This reveals the limits of the sitcom as a form as far as investigating human nature is concerned. (And that’s what really concerns me as a critic, I’m sad to say.) Simply put, characters in sitcoms are not characters as we understand them to exist in dramas. They are joke delivery mechanisms, and their prime directive is to be funny. If that comes at the expense of recognizable human behavior, it’s all in the game, man. (To be clear, being funny is itself a recognizable human behavior, but not when it requires all other concerns to bend to that goal.)

The problem arises when people, many critics among them, ignore this basic structural tenet of the genre and start looking to comedy for life lessons and moral instruction.

My Succession Reviews for Latecomers series for Decider continues with a look at episode three, in which I realize you people have tricked me into watching a sitcom.

Tags: decider, reviews, succession, TV, TV reviews

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