Some time ago, I read an article in an entertainment magazine that described how babies are the death knell of American sitcoms. According to this piece, babies change the score of a television series, just as babies change the score of…well, everything…in real life. If a young’un is present in the show from the first episode, that’s fine (remember how popular Full House was, for some unexplainable reason?) In that instance, there’s nothing majorly new for the viewers to have to grow accustomed to later. But add a little bundle of joy six seasons in, and watch the ratings fall like Fat Bastard on a free buffet. Fans who’ve spent years watching a show for the antics of a funny young couple are put off and ditch the series when the wacky fictitious antics of a child-free life are replaced with jokes about 2 AM feedings and not being able to find a babysitter for Friday night.

Most webcomics are a lot more like sitcoms than many of us would care to admit. They’re often bite-sized chunks of problems that can be resolved in a very short span of time: five weekdays is the common golden rule, a carryover from the heyday of newspaper funnies. Things rarely change dramatically, if they ever change at all–at the end of the day, everything is back to normal. And the jokes are usually recycled and aimed at the largest, and often dumbest, demographic. (Yeah, I confess I’m not a fan of most sitcoms that don’t bear the BBC’s logo. And when I did watch a lot of American network sitcoms, back before I had satellite or cable, I do remember that I usually dropped a show shortly after a new kidlet came along.)

Luckily, one way that some webcomics break away from their talkie-picture relatives is in the area of babies. Instead of making the webcomic less funny, I’m actually finding myself laughing more at what family expansion is bringing to the table in a couple of my favourite online strips.

Take Something Positive, for one. The characters in this comic are known for their burning cynicism and sarcastic, profanity-laden, and often entirely inappropriate humour. These are characters who will make coat-hanger abortion jokes to expectant mothers–the very first strip, for example (although the guy, Davan, would probably say there was no joking involved):

In other words, the cast of Something Positive make all the blunt-but-funny commentary that most of us wish we could get away with in public. When two of the cast, Aubrey and Jason, announced they were adopting a baby, I had a moment of glee. These two weren’t going to be the boring parents that every sitcom couple becomes, oh no! They were going to raise their kid with all the cutting-edge sarcasm, street smarts, quick wit, and pure “cool” that the rest of us can only envy. Aubrey and Jason were going to be the Queen and King of Freakin’ Awesome MomandDadland.

And, don’tchya know, I was right. (Linked instead of posted here due to some possible naughtiness in this particular strip.) I think that’s the first time the addition of a baby to a story has made me laugh aloud!

In another brilliant strip, Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic (warning! Lots of funny naughty bits and funny fantasy violence in this series!), babies aren’t on the way just yet in the current storyline….But considering a royal wedding has just taken place between a newly-crowned orc-human prince and his three(!) orcish brides, the pitter-patter of little green war-waging feet may not be far behind. When you’re part of a species that prides itself on its Chaotic Evil alignment and have recently acquired an army of servants, the whole pesky “raising kids thing” is done a little bit differently, and, with any luck, by someone else:

Yes, I can safely say that, for once, I’m actually looking forward to the addition of children to some of my favourite comics! Take note, sitcom writers. That’s how you handle family expansion correctly: you make it funny without changing the style of humour, and you don’t let it interrupt the pre-established flow of the story that’s existed long before rugrats came into play.

I’ll take my pay for saving countless sitcoms in cash, please.

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 1:57 am and is filed under DKM Marlink, Internet, art, the Internets, webcomics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.