When even James Burrows—the man behind the camera on Cheers, Will & Grace, Friends, and more—expresses doubt about the future of the sitcom, it’s clear that the format really is in crisis.
“When I started out in the 70s, there were three networks and 30 great comedy writers. Now we have 500 networks and 30 great comedy writers. The product is not going to be as good,” Burrows said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “It’s unfortunate, but anybody with an iPhone can make a show, and that’s what we’re dealing with now. I don’t know if sitcoms are ever going to be back, I really don’t.”
Burrows, at least, is doing his part by directing the first two episodes of the upcoming Frasier reboot, even though he “had nothing to do with the writing of the pilot” and “was just handed a script.” (“When Kelsey calls, you say yes!” he said.) Still, the modern sitcom landscape is increasingly turning away from original concepts and towards re-treads like this, many of which can’t even make it past a handful of seasons, if they get that kind of bandwidth at all.
Studio executives are also at fault for this decrease in quality, Burrows said, citing the myriad of instigators behind the recently-ended writers strike. “You have people who are running the business now who don’t really understand the business. They just throw shit against the wall and see what sticks,” he said.
Burrows is even unsure of Frasier Crane’s future. “I’m not sanguine about the product lasting,” he said. Still, “it was a wonderful two weeks with my old friend, my old crew, some I’d been working with since Cheers.”
Frasier returns October 12 on Paramount+. You can watch a trailer for the season below: