Did TV Steal The Rom-Com From Movies?

Think back to the last time you floated out of a movie theater after viewing a romantic comedy. It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? In fact, it’s probably been at least six months. Bridget Jones’s Baby did…not so great business in September of 2016, and How To Be Single did ok seven months prior. Really, the last romantic comedy that saw any traction at the box office was July of 2015’s Trainwreck.

But now think about the last time you watched two people fall in love on TV. It’s happened, and much more recently. Call it Peak TV if you want, because it’s not just intriguing hour-long dramas having a moment in this format: TV is really the place to turn if you’re looking for a rom-com.

So what’s got the rom-coms running for TV lately? As The Mindy Project showrunner Matt Warburton offered via email, “I think romantic comedy has migrated to television as part of a larger movement of most adult-oriented storytelling in that direction. Romantic comedy movies are, for the most part, mid-budget and directed at adults, exactly the kind of movies studios seem to shy away from these days. And given the freedom that writers have in TV these days, it’s no surprise people are coming to cable and streaming services with their more complex adult stories.”

It’s true: you could go to Sundance or SXSW and watch an indie film or two that might fall into the general romantic comedy genre, usually a bit more of the darker variety as they seem to be these days, but very few romantic comedy films are being made for a broad audience. However, fire up your Netflix or your Hulu or even networks such as The CW or FXX, and you’ll find a story about the hilarious situations that occur once two people realize they have feelings for each other.

And we’re not the only ones that have noticed this trend. As Warburton noted, “Absolutely, the uptick in romance stories in television comedy in the last five to ten years or so has been striking. But I’d point out that this is in many respects a case of TV comedy returning to its roots. From I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show to Cheers, Friends, Sex and the City, etc., romance stories have been one of the great storytelling wells in TV. In an era before heavy serialization, tracking a romantic arc was the one thread that would evolve over the course of a show.”

Let’s look at a show like You’re The Worst, currently in production on its fourth season of FXX, which will likely debut in the fall. Gretchen (Aya Cash) and Jimmy (Chris Geere) are about as unlikable as they come (while of course being extremely likable), and season one set up the premise that our favorite “I don’t believe in relationships” couple have finally found a person they can maybe tolerate enough to try for an actual relationship. Season one could’ve been squeezed into an indie comedy film, without a doubt. But then would we have made it to that epic engagement attempt at the end of season 3?

The same thing applies to a show such as Love on Netflix. As creator and star Paul Rust explained, “Probably what TV shows of any genre can, generally speaking, do more than movies, is dig deeper into characters. Just given the amount of screen time you get with a TV series, you can explore a character in more detail (what motivates them, how they take steps forwards and backwards, what clothes they wear twice).” Can confirm: it is SO satisfying when characters wear the same clothes more than once.

Love is an interesting show to take a look at in this regard, simply because it benefits from not having to move along at a breakneck pace in order to squeeze story in. Currently working on their third season, this show tells a story about two people that truly takes its time. The episodes breathe, spending a full day or a shroom-enhanced evening with these characters, never really forcing them to hurtle towards plot points. “With Love, we try to write it as a TV show that could be satisfying as a single episode or in chunks of 2-5 episodes or binged as one season or multiple seasons. So I wouldn’t say TV is the ‘best’ medium for a romantic comedy, it just offers unique creative opportunities (or ‘creato-tunnities’ as no one calls them) that movies can’t,” Rust said over email.

And that’s not to say that they haven’t taken notes from the rom-com films that came before them. “I think the main thing Love has learned from romantic comedy movies is that they’re most effective when you can identify and relate to the characters and their situations. I don’t think Love does anything differently, other than our characters and situations might be identifiable or relatable in a way you wouldn’t want to admit.”

Oh, and speaking of admitting how relatable a character is, that brings us to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Imagine what The CW hour-long comedy could’ve been on the big screen. The adventures of a girl who moves across the country to pursue a high school crush? Take my money now. But with the way Rachel Bloom & Co. are able to explore these characters, to give some dimension to Rebecca Bunch and her cohorts, and to keep viewers on their toes, not just with storylines but with catchy songs, makes TV the perfect medium for this story.

With the move to the TV show format, romantic comedy stories are able to bend and twist in new ways that a 2-hour film couldn’t explore. The will they/won’t they storyline has been done before and it will be done again, but the exciting challenge a 10-episode season faces is bringing a new energy and fun surprises to that device. A full season gives characters the opportunity to engage in love triangles and hookups that never last past the 22-minute runtime. The Mindy Project is a great example of this: Mindy (Mindy Kaling) and Danny (Chris Messina) got to do their on-off thing, going so far as to have a child together, and after they split, it allowed Mindy to date an entire roster of hotties. Best of both worlds!

It’s possible that there will be a rom-comaissance and we’ll start to see stories about people falling in love garner a medium size budget and show up on the big screen. But for now, it’s TV that is allowing these stories to not only be told, but to flourish and be presented in new and unique ways. The characters are able to grow while remaining relatable, and viewers are able to follow them through speed bumps and celebrations, large and small. Sorry movies, but right now, TV is The One.

Where to watch Love