After thirteen incredible seasons, in February 2023, popular sitcom The Johnsons announced the end of its iconic run, leaving its peer production My Siblings and I. The show’s end highlighted the gap in the sitcom genre in Nollywood. To better understand this shift, we spoke to some TV head writers, producers and a filmmaker with experience in the comedy genre about the decline of sitcoms and what it means for the future of the genre.
Referred to as Situational Comedy and originating in the 40s, sitcoms are centered on a set of characters who interact over fixed settings. The first notable one aired on BBC Television Service, titled Pinwright’s Progress. However, the U.S. is said to have popularized the genre, with William Asher crowned as “the man who invented the sitcom”. He directed the notable I Love Lucy from 1951 to 1957. Nollywood embraced the genre in the 70s after being dominated by soap operas and was publicized in the 90s and early 2000s.
The earliest Nigerian sitcom is The New Masquerade which started as a radio program. It was created by James Iroha and aired from the mid-70s to the mid-90s on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) which housed some of the biggest soap operas at the time. It is the longest-running Nigerian sitcom. The protagonist of the show is Chief Zebrudaya, a World War II veteran who is well-travelled and whose knowledge is expansive. The show revolved around his family, a wife, a daughter, and two house helps. James Omokwe, best known for his work on TV epics like Cheta’M, Ajoche and Itura, recalls how audiences adored characters such as Zebrudaya with his outrageous takes on English grammar, his nurturing wife Ovularia, and the witty duo of Chief Jekete and Gringory. He notes, “Each character often represented a distinct ethnic group, making their daily shenanigans and light-hearted banter deeply relatable.”
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The second preluding sitcom is Basi and Company which is also known as Mr B. It ran from 1986 to 1990 on NTA. It was written and produced by Ken Saro-Wiwa. The sitcom followed the life of Basi who relocates to Lagos and engages in fraudulent activities to “make it”. His motto is “To be a millionaire, think like a millionaire.” Basi’s activities are better described as 419 though the show was produced before the 419 era, credited by many as being ahead of its time.
Although John Iroha and Ken Saro-Wiwa paved the way for Nigerian sitcoms, Amaka Igwe went beyond the surface with Fuji House of Commotion. It was a spinoff of the famous soap opera, Checkmate, led by the late Francis Agu, Bob Emmanuel Udokwu and others. Fuji House of Commotion rocked Nigerian households from the 90s well into the 2000s. The opening lines of the theme song “Once upon a time, for this nation, plenty wives na the formation, concubines with serious calculation” has the same effect on Nigerians as Friends’ “So no one told you life was gonna be this way” on Americans. The show followed Kunle Bamtefa as Chief Fuji, a serial polygamist with four wives (played by Ngozi Nwosu, Toni Oni, Louisa Onu and Ireti Doyle). Each episode was a deep dive into a polygamous family. Sibling and wife rivalry was the setup for humour. It reflected the life of a typical Nigerian polygamous family which many Nigerians found relatable.
Cheta Chukwu, filmmaker and screenwriter, stresses that what made early sitcoms special was their “cultural specificity.” He adds, “At a time when our screens were flooded with foreign shows, you’d never mistake these sitcoms for anything but Nigerian.”
Another equally riveting sitcom is the Wale Adenuga-produced Papa Ajasco and Company. It was developed in 1997 and aired weekly in twelve African countries. It followed the life of Papa Ajasco, the promiscuous head of the Ajasco family. Wale Adenuga based Papa Ajasco’s character on the lead role of the well-known comic Ikebe Super. Other characters include his persevering wife Mama Ajasco; their naughty son, Bobo Ajasco; local playboy, Alinco; gold-digging Miss Pepeiye; uneducated Pa James and Pa Jimoh.
Coming into the 21st century specifically towards the end of the 2000s, there was a reduction in the production of sitcoms. Soap operas had restrengthened their hold on the industry. But the sitcom genre was revived by the smash hit The Johnsons which focused on a nuclear family and previewed the life of a Nigerian family. This was accompanied by Funke Akindele’s Jenifa’s Diary (2015-) a naïve illiterate girl chasing after success in Lagos. Then came Hustle (2016-2018) which focused on landlords, tenants and roommates, with Seun Ajayi as Dayo.
