China's sitcoms lack the bite they need to be successful
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E-mail Globaltimes.cn, January 6, 2016
Ancient sitcoms
Like "I Love My Family", most Chinese sitcoms focused on families or workplaces and events taking place in small neighborhoods. Some sitcoms went even more local, producing shows in different dialects for local audiences in different regions of China.
"My Own Swordsman"'s appearance in 2006 was a breath of fresh air for the genre. While period dramas were extremely common in China, "My Own Swordsman" was a rare period sitcom that centered on different swordsman archetypes found in many martial arts novels. Not really showing off fancy martial arts moves like most swordsman-themed works, "My Own Swordsman" doesn't solve problems with violence, but with comedy. It often creates a humorous atmosphere by incorporating modern elements into an ancient world, parodying classical scenes from famous movies or shows and even touching on current affairs and popular online memes. Local dialects also make appearances as the sitcom likes to gather people from different regions in China together and feature cultural conflicts. The 81-episode sitcom turned nearly all its actors, and even scriptwriter Ning Caishen, from nobodies into stars.
The most popular sitcom after "My Own Swordsman" was the iPartment series, which started in 2009. Holding some of the highest audience ratings at the time, the series also launched the careers of its performers. Even the controversy that the show was copying parts of US sitcom "Friends" couldn't reduce its popularity.
The "iPartment" series is not the only Chinese show to look overseas for inspiration. "Ugly Betty" was adapted into Chinese version and the currently hot "Diors Man" series got its inspiration from German sketch comedy "Knallerfrauen".
The rise of the Internet in China, however, has made it more difficult for Chinese studios to outright copy overseas works.
"The market nowadays has become much harsher. In recent years, Chinese audiences have seen a large amount of excellent dramas from the US and the UK, and can easily get various online jokes," an analysis of the sitcom genre from the Beijing News summarizes.
Scriptwriters are now being forced to step up their game. Since modern Chinese audiences now have easy access to shows such as "Modern Family", writers can no longer rely on the ignorance of their audiences to get a laugh with used material.
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