There's nothing more entertaining than when a horrible tragedy affects people you care about. Have a good laugh while rabid wolves devour grandma, enjoy a chuckle as your pals get fired. And if you have a giggle left, save it for the day your friend's marriage ends in a painful divorce.

While that statement makes about as much sense as a Ross Perot speech, the TV networks have employed the concept behind it with increasing regularity. It seems on some shows that disease, divorce, death and despair have replaced punchlines and pratfalls.

I'm afraid to turn on my television because nearly every time I do, something terrible happens to one of my favorite characters. Frasier lost his job, Bobby Simone needs a heart transplant and that poor kid keeps dying on "South Park." I half expect to turn on a rerun of 'The Muppet Show' in which Miss Piggy develops swine flu and special guest star Paul Prudhomme serves Kermit's legs to those old guys in the balcony.

Instead of escapist entertainment, TV has become more troublesome than reality. Serious topics, once reserved for "very special" episodes in which a previously unseen 'friend' of one of the kids battles leukemia, or the oldest son thinks about smoking pot, have turned up more regularly on sitcoms in recent years. But, while these topics used to appear as single-episode, easily skipped exceptions to the rule, they now dominate whole seasons. Murphy Brown's year-long battle with breast cancer last season served as an excellent public awareness campaign for the disease, but how many laughs can you find in chemotherapy? Even the once reliable 'Mad About You' became unmatchable when the show spent half a season dwelling on the couple's potential divorce.

Just because certain things happen in real life does not mean they should happen on a sitcom. People lose their jobs and get soaked in divorce settlements, but watching Frasier and Niles suffer makes me uncomfortable. Most people have plenty of horrendous problems in their own lives. Because of that, we can tolerate problems in the lives of our sitcom stars, but only as long as they get cleared up in a half hour.

Let Drew Carey battle anorexia, or give the whole 'Just Shoot Me' gang a nasty case of athlete's foot, but make sure everything gets fixed before next week. Part of the magic of television comes from its ability to solve everything from a family problem to an international nuclear crisis before the closing credits. While weighty topics have an often essential place in dramas, the basic definition of a sitcom requires the inclusion of comedy. Though shows like 'Suddenly Susan,' 'Caroline in the City' and anything in the UPN lineup have obscured this fact, it nonetheless remains true.

Give Frasier his job back, find Detective Simone a heart (perhaps David Caruso needs the money and would sell his) and for God's sake, call Dr. Laura and see if she can do something to get Ross and Rachel back together.