In the current Nollywood climate, traditional sitcoms appear to have lost their place. Nollywood’s shift to drama and thrillers partly explains this change. Even Basketmouth, who previously worked on sitcom-style storytelling in projects like Papa Benji and Ghana Must Go, has recently moved toward other genres with the period supernatural drama Etiti. Across both film and television, industry attention has increasingly gravitated toward prestige drama, thrillers and genre-driven storytelling. This might be because the other genres tend to have global appeal, whereas television is often tailored to local audiences—except for TV shows available on streaming platforms. Ifeanyi Barbara Chidi, a producer and screenwriter with experience across film and television, adds that sitcoms lost ground not only because dramas gained more prestige, but also because “making people laugh is hard, even from the pitch stage.” She points out that brands and sponsors have shifted their budgets toward reality shows, lifestyle content and talent competitions, leaving sitcoms underfunded.
That said, comedy itself has not disappeared from Nigerian television. In recent years, MultiChoice platforms such as Africa Magic and Showmax have continued to commission comedy-leaning projects, even if they fall outside the traditional sitcom structure. Shows like Checkout, Hook, Line and Sinkah, and Ghana Jollof rely on humour and ensemble dynamics but are typically framed as workplace comedies, comedy-dramas, or short-form narrative series rather than the classic multi-episode situational comedy format that defined earlier Nigerian television. The distinction matters because these shows experiment with comedic storytelling, yet they rarely adopt the structural hallmarks of sitcoms—fixed settings, recurring situations, and long-running episodic rhythms built around everyday life.
In fact, one of the few Nigerian television projects that still operates within the sitcom tradition is My Flatmates, the long-running Africa Magic situational comedy created by Basketmouth and Kayode Peters. Built around a group of friends sharing an apartment, the show has sustained the classic sitcom formula. More recently, Las Gidi, a 2025 sitcom created by Mike Dube for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), has also attempted a return to the format. Set against the backdrop of Lagos life, the series follows a young man navigating the daily hustle of the city and forms part of NTA’s renewed push into original fictional programming.
For writer-producer Lani Aisida, the rise of skit comedy has made traditional sitcoms feel redundant. “Why go through the hassle of putting a TV show together when you can create bite-sized situations for people to laugh?” he asks. He also notes that audiences are more sensitive today, and some jokes that sitcoms once got away with would not land the same way. Musa Jeffery David sees an additional problem in the craft itself, arguing that many sitcoms failed to evolve with the times, often recycling humour that no longer reflected the nuances of contemporary Nigerian life. He explains that “these [short-form sketches] formats deliver quick laughs without requiring a long-term commitment, which suits the changing habits of modern viewers.
The nature of sitcoms make them suited for local television. Some of the popular sitcoms of our time first gained appeal in their home countries before going global or heading to streaming. The British sitcom Derry Girls first aired on Channel 4 before going to Netflix, for example. It had completed its run when the streamer added it to its library. This shows how local television plays a role in the production of sitcoms. NTA and AIT used to be the home of some of the popular sitcoms including Basi and Company and The New Masquerade, but these television houses seem to have been relegated to just news and reporting. They are no longer investing in original fictional shows. This could be because they are underfunded. If they were backed by investors, the state of Nigerian sitcoms might be a bit different. James Omokwe recalls that this shift began as early as the VHS boom in the 1990s, when audiences who once waited for sitcoms on TV could suddenly watch Nollywood films at will. With time, “major broadcasters like the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) increasingly prioritized foreign programming during this period. Consequently, as time went by, fewer original Nigerian sitcoms were commissioned and produced.”
Streaming has also affected TV. Sitcoms typically run for long, pushing out 20-25 episodes or even more for each season. But streamers now lean toward shorter seasons, which gives them the flexibility to create a wider range of high-end shows rather than focusing too many resources on sitcoms that traditionally have longer runs. The rise of eight to ten episodic television is a result of streaming. Sitcoms fare well when they are given time for their stories to unfold. Eight or ten episodes may not be ample time to flesh out stories. The purpose of TV is to spend more time with the characters and follow their development. But beyond that, sitcoms often imitate life and eight to ten episodes cannot capture the variations of life.
