Sitcoms’ sad state

In the last paragraph of Paul Brownfield’s essay, “Sitcoms in the Age of ‘Be Funny or Else’ ” (Sept. 5), he summed up the problem with today’s edgy sitcoms by saying the secret to success might just be eccentric families. I think he’s close, but no residuals ... er ... cigars. What is missing from today’s sitcoms, which seem to get more vicious every day, is the eccentric family’s unconditional love.

If he thinks of the favorite sitcom of his youth, “The Addams Family,” or mine, “All In the Family,” what made us come back every week was that no matter what kind of mess the characters got into, at the end, they were still a family, not because the surrounding circumstances kept them together but because they would still “love one another no matter what.”

Maybe it’s this faith in the family that is missing today. Maybe it’s the influences of the reality shows from which we learn that if you mess up, you may be forgiven, but you won’t be a member of that family next week.

Steve B. Green

Calabasas

*

When I was a child I loved watching “The Addams Family.” I longed to be part of Gomez and Morticia’s family instead of my own. Sure, they had some strange habits (drinking hemlock, eating poisonous mushrooms, relaxing on a bed of nails), but they understood differences. The Addamses deeply respected one another, gave outsiders the benefit of the doubt, were unfailingly gracious (“Why, thank you, Thing”), and had a real joy of life, despite their obsession with death.

Randall Gellens

San Diego

*

I am always amazed when writers such as Paul Brownfield continue to feed the misconception about laugh tracks in today’s sitcoms.

“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Two and a Half Men” and “King of Queens” all have laughter after every joke because they are shot in front of a live audience, just as their predecessor “I Love Lucy” was 50 years ago. It was in the ‘60s, when virtually every TV comedy -- “Gilligan’s Island,” “Get Smart,” Mr. Brownfield’s beloved “Addams Family” -- was shot in a studio, that the lamentable laugh track was born.

But since the arrival of the Norman Lear and Mary Tyler Moore comedies of the ‘70s, through “Cosby” and “Cheers” to “Friends” and “Frasier,” sitcom laughter has been the real thing. If Mr. Brownfield remains skeptical, he is welcome to join us on the “Will & Grace” stage any Tuesday night.

Eric McCormack

Studio City

Eric McCormack plays Will on the sitcom “Will & Grace.”