written by Sarah McLean
Have you watched The Carmichael Show? You may have missed it. Their 6 episode run quietly debuted over 3 weeks at the end of last summer on NBC, just before the new Fall season. If it somehow escaped your live viewing schedule or DVR recording, I suggest you go watch it.
To be quite honest, I had no idea who Jerrod Carmichael was until I saw him on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore the night before his show debuted (smart marketing!). I had seen, and probably fast-forwarded past, commercials for The Carmichael Show so I recognized his name. As panelists go, he was fine. I couldn’t tell you anything he said or what the night’s topic was, but I do remember thinking that he was intelligent, funny, and normal. Seeing him on The Nightly Show actually made me more interested in watching his show, a show where I knew next to nothing about the lead actor, except for the 5 minutes I had just watched. I still had no clue as to the premise of his sitcom (having watched a lot of TV I could take an educated guess – his crazy life with his crazy family!) but now I could at least put a face to the name, and a point of view with both.
Turns out I enjoyed The Carmichael Show pretty early on and because I spent a childhood doing nothing but watch TV, I very quickly knew why: after watching only the pilot, it felt liked I’d already seen 10 episodes. I knew who these characters were. I knew their archetypes. Their points of view. Their shared histories. I knew what made them tick and how each character would react in certain situations.
To the untrained ear this may sound like an insult but it’s not. In fact, it’s a huge compliment. In one episode, the writers were able to clearly and concisely share this world with their audience. I understood these characters because they were very clearly drawn and very precisely written. There was no hemming or hawing. We learned their family dynamic, the tone of the show, their style of humor, the type of topics they’d cover – everything. All in roughly 20 minutes. That’s hard.
For most shows it takes a while to find their footing. By no means was the pilot of The Carmichael Show perfect, but it wasn’t clunky either. It knew what it wanted to be before the first episode. There was no “figuring it out” as they progressed from episode one to six. This was going to be a sitcom that dealt with controversial, topical issues in a clever
and funny way.
Shows that come with backstories, shared histories, and clear characters hit the ground running a lot sooner than sitcoms that are based on just a funny idea or interesting concept but with no real substance to stand on. You need to have your show’s foundation set and your shit together before you get started or it will be a lot harder and take more
time to get there.
This is especially huge right now since we’re in a world where most networks don’t even give shows a chance to succeed. Looking back, 2015 was a kind year but in recent history some shows were cancelled after only one episode (or even before the pilot aired). Yes. Every show needs a learning curve, and some (most) don’t really hit their stride until season two (30 Rock). For those shows that do all the work beforehand, they’re more likely to succeed a lot sooner and be given the time to get even better.
After you catch up on season 1 make sure to check out season 2 of The Carmichael Show starting March 13th. What shows have you liked right off the bat? Which ones took a while to find their footing? Are there any shows you stopped watching and then gave a second chance? Let us know by posting in the comment box below!