‘The Cleaner’ & ‘Taskmaster’ Star Greg Davies Wants Mandatory Two-Season Orders For New Comedy Series

deadline.com:

If Greg Davies was running TV, new comedy shows would get a two-season order. The comedian and writer, who fronts fronts the hit series Taskmaster in the UK and writes and stars in sitcom The Cleaner for the BBC, was asked what he would change about the business during a the closing session of the Berlinale Series Market, and responded he would like to see new comedies given more time to hit their stride, adding that all-time classics such as Seinfeld needed multiple seasons to establish themselves. “I think that people should commission things for at least two seasons,” he said during the panel, which was about the international world of TV comedy.

Davies’ notes were delivered with a characteristic dose of humor, but his point about giving comedy time to grow struck a chord.

An industry audience gave his call for double-season orders for comedy a spontaneous round of applause. “The amount of classic comedies that only found themselves in season two [is significant], he said. “If you go to America, and you look at Seinfeld, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, it wasn’t until season four that people realized how great that was.

That is what I would change: It should be a mandatory two seasons.” During the conversation, which was hosted by Deadline’s Jesse Whittock, Davies said he is currently working on the scripts for season three of The Cleaner.