Mulit-multi-cam sitcoms in development

In the great debate of single camera vs. multi-cam sitcoms, the fact remains that multi-cam operations are cheaper. So it's not much of a surprise that out of 33 sitcoms in development at the broadcast networks, 19 of them are multi-cam. Check out the long, but great, article about it from the L.A. Times.

The multi-cam sitcom, such as legendary hits “I Love Lucy” and “Cheers,” was once the dominant format in which to televise comedies, as much for conveying a theater-like intimacy to home audiences as for its relatively cheap production costs. But within the last decade, multi-cam sitcoms began to disappear, while single-camera comedies like “30 Rock” and “The Office,” with its movie-like freedom, started to rise in prominence.

“The industry had been moving away from multi-cameras out of a sense that other formats offer more creative freedom,” said Jamie Erlicht, president of programming at Sony Pictures Television. “But there’s room for both and there’s a real appetite in these economic times for the tried and true multi-camera format.”