I usually don't watch much TV but when I go on break at work there's a TV in the breakroom that's always on so I tend to watch out of convenience and boredom. Last night Meet The Browns was on. Not my first choice in sitcoms but it's good for the occasional laugh. But last night, it wasn't. Why? Because the entire episode was about cancer.

You know what's funny about cancer? Nothing! Not that they were trying to be funny. No, that would just be absurd for a sitcom. Instead they got all serious and made it all depressing. Indeed, there was a good five minutes where there wasn't a single laugh track.

This isn't the first sitcom I've seen do this. I've seen all kinds of sitcoms where someone's dieing or someone's a victim of a hate crime or somebody's parents are getting a divorce. It got me to thinking, why in the world would someone want to turn on a light hearted comedy only to be forced to watch something serious and depressing? These types of themes don't belong in sitcoms. They belong in TV dramas.

When I feel like watching a sitcom I'm trying to get away from the kind of depressing stuff I have to deal with in my daily life. In fact, I doubt there's many people who haven't had to deal with a friend or family member getting cancer. It just really irritates me. Why can't comedies be comedies? Why so serious?