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Whitney Cummings defends multi-camera sitcom: 'It's the best format for stand-up comedians'

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Barring the success of few sitcoms on CBS, the multi-camera format -- be it laugh track or live studio audience -- has been something of a kiss of death for the 21st century TV comedy.

Naturally, when the cast and producers of Whitney Cummings' eponymous NBC sitcom "Whitney" took the stage at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, the new series' format dominated discussion.

"It's the best format for stand-up comedians," says Cummings, referring to her and co-star Chris D'Elia's career on stage. "It made the most sense for us... I think our relationship with the audience is something you can tell we're comfortable with."

Cummings namechecked some of her favorite series, including "The Cosby Show," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Roseanne" -- all of which boasted stars that got their starts in stand-up.

"It's an exciting tradtion to be part of, it's still a viable form," says executive producer and showrunner Betsy Thomas. "Stuff ebbs and flows. Genres get taken down because of speciifc shows. I think it's a fantastic format that will hopefully be around for a long time."

Cummings actually has a lot riding on the mult-cam this season. She's the co-creator and producer of CBS' "Two Broke Girls," starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. Still, "Whitney" is definitely her day job.

"At home, I'll sort of read the notes about 'Two Broke Girls,'" she says, "[but] I think it's in pretty good hands with [showrunner] Michael Patrick King."
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Once again Whitney Cummings proves to have a below average IQ. First there aren't enough pretty people on TV for her, now she's comparing her crappy show to classic sitcoms. I can't wait until this gets worse ratings than Paul Reiser.

Proud to be a sexist pig, are you?

Her on screen husband is hot. What else does it need?

Good article that gives a fair and honest truthful opinion here,

Whitney is not going to be a show that’s heavily favored by the internet community. Most of the things that we hear right out of the gate is mostly negative but these are the same people that hate these kind of comedies. Whitney’s audience is the audience that watches shows like Two and a Half Men and that’s what NBC is looking for. Their not looking for the same crowd that watches their current comedies. They are looking to expand their audience and maybe bring back some of those viewers that watched Friends and Will & Grace back in the day.

Whitney seems like a simple enough show for the casual viewer to get into that’s what’s eventually going to draw viewers into it. I just think that Whitney has two directions that its going to go in and that’s either hit or fail. It’s up to NBC to be patient enough with the show to find its own audience. It’s going to take a while for Whitney to build its own audience b/c their on a network where its fanbase doesn’t favor traditional comedies.

With that being said 2 Broke Girls looks amazing and that will be TV’s next big hit since Big Bang Theory.

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