The Formula for a Successful Sitcom

indylaw writes "A team of scientists commissioned by British satellite channel UKTV Gold has developed a mathematical expression to predict the success of TV sitcoms. Using the formula [((R x D + V) x F) + S]/A, they determined that "Only Fools and Horses" and "The Office" are the best of British comedy, while "According to Bex" (which is being adapted for CBS in the fall and will star Jenna Elfman) scored in the bottom five."

Comments

Now...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now make a formula that can tell if a Slashdot-article is a dupe.

Re:Now...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now make a formula that can tell if a Slashdot-article is a dupe.

1

Well ... DUH!

[Anonymous Coward]

Cue the formulaic sitcom jokes ...

I hate these news-grabbing formulae

[P-Nuts]

How on earth do you go about measuring any of the variables in their formula. For example, D, deluesions of grandeur. Do they just order a delusionometer from a scientific supplies catalogue?

I've come up with my own formula: L=(nP+sqrt(C)/i). It calulates lameness of formulae (L) according to number of terms in arbitrary units (n), popularity of subject matter (P), column inches devoted to the formula in mainstream news (C), and intelligence of the researchers who came up with it (i). My formula has a lameness of only 4.7, but their is much lamer at 205.3.

So there.

Re:I hate these news-grabbing formulae

[uberdave]

Let me guess: You also tried making a stud finder, but it kept pointing at you.

For American audiences

[LoraxLorax]

They forgot the following bit of the equation: ^T+A

Re:What's the cost of a formula?

[MutantHamster]

Wait, I haven an even better forumalr. Where "R" stands for ratings, it goes like this:

R.

Formula for getting high-mod points:

[pegr]

(F x (R x D + V)) + S) / A

Where:

F = Likelihood of remaining on the first page of comments
R = Recognizability rating (editors=9, Taco=10, ACs=0)
D = User ID numerical ranking, 3 or fewer digits=10
V = Actual intelligence score of post
S = Number of "Me too" replies generated
A = General interest of story commenting on

Re:The original Grauniad article:

[Anonymous Coward]

The best I can do would be "X was good, but it wasn't as good as Y"

That's crap. X was way better than Y.

Yeah but, No but, Yeah but, No but, Yeah but...

[ayjay29]

Yeah but, No but, Yeah but, No but, Yeah but...

They're just gonna take like only fools and horses right and then make it in the US with the Trotters living in like Venace Beach or something and driving a ford pinto and then they take out all the swear words like plonker and bollocks and stuff cause the yanks don't know shit about stuff like that and then they put in all this cheasy yank stuff like chearleaders and baseball and try to make it funny again but it ends up getting well crap cause thay cant insult old people or young people or deaf people and then it only ends up on some crap cable tv channel and nobody watches it cause there's like 20 old episodes of friends and the simpsons on all the same time and half the time it's just adverts and stuff.

Re:now all we need...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

-[((R x D + V) x F) + S]/A

It's simple.

[Kiryat Malachi]

if(show == sitcom)
{
show_quality = bad;
}