Networks cooling on comedy

American TV networks unleashed their 2015-16 evening lineups in New York last week, leaving industry insiders buzzing about a Great Comedy Rollback. Burned by a high number of sitcom flops in recent years, programmers have decided to stop trying to bring the funny.

NBC, one-time home to generation-defining hits Friends and Seinfeld, has exiled comedy to the dead zone of Friday nights. CBS benched 2 Broke Girls until midseason and decided to take a flier on the drama reboot of Supergirl.

Here’s a telling fact: This will be the first time since 1949 that CBS hasn’t kicked off Mondays with a comedy.

Can programmers be serious? Well, yes. Programmers’ aversion to new comedy makes sense when one takes into account that many teenagers and twentysomethings never watch any network sitcoms.

“Young viewers in particular cruise YouTube for hours looking for funny content,” said Jeffrey McCall, a TV expert and media studies professor at DePauw University. “Sitcoms are working in a very crowded arena these days.”