The End of the Blockbuster Sitcom?

What this data seems to show is that there is a growing trend of major 'blockbuster' sitcoms having decreasing number of viewing figures. What reasons can we attribute this to and is this continued decrease inevitable or preventable?

The most obvious explanation is that technology has evolved over time and we can easily catch up on our programmes without having to worry about watching it at a specific time. Viewers can record their programme without using a VCR and are able to watch it as often and whenever they like. Therefore, audiences don't flock to watch the programme unless they are willing to watch it immediately.

Although not relevant to the general data, The Simpsons is the best example to look at when noticing a decline in viewership. The Simpsons had peak years in its first decade of airing and viewers loved watching the family go on wacky and wonderful adventures. But the show slowly started to lose its originality and the quality of episodes started to decline. I would point to 'The Principal and the Pauper' as the turning point but you can make opinions for yourselves. The show continued on and on and on but audiences became less and less interested in the family so many had come to love.

Streaming services became a true force of television in 2020. As the pandemic kept people indoors, audiences had more free time and perhaps as an escapism to the past in a pre pandemic world, audiences binged shows such as The Office and Friends. Even though these shows went off the air years ago, because we can access them with little fuss, we go back to introduce them to new viewers and remind old viewers of a time they enjoyed sitting down to watch their favourite programme.

It could also be argued that sitcoms overall have maybe lost their touch in recent years with only a select few in the last decade really standing out: Brooklyn Nine Nine, Modern Family, The Good Place, The Big Bang Theory and others perhaps don't live up to the quality of 90s and 00s sitcoms. 90s sitcoms include the likes of Seinfeld, Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Frasier, Family Matters. 00s sitcoms include the likes of The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle. You are free to decide which generation of sitcoms is best but some would argue that the sitcom genre is not as effective an audience grabber as they used to be.