National What?!?!

ABC is promoting its National Stay at Home, Sit Lazily on the Couch, Eat all the Snacks You Want, all as long as You Have the TV on and are Tuned to ABC Week.  Ok, that isn't the offical title, but I don't see how this week is any different than any other week for me since I seem to do all those things with or without premieres.  Hopefully, this week will provide more enjoyable viewing than June, July, August and for that matter with the strike most of last season.  

What this week really means is that I need to start making choices.  My DVR can only handle two shows at a time.  I have to figure out what I am watching while it happens, recording to watch in the future, going to have to go online for, and most importantly what gets cut.  

On the top of my cut list Do Not Disturb. While I found myself laughing a few times during the two shows I watched, I feel no connection to any character on the show.  Nor do I have any desire to tune in again.  A successful 30-minute comedy needs both funny and attachment or it is gone. 

How I Met You Mother has successful found that middle ground.  Both shows have a womanizing suited up male in the lead role, but Neil Patrick Harris has developed Barney Stinson into a perfect blend of crass and vulnerable.  Whereas Jerry O'Connell's Neil Danner is still a flat one-dimensional character.  I think the biggest difference is HIMYM is a relational comedy about friendships with a really great down to earth guy as the lead who is friends with Barney.  There must be a reason Ted would like Barney and that makes him intriguing.  They aren't exactly opposites, so what is it that makes them similar enough to be friends. Whereas DND is a situational comedy with no one to even out Neil.  Colleagues are not on the same level as friends.  Being paid to work with someone and choosing to be friends with someone place those relationships on different levels thus making the positives of the people they interact with at different weights with the viewer.  Besides the workplace there are no obvious common threads.  This doesn't mean that it is impossible to make a 30-minute situational comedy work.  The Office and 30-Rock have both proven it is more than possible.  It just means that it is more work on the writers, directors, and actors to create a reason to connect which is easier in a relational comedy. 

I definitely find myself drawn to relational comedies.  NewsRadio is the biggest exception to the rule for me.  

So, that leads to my newest set of questions - What have been your favorite 30-minute comedies, were they situational or relational, why did you like them?