Resting in peace isn’t the easiest topic to cover.
While TV dramas seem to handle death on a regular basis, TV comedies handle it without consistency.
But how should a show that mostly about making people laugh handle one of the saddest life events?
Two popular sitcoms, “Friends” and “How I Met Your Mother,” went from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Two of the deaths on “Friends” were played for laughs. In TOW Nana Dies Twice, Ross and Monica’s grandmother is thought to be dead, but she has one last breath at the hospital, freaking out the siblings. At the burial, Ross falls into a gravesite. Yikes.
When Phoebe’s grandmother dies, 3-D glasses are passed out at the funeral. And later, her ashes are still in her taxi cab when Joey drives to Vegas. What?
The laughs went a little too far into an unrealistic, overly silly concept in both episodes.
On the other side, there’s “How I Met Your Mother,” which I think has one of the saddest deaths on a TV comedy.
When Marshall’s dad dies, it’s revealed at the end of the episode. Just when Marshall finds out they don’t have anything to worry about with infertility, Lily breaks the news about his father.
On IMDb, it’s said that actor Jason Segel didn’t know that’s what Alyson Hannigan would say, so his shocked reaction is real. And it’s so raw.
In the following episode, Last Words, Marshall urges his friends to remember the last words they said to their fathers. It really makes you think while showing a major life event and how it can affect friends.
While sitcoms are typically at a heightened reality, on-screen deaths and funerals can benefit from showing multiple emotions. In real life, death can bring laughter and tears.
On “Scrubs,” death is built into the hospital setting. Sometimes it was sad to watch beloved patients pass, and the writers did a great job with J.D.’s narrations commenting on how short life is and how everyone passes. On the hand, sometimes they made a point to make you at least chuckle. There is fantasy sequence where Turk and Carla raise a pumpkin and fret when he/she/it breaks.
It’s a nice balance on a show that’s filled with laughs and medical jargon.
“Modern Family” also had its script legs in both sides.
In Goodnight Gracie, the whole crew goes to Florida when Phil’s mother passed. Alex is confused and upset when her grandma, whom she bonded with deeply, leaves only a lighter for her, but by the episode’s conclusion, she discovers that the lighter had a memory and a hidden meaning from her grandmother.
Phil and Claire, on the other hand, awkwardly try (they first claim to be traveling vacuum salespeople) to meet a woman whom Phil’s mom thinks would make a great new partner for her surviving husband.
In season 3, the Dunphys’ neighbor passes, and all Luke wants is his TV. At first, Claire doesn’t think he’s accepted the death (even though she herself couldn’t stop smiling when telling people the neighbor had died), but it turns out it was a memory for him, and Claire calms down.
While these moments may be less memorable, they feel more in tune with the emotions we feel when someone dies.
But hey, that’s not really what sitcoms are for, are they?
