> ...but I don't like seeing actors pretending to be overwhelmed by love or whatever in an otherwise goofy sitcom. It just seems cheap and disgusting.

On the other hand, unleashed cynicism is at least as disgusting, if not more. The problem is not so much with one or the other but an appropriate use of both. Sentiment vs. cynicism is one of the silliest debates we could have here.

Yes, Fawlty Towers and its unashamed, unchained cynicism, completely lacking in any sort of sentiment whatsoever, is in fact one of the greatest comedy series ever produced, anywhere.

ALF, nearly as cynical, with humor that relies arguably more on insults and smug wisecracks, is a deplorable crime, because it is not funny or clever and instead seeks to get by on *gratuitous* cynicism. The act of name-calling isn't a tool employed by a joke -- it *is* the joke. 90% of the sitcoms on TV today march to that same sickening drum. Sex joke, insult joke, sex joke, insult joke. Any self-respecting human being should be insulted to see this presented to them as entertainment.

As far as sentiment goes, sitcoms rarely employ this device well either. It's not the sentiment that's bad, it's the artificiality of taking stock characters, manufacturing a crisis by forcibly ripping spouses or family members apart, then manufacturing a heart-to-heart and forcibly smacking them back together again. People do not function like this.

But there are sitcoms, or were, anyway, that understand that sentiment doesn't work when it's manufactured and does when there is an understanding of actual human emotions underneath. The sentiment in "The Honeymooners" works beautifully. Also in "Family Ties," for a more modern example. The very first episode of "The Cosby Show" makes that series one of the greats as far as balancing humor and genuine sentiment goes. (The Cosby Show later floundered in its later years, but for a great many had excellent writing.) In that episode, Cosby talked to his son about a bad report card, and his son then went on an apparently manufactured sentimental speech ("...why can't you just love me because I'm your son?" it ended, followed by an "awwww" from the audience), after which Cosby said, "Son...that is the DUMBEST thing I've ever heard!" and he chewed him out for not trying hard enough in school. And yet there were moments of very tender sentiment in that series -- in fact, even in that very episode. The writers understood and *explicitly* delineated the difference between genuine and artificial sentiment, and for most of the span of that series stuck to it.

So object all you like to manufactured sentiment. You're gullible if you swallow it all. Object, too, to gratuitous cynicism. You're inhuman if you accept it all. A sitcom needs neither sentiment nor cynicism to fare well, but there is room for sentiment if it's genuine and room, too, for cynicism if it's purposeful.

Philbee, you should be ashamed of yourself for criticizing a man who was unashamed to express his true feelings in public. You should be ashamed to denounce someone else's genuine honesty because it makes you personally uncomfortable. I'm glad I know you are not representative of your country. Your peers should be embarrassed that someone so paranoid about human beings showing evidence for human feelings is representing them, and, furthermore, stereotyping a whole country of people and denouncing them on the basis of that. Frankly, if all Americans DID fit your stereotype, I'd only be proud of it and welcome your bitter criticism with a grateful heart.