Introducing VOJ, and the Sabermetrics of Sitcoms Part 1

*WARNING: THIS IS PART ONE OF A FOUR PART POST. A LINK TO THE NEXT PART WILL APPEAR AT THE END OF THIS ONE*

For not baseball fans, 2 very brief definitions.

Sabermetrics are "usually phrased in terms of either runs or team wins; a truly outstanding player, for example, might be described as being worth 54 runs more than an average player at the same position over the course of a full season. Sabermetrics is concerned both with determining the value of a player in past seasons and with trying to predict the value of a player in the future. While many areas of study are still in development, it has yielded a number of interesting insights into the game of baseball and in the area of performance measurement." (Wiki)

Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) is "a statistic...that demonstrates how much a hitter contributes offensively or how much a pitcher contributes to his team in comparison to a fictitious "replacement player," who is an average fielder at his position and a below average hitter." (Wiki)

So who cares? There's plently of baseball statistics blogs out there, and I by no means am a hardcore sabermetric supporter. (I could go either way. I still think BA, ERA have some value, but the new stats certainly add something)

As part of the Sitcom Rankings, I am unveiling some new sitcom statistics. The first is based on VORP.

I used the 142 network, live-action, half-hour sitcoms which aired at least one episode between the 2000-01 season and the 2009-10 season (I missed at least one, "That 80's Show" because I couldn't figure out when it actually aired and how many viewers it got) to create the value of a replacement level sitcom. The formula (sorry it is hard to read on here):

((# of Eps. for Show X + Avg. # of Viewers for Show X in millions)/(Avg. # of Eps. for All Shows + Avg. # of Viewers for All Shows in millions))x(1+((# of A-List Stars for Show X x 4)+(# of B-List Stars for Show X x 3)+(# of C-List Stars for Show X x 2)+(# of D-List Stars for Show X))/100)x(1.1 if show is/was syndicated)x(1.05 if show had spinoff)x(1.01 if show had E! True Hollywood Story)

This was then recalibrated around the show with the score closest to 1, so that this show's score became exactly 1. This became the Replacement Level Show. Which is why we introduce:

VOJ

or

Value Over Joey

Yes, Joey, the massively dissappointing spinoff of Friends is the replacement level sitcom. It lasted 2 seasons, having excellent ratings the first (off the Friends bandwagon, not on its own merits), had 4 C-list stars (Matt LeBlanc, Andrea Anders, Drea de Matteo, and Jennifer Coolidge), ranking it 39th overall. Here is the full list, with score and order:

