LOS ANGELES, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Looking for laughs? New

gut-busting comedies are getting harder to find on today's

television.

After an explosion of shows in the "Peak TV" era, Hollywood

studios are reducing the number of series they release. Comedy

has taken a bigger hit than drama, industry data show, and

producers say a range of challenges has hindered bringing new

comedies to the screen.

"In comedy, the bar has never been higher to get things

made," Mike Farah, former CEO of Funny Or Die and now an

independent producer, said at a recent Producers Guild of

America conference.

Last year's TV offerings thinned when Hollywood writers and

actors went on strike. After production ramped back up, the

number of drama series premieres in 2024 rose 25% from a year

earlier while comedy premieres fell by 7%, according to data

from research firm Luminate. Those numbers may change by the end

of the year.

Comedies have been a mainstay of TV since its inception.

"The Honeymooners" and "I Love Lucy" entertained audiences in

the 1950s. Viewers in the 1980s and '90s were glued to shows

such as "Seinfeld," "Friends" and "Cheers."

Earlier this year, "Seinfeld" creator Jerry Seinfeld

lamented the state of television comedy.

"It used to be, you would get home at the end of the day and

most people would say, 'oh Cheers is on. MASH is on. Mary Tyler

Moore is on. All in the Family is on,'" Seinfeld told the New

Yorker magazine. "You just expected, 'there'll be some funny

stuff we can watch on TV tonight.' Well, guess what? Where is

it?"

Seinfeld attributed the change to "the extreme left and PC

crap and people worrying so much about offending other people."

DRAMAS SPEAK TO GLOBAL AUDIENCE

Hollywood writers, producers, agents and analysts pointed to

other factors.

Many cited the rise of social media app TikTok, where people

can watch short videos for free to get their comedy fix.

Moreover, today's streaming services cater to global

audiences, and it is harder to turn a comedy into a worldwide

hit.

"There's a wider preference for dramas amongst cross-market

audiences on the international level, as comedy tends to be more

culturally specific to each region," said Mark Hoebich,

executive vice president and head of film and TV at Luminate.

As Hollywood endures cutbacks in search of profits, comedy

is seen as riskier than other genres, writers and producers

said.

"It's really easy to pitch a plot to somebody. It's really

easy to say 'and then there's a murder,'" said Guy Branum, a

writer on Emmy-winning comedy "Hacks." "But pitching the things

that make comedy - tone and voice and character - it's hard. You

have to trust the people to know what they're doing."

And as cable television has lost viewers, media companies

have cut investments in channels such as Comedy Central, a vital

testing ground for new comedy.

Plus, the types of comedy on TV have changed. The FX series

"The Bear" runs for 30 minutes - the traditional run time for a

comedy - and has won Emmys in comedy categories. Many see the

show, about family dysfunction and the stresses of operating a

restaurant, as more of a drama.

"I think comedy is going through a little bit of an identity

crisis," said producer Warren Littlefield, who developed classic

sitcoms such as "Cheers," "Seinfeld" and "The Golden Girls"

while he worked as an executive at NBC.

"'The Bear' comes along, and the audience, critics, everyone

celebrates it," Littlefield said. "Is it a pure comedy? I don't

know if it's a pure comedy, but it's damn good television, and I

think that's what that form, a half-hour form, is searching

for."

NETFLIX EXPANDS COMEDIC LINE-UP

Despite the industry-wide contraction, there are several

comedy offerings on the TV schedule for this fall and next year.

"Abbott Elementary," an Emmy nominee for best comedy,

returns to ABC in October. NBC is touting "St.

Denis Medical," coming in November. CBS is promoting

four comedies with the slogan "You're Laughing at CBS." Fox

already has renewed its new animated comedy, "Universal

Basic Guys," for a second season.

Netflix ( NFLX ), meanwhile, is bringing new shows from comedy

luminaries such as "A Man on the Inside" starring Ted Danson,

"No Good Deed" with Lisa Kudrow and "The Four Seasons" featuring

Tina Fey and Steve Carell. The streaming platform also offers a

wide range of stand-up comedy specials.

Jean Smart, who just won her third Emmy for playing an

ambitious stand-up comic on "Hacks," said she believed audiences

today were seeking darker comedies rather than more

light-hearted ones, a change since she starred on "Designing

Women" three decades ago.

"I do think people are craving comedy now more than ever,"

Smart said. "I think people are feeling disheartened by the

world a little bit, and who doesn't want to laugh? It feels

good."