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Not only is there nothing new, if there WAS anything "totally new" then nobody would be able to understand it.

Contrary to common belief, what entertains us is not pure "newness", it is oldness with enough newness added to it to make it seem fresh.

Three of the best comedy TV shows were Cheers, Seinfeld, and Friends. I choose those since they are all being shown currently as reruns. On the surface they might seem quite different, but actually they are all variations on the same set up....

A group of same age people, mostly single, live in the same building (and/or meet regularly in a particular location) and play out stories involving their jobs, their relationships, and their particular quirks.

You can even find various cast parallels between the three shows. Each has a "goofball" ... Cramer in Seinfeld, Phoebe in Friends, and Coach or Woody in Cheers.

The point is, each show was a big hit in its respective decade, but not because it was completely "new".

BTW, in our decade this same show continues as "The Big Bang Theory". Needless to say, the goofball is Sheldon.