The Detectorists

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Odd to think though that a nicely crafted British sitcom can run its course over 3 series, and 18 episodes and call it a day there and be considered a success.

If it was an American sitcom 18 episodes would be 1 season, and for it to have run its course by then would be considered a failure

Also why 99% of American sitcoms tail off and the writers run out of ideas.

[Rjk]

Also why 99% of American sitcoms tail off and the writers run out of ideas.

But if an American sitcom tails off sometime in series 3 , that would be like a UK sitcom going stale after like 10 series. I can't think of too many UK sitcoms that have made it that long.
Red Dwarf I suppose.
Things like QI have ridiculous numbers of episodes, but that's just a panel show, so there's no narrative to maintain