Sometimes mediocrity is A-OK

Since we were discussing mediocrity the other day, I figured I’d pass this along, from the AV Club’s Nathan Rabin:

My affection for mediocre movies doesn’t extend to mediocre television. I never regret seeing a movie or reading a book, no matter how god-awful. Every film I see or book I read adds to my frame of reference and understanding of the world. Watching a mediocre neo-noir like Novocaine for example invites audiences to consider it within the context of classic noir and contemporary noir as well as Steve Martin’s career. …

But watching a rerun of, say, Mr. Belvedere, tells me nothing about the world except perhaps that all episodes of mediocre sitcoms are the same. Sitcoms invite passive viewing; laugh tracks helpfully do much of the audience’s thinking for it; there’s no need to determine for yourself whether something is funny when the robotic cackling of phantom viewers screams that everything is hilarious.

This strikes me as pretty much right on. Mediocre sitcoms really are soul-suckingly awful in that they’re all identical. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.