Dark Fun

Ivan Shreve has some insightful comments on the show Titus and the limits of how dark it could get within the American TV network world. He compares it to the British comedy How Do You Want Me?, which is somewhat similar -- a stand-up comedian living out his dysfunctional life in the sitcom format -- but less compromised in its ability to go nasty.

On the other hand, I do think that what Ivan calls "Christopher Titus’ philosophy of 'Sure-my-dad-was-a-rat-bastard-and-made-my-life-a-living-hell-but-it-toughened-me-up-and-made-me-a-better-person'" is something that comes from him rather than a network imposition; it was part of his act. If anything, the show's serious and earnest moments probably spooked out the network more than the straightforward dysfunctional-father jokes (this was, after all, the network that had only recently cancelled Married: With Children and was just about to give us the obnoxious parents on Malcolm in the Middle).