loving this analysis of pilots, as always. I watched a ton of Everybody Loves Ray while writing a comedy. It is amazing how simple the ELR stories are. The scripts must be short, too, I bet. So much of the episode’s comedy comes from, absolutely, character - and it’s the same jokes over and over, which makes them funnier. Ray’s brother Robert is a loveable loser who is jealous and resentful of his brother. The biggest laughs for Robert come from the faces he makes at his brother when his theory that Ray gets everything he doesn’t is borne out. Again. And the actor holds the look of childish resentment. And holds it. And the longer he holds it, the more we laugh. And the laugh track (or live audience? I’m assuming laugh track) rolls with it too. I wonder how much page time is given to laughs in these US sitcoms. We don’t have that time, given we almost never have laugh tracks. We try to do the same laugh cues with music, but it doesn’t always work.

ELR is a brilliant family comedy, with family members we have come to know and love.

Thanks for the ongoing insights into these shows.