Call me crazy, but it may not be a coincidence that fall is home
to both the beginning of the new school year and the beginning of
the new TV season.
Life at UCLA (or any college) provides you with an opportunity
to make your own life a new sitcom every year. Sure, it’s at
the same school and you have the same small circle of friends, but
take one different class, meet one different person, or participate
in one new activity and you’ve found the twist necessary to
make it on the air.
You see, there are no new sitcoms anymore. Instead, in a
conscious attempt to appeal to lost demographic groups, networks
simply recreate generic setups with one varying element to make the
series “new.”
“Coupling” is “Friends,” but with more
open talk about sex. “Cold Case” is any of the
“C.S.I.” incarnations, but without the acronym. And
“Whoopi” gives Middle-Easterners what “Will and
Grace” already gave homosexuals: punch lines.
I’m actually surprised a sitcom about college isn’t
in the new fall lineup. Just imagine it: A small-town college
first-year student must learn to adjust to his new surroundings on
a big campus. He’s just your average, shy guy who
doesn’t know much, and hasn’t seen much. Through his
relations with his big-city roommate, heartwarming professors, and
wacky insert-your-favorite-cultural-stereotype-here neighbor, he
gets into lots of situations he shouldn’t be in, and learns a
lot about life in the process. Think “Saved by the Bell: The
College Years,” only funny.
And here’s the best part: if the ratings aren’t
there after one season, you can simply change one element of the
story and you’ve got a whole new sitcom! For instance,
let’s suppose the series isn’t doing well with
insert-a-different-stereotyped-group-of-people-here, aged 30-60. In
season two, our hero takes a class taught by a professor of that
group, and the problem is solved.
The fact that this makes sense is frightening.
When all “new” does is reinvent the wheel by putting
the hole in a different place, there’s something to be said
for taking wheels, adding a box and reinventing the wagon. It still
may not be new, but at least it’s moving toward
innovation.
And that’s not just advice for network TV executives. It
goes for college students too.
While reinventing yourself can sometimes be necessary, it
certainly isn’t something that should happen on a yearly
basis. There’s nothing to be gained by treating each school
year as its own entity. In fact, it’s the combination and
flow from year to year that allow the truly new moments to stand
out so you can recognize them.
Maybe those new professors or neighbors are worth more thought
than their weirdo-of-the-year status allows them. People can
surprise you, especially those who currently come up in your
conversations only when you need a reliable punch line.
The ideal college experience shouldn’t be like a sitcom.
And if the reasons above don’t make sense to you, think about
it this way: Very, very few sitcoms last four full years on the
air.
E-mail Tracer at jtracer@media.ucla.edu.