Notorious Iconoclast Chuck Lorre Doesn't Give A Eff About “What The Industry Perceives As Viable”
If any TV executive thinks that Chuck Lorre’s sitcoms are simply too punk-rock for 2024, then they’re more than welcome to mouth their complaints to his Young Sheldon.
Through hit shows such as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, 71-year-old Lorre earned his title as “The King of Sitcoms” with hard work, vision and the liberal application of laugh tracks. The writer, producer and director is network television’s most bankable big-wig, and Lorre’s standing green light on any spinoff series or new spin on the multi-cam medium makes him eminently enviable among all TV showrunners – but, apparently that's not how he sees it. Like all artistic mavericks and mold-breakers, Lorre claims that he still has gripes with the moneymen and empty suits of the entertainment industry who just don’t appreciate what it takes to push boundaries.
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During a recent stop on the 2024 Television Critics Association Press Tour, Lorre answered a question about the TV industry’s recent reticence towards producing new sitcoms, boldly declaring of the humorless network executives, “Fuck 'em!” Lorre later added, "What the industry perceives of as viable is not – that's none of my business, actually." So I guess he made Young Sheldon just for pleasure, then.
Lorre's current project is Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage, a prequel series to Young Sheldon, which, of course, was a prequel to The Big Bang Theory. Lorre seemed to be unaware of the irony that the current business model of Chuck Lorre Productions is identical to that of the film world's laziest cash-grabbers when he flipped the bird at the supposedly money-grubbing network heads who have done nothing but sign his checks for the last two decades.
“You're asking me if I have a macro view of these things, I don't,” Lorre said of the question about industry trends. As opposed to “the industry's” more business-minded perception, Lorrie's outlook on entertainment is simple : "I try and pursue things that I'm excited about that I think are wonderful, that working with people that I love and admire and telling stories that I think are great stories to tell, and the potential of making people laugh is a wonderful thing to do. When you come home at night, did you make people laugh? That's not a bad day."
“I just I try and stay focused on doing stuff that I love,” Lorre said of his professional approach to making middle-of-the-road multi-cam sitcoms to be watched in Jiffy Lube waiting rooms and on Jet Blue flights across the country. "When I think something is wonderful, I hope people agree with me. I can't guarantee it, but that's the hope of it."
For someone who claims to be unaware about what the TV industry considers to be a safe bet, Lorre has continued to win big with family-and-advertiser-friendly sitcoms while the rest of the comedy television world suffers from massive contraction – fresh off the conclusions of both Young Sheldon and Bob Hearts Abishola, Lorre still has his Max gambling sitcom Bookie starring Sebastian Maniscalco, and the third series set in the Big Bang Theory universe is sure to hit syndication by the time he gets started on a spinoff show for Howard's mom.
Basically, how are you supposed to speak truth to power when you're already the King?
