62;Roughly nine years after walking through that first door, finally get a chance to create your hit sitcom.<p>Not sure, nothing on IMDB got cancelled in 5 weeks in this time period.<p>&#62;Your employers think it's a swell idea but instead want you to write a sitcom about a blue collar single mom on videotape.<p>Grace Under Fire <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106017/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106017/</a><p>&#62;gal cast by your employers to play mom, hates kids, hates people, hates sitcoms and, most importantly, hates you.<p>Brett Butler<p>&#62;Quit the hit show you created and get right to work creating another hit sitcom for another wack-job diva because you are just plain stupid.<p>Dharma and Greg <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118303/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118303/</a><p>&#62;when you're about to quit the business in disgust, write a pilot script with an old friend.<p>Two and a Half Men <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369179/</a>

This is a <i>great</i> piece, full of life-lessons.<p>For anyone who's only read the beginning and then quit, I really recommend reading more. The beginning is mostly a rant, but the rest is great.<p>"Turn in your first script which follows the executive producer's outline beat for beat. Almost get fired. Quickly write another script which follows your instincts and get an atta boy. Learn a priceless lesson that you will ignore over and over again during the course of your career. "

I posted this a week ago: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810619" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810619</a><p>Glad to see it on the front page, it's an entertaining read and a good example of persistence.

An excellent piece. For those who don't know Chuck Lorre:<p><i>Chuck Lorre (born October 18, 1952) is a writer, director, producer and composer who has created many American sitcoms, including Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma &#38; Greg, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory. Lorre also serves as executive producer of the sitcom Mike &#38; Molly which premiered on CBS in September 2010.</i><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Lorre" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Lorre</a>

I'm reading Anthony Bourdain's <i>Kitchen Confidential</i> right now, and it has a lot in common with a lot of Chuck Lorre's writing, this vanity card in particular. I absolutely <i>love</i> reading things by people who are clearly <i>passionate</i> about what they do.

&#62; How do you mend a broken heart? ... You help a friend keep their health insurance from lapsing. <a href="http://chucklorre.com/index-2hm.php?p=108" rel="nofollow">http://chucklorre.com/index-2hm.php?p=108</a><p>I've never noticed these "vanity cards" in <i>two and a half men</i> - do they cut them for Australia, or am I just not paying attention?

One of the few writers who doesn't constantly churn out cop/doctor/lawyer dramas over &#38; over &#38; over.<p>Just once I'd like to see a show about postal workers or trashmen or even construction crews. Anything but another cop/doctor/lawyer show. A truly gifted writer could make a show about almost anything interesting.

Someone needs to do something with Dirk Gently. I much prefer it to Hitchhiker's - it's a far more mature and cohesive work.

And in the years since this was written in 2004, he has another hit show, Big Bang Theory, either the 2nd or 3rd most popular sitcom.

A helpful reference to identify some of the personalities he mentions: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0521143/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0521143/</a>

This essay has the word "work" or "working" in it six times.<p>It has the word "drink" or "drinking" in it seven times.<p>Edit: Downvote the joke if you must, but I really did admire Lorre's hustle over the years. It makes my late-night (sober) hacking seem somehow sane.

<i>"Roughly nine years after walking through that first door, finally get a chance to create your hit sitcom. But it won't really be yours. You have no creative clout. Your employers have lots of clout so, ignoring the priceless lesson, rely on their series premise, their casting choices and their comic instincts. Your hit sitcom is cancelled in five weeks. Your employer calls it a "noble failure", but noble isn't the word used in any of the reviews. The word putrid is used twice."</i><p>That was Mike &#38; Molly <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1608180/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1608180/</a> 8.4 on IMDb

This was great. Especially the end. Definitely worth making it all the way through.