IN difficult times people need to have a sense of humour. Or so the US TV networks are hoping. Over the coming months, everything from dysfunctional families to high-school singing clubs, from crooked lawyers to pot-smoking detectives, will be played for laughs in the US — while British terrestrial channels are largely turning their backs on comedy.

In part, this new comedic push is driven by economic necessity. Sitcoms are relatively cheap to make and those that succeed can be sold easily to syndication, making it no coincidence that the last time there were so many on TV was the early 1990s, when America was last in recession.

Back then the hits included Friends, Frasier and Seinfeld — shows that redefined the sitcom and heralded a move away from traditional domestic set-ups towards the idea that modern families are made rather than born.

But, in television more than anywhere else, what goes around, comes around and so, 15 years after Friends tried to convince us that mates were the new family, the latest wave of US sitcoms hope to rekindle our interest in affairs of the hearth. “We're trying to reinvent what the family comedy is today,” says Steve McPherson, ABC's entertainment president. “There's been such a tradition of success whether it's Roseanne or Everybody Loves Raymond, and right now there aren't any such comedies.”

Early signs are hopeful — Cougar Town, ABC's Courteney Cox sitcom, drew 11.438 million viewers while Modern Family pulled in 12.736 million on its debut (an impressive figure given that NBC's Emmys juggernaut 30 Rock averages seven million) and announced last week that Edward Norton will guest star.

While ABC is the most bullish network about comedy's recession-proof appeal, it is not alone in backing more light-hearted fare to succeed. Fox has ordered a midseason replacement, Sons of Tucson and Brothers starring the former NFL star Michael Strahan as a retired footballer.

CBS has Accidentally On Purpose, featuring Jenna Elfman as a film critic who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand. HBO has Bored to Death, which stands out for its sweet-natured appeal.

— The Guardian, London