'Best Friends Forever': Breaking NBC's comedy rut

NBC’s Thursday nights are well-recognized for being bastions of sitcom humor, but many of the channel’s shows aren’t doing as well this season. Even with new shows added to the lineup, many viewers are switching to Fox and other channels for their comedy fix. 

“The Office” and “30 Rock” are arguably two of NBC’s best productions in history, but the sitcoms, which are in their seventh and sixth seasons, respectively, are beginning to feel as if they’re past their prime. Though both still receive a good amount of viewership and have been renewed for another season, it’s difficult to content that the sitcoms are as funny as when they first premiered.

New to the NBC Thursday lineup this season were “Whitney,” produced by standup comedian Whitney Cummings, and “Up All Night,” a classic, family-based sitcom that stars Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph. 

Other NBC Thursday forerunners include “Community” and “Parks and Recreation,” two sitcoms that still receive generally positive reviews in their third and fourth seasons, respectively.

But even with moderate viewership from “30 Rock” and “The Office,” in addition to “Community” and “Parks,” NBC has still struggled for ratings this season. The channel has altered its Thursday night schedule multiple times in hopes of attracting more viewers if more popular programs are placed differently on the schedule, though this has largely been to no avail.

In addition to picking up “Whitney” and “Up All Night,” NBC produced a new solution to the problem: airing new sitcoms on Wednesday nights. 

The channel picked up comedian Chelsea Handler’s sitcom, “Are You There, Chelsea?,” to air on Wednesday nights. Soon after, Betty White was producing her own Wednesday night NBC sitcom, “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.”

Jessica St. Clair (left) and Lennon Parham on the "Best Friends Forever" set. Photo courtesy of NBC.

 But it’s NBC’s latest show debut, “Best Friends Forever,” which really shows that the channel can still produce incredible sitcoms.

“Best Friends Forever” stars Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham as two middle-aged best friends who live in Brooklyn. Lennon lives with her boyfriend, Joe, but when Jessica’s husband faxes her divorce papers after an extended vacation, then she has no choice but to seek comfort in her friend’s home.

As Salon.com’s Willa Paskin notes, the lead characters of “Best Friends Forever” seem more relatable than other females leading sitcoms. Though most women probably haven’t faced the awkward scenario of her boyfriend’s parents walking in on her without a bra, it’s a fair point. Lennon and Jessica are regular women to whom regular things happen, like arguing with a significant other about treatment of household guests and trying to impress potential in-laws.

The bad news? “Best Friends Forever” will only be on for six episodes. Four episodes have already aired on NBC and are now available on Hulu. The network has chosen not to air the final two episodes until later in the summer, but Lennon tweeted last week that the last two episodes will hopefully be available online soon.