However, streamers have realized that they can rack up their streaming numbers from traditional TV shows/sitcoms and have discovered a middle ground that helps both local television and streamers. For example, the acclaimed sitcom Abbott Elementary airs on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu, while available in some parts of the world on Disney+. Netflix has also imitated this format with CBS’ Young Sheldon. There is an opportunity here for local television in Nigeria to gear up because streamers do need successful localized TV shows. This could be one of the mandates of NTA, as they gradually stage a revival of their fictional programming. Cheta Chukwu agrees, suggesting a hybrid approach where sitcoms first air on TV, which still commands cross-generational audiences, before finding a second life on streaming for younger and diaspora viewers. James Omokwe is clear, “station owners must actively invest in and commission these shows. The best sitcoms make us laugh while holding up a mirror to society.”
“We need writers’ rooms, rehearsals, and proper development time. Policy support too, especially from broadcasters, to prioritise indigenous content,” Cheta adds, calling for systemic change. “People want to laugh, they want to see themselves on screen, but we need to rebuild trust that sitcoms can be high-quality and culturally grounded.”
The sitcom genre is an important one. It could be the only one that showcases everyday life because of its situational aspect. Characters are put in laughable situations that are relatable. Many Nigerians born in polygamous families saw themselves represented in Fuji House of Commotion. And others with overly dramatic Nigerian mothers (which honestly is everyone) saw their experiences in The Johnsons’ Emu relations with her kids.
Sitcoms also explore the community. Be it the chaotic life of Papa Ajasco or ambitious Dayo and his Lagos dreams, community is centered. The television format is the perfect snapshot of being a human. Our lives are enriched by the people we share it with and sitcoms emphasise it. No matter how exaggerated the situations are, at the core of it is the spirit of communality. It’s a simplified version of our experiences. Sitcoms have a way of bringing people together. Musa Jeffery, serial TV head writer on shows like WURA and The Yard, notes that this was the true genius of shows like The New Masquerade and Fuji House of Commotion. They were cultural touchstones, weaving humour, language and social commentary into everyday storytelling.
At the same time, sitcoms serve as time capsules, as they often lend a voice to some ongoing issues in its immediate society. In one poignant episode of The Johnsons, Goodluck is falsely accused of a crime and harassed by the police. This episode aired at the height of the #EndSARS movement, resonating with the audience by showcasing the realities of police profiling and abuse faced by young Nigerians. With more well-made sitcoms, various contemporary aspects of our lives can be stored away in such capsule.
Moreover, comedy helps us process life. Sitcoms offer us the opportunity to forget about the harshness of life for thirty minutes. It reignites our hope in the goodness of humans. When James Iroha created The New Masquerade, he aimed to bring laughter and joy into Nigerian households after the devastating civil war. Omokwe argues that this message of unity is more important now than ever: reviving a show like The New Masquerade could remind a fractured Nigeria that “coexistence is not just an ideal but an achievable reality.” Ifeanyi would love to revive The New Masquerade or Fuji House of Commotion, noting that their family-centred chaos still offers endless opportunities for drama and comedy, now with the added layers of “social media pressure, generational differences, feminism and blended families.” And Jeffery believes Fuji House of Commotion could be successfully reimagined, updating its polygamous household with contemporary themes such as “Gen Z and millennial hustle culture, step-parenting, digital parenting and mental health.” At the same time, Lani Aisida cautions that revivals can be limiting, urging instead for the creation of new sitcoms that capture the mood of today’s Nigeria, noting that “sometimes, reviving the classics creates a level of expectation that is harmful to the content itself.”
Present-day Nigeria is badly in need of a sitcom that takes our minds off the news and has the ability to connect us through sheer comedy—humour that is uniquely ours, humour that acts and speaks like us. While it is nice to watch sitcoms from foreign industries, nothing beats seeing yourself on screen. As Ifeanyi Barbara Chidi puts it, Nigerians may be “trapped in the nostalgia of old classics,” but sitcoms at their best are more than nostalgia — they are mirrors, capsules and connectors.
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