Show	Score	Score Rk.
Friends	6.763474673	1
Frasier	6.712145739	2
Everybody Loves Raymond	5.89561416	3
Drew Carey Show	5.660050588	4
That 70's Show	5.454527429	5
King of Queens	5.18884205	6
Will & Grace	4.966935453	7
According to Jim	4.339125312	8
Scrubs	4.105843236	9
Two and a Half Men*	4.055628129	10
Malcolm in the Middle	3.819179218	11
Spin City	3.756050635	12
Just Shoot Me	3.601255387	13
3rd Rock from the Sun	3.455260833	14
The Office*	3.263549277	15
Becker	3.195656529	16
Yes Dear	2.985438654	17
How I Met Your Mother*	2.916036998	18
My Wife and Kids	2.915630026	19
George Lopez	2.863737105	20
Dharma & Greg	2.759293253	21
Bernie Mac Show	2.510116606	22
My Name is Earl	2.361006364	23
New Adventures of Old Christine	2.224718369	24
Still Standing	2.190758331	25
30 Rock*	2.141302028	26
8 Simple Rules	2.019186332	27
Two Guys and a Girl	1.997557216	28
Hope & Faith	1.89437218	29
Til Death	1.730305546	30
Less than Perfect	1.675955572	31
Big Bang Theory*	1.53971435	32
Arrested Development	1.473426354	33
Grounded for Life	1.262368722	34
Titus	1.245958339	35
Rules of Engagement*	1.220206333	36
Life with Bonnie	1.081560536	37
The War at Home	1.008952923	38
Joey	1	39
Samantha Who?	0.986125934	40
Rodney	0.905174118	41
Gary Unmarried	0.885479663	42
Parks and Recreation*	0.774180798	43
Modern Family*	0.760711886	44
Three Sisters	0.735206925	45
Good Morning Miami	0.707527966	46
Community*	0.669986956	47
The Geena Davis Show	0.657516108	48
Listen Up!	0.655757145	49
Cougar Town*	0.650361675	50
The Weber Show	0.647456421	51
The Middle*	0.641230879	52
Oliver Beene	0.631175145	53
I'm with Her	0.617158781	54
Happy Family	0.608403494	55
Whoopi	0.603571288	56
What About Joan	0.596070991	57
Freddie	0.582394561	58
The Class	0.574014783	59
Better Off Ted	0.571736531	60
It's All Relative	0.57009368	61
Married to the Kellys	0.567611368	62
Stacked	0.557225582	63
Out of Practice	0.551484249	64
Quintuplets	0.548322068	65
Wanda at Large	0.544895055	66
DAG	0.544685561	67
Undeclared	0.544130203	68
Andy Richter Controls the Universe	0.533341239	69
Accidentally on Purpose	0.525424808	70
Bette	0.524447607	71
Cedric the Entertainer Presents	0.521309143	72
Watching Ellie	0.517046128	73
Worst Week	0.502687853	74
Complete Savages	0.496067038	75
Leap of Faith	0.471362505	76
Kath & Kim	0.462364718	77
Back to You	0.458717736	78
Hidden Hills	0.452389423	79
The Tracy Morgan Show	0.444383177	80
In-Laws	0.441543144	81
Welcome to New York	0.435748449	82
Notes from the Underbelly	0.406211708	83
Center of the Universe	0.401794537	84
Jake in Progress	0.400806356	85
The Loop	0.397446539	86
My Big Fat Greek Life	0.394711254	87
Courting Alex	0.390845488	88
Committed	0.389343452	89
Hot Properties	0.383374837	90
Scrubs 2.0	0.379615005	91
Carpoolers	0.37614135	92
Tucker	0.372939642	93
Surviving Suburbia	0.369971896	94
Madigan Men	0.368907862	95
Emeril	0.365864264	96
Help Me Help You	0.364520337	97
In Case of Emergency	0.35195067	98
Kitchen Confidential	0.341989802	99
Michael Richards Show	0.336179296	100
Lost at Home	0.334865015	101
Brothers	0.328676833	102
Crumbs	0.324755919	103
Coupling	0.324370529	104
A.U.S.A.	0.322937666	105
Knights of Prosperity	0.322542393	106
Daddio	0.321633266	107
Normal, Ohio	0.318589668	108
The Ellen Show	0.306632673	109
Sons of Tucson	0.302223408	110
Sons & Daughters	0.294478043	111
Four Kings	0.290288154	112
The Pitts	0.285979683	113
Life on a Stick	0.280643504	114
Romantically Challenged	0.276238191	115
The Tick	0.272145144	116
Bram and Alice	0.26707775	117
Inside Schwartz	0.266808965	118
Bob Patterson	0.266670619	119
Miss Guided	0.264772631	120
Cavemen	0.249021701	121
Free Ride	0.245068975	122
Welcome to the Captain	0.243428594	123
The Winner	0.241531286	124
A Minute with Stan Hooper	0.240483814	125
Hank	0.239019329	126
The Big House	0.231432072	127
Andy Barker P.I.	0.229811455	128
Teachers	0.227795565	129
The Trouble with Normal	0.223921894	130
Method & Red	0.221352623	131
The Stones	0.214383968	132
Unhitched	0.212119056	133
Cracking Up	0.209241472	134
In the Motherhood	0.201915096	135
Twenty Good Years	0.201114669	136
Luis	0.168073837	137
100 Questions	0.160777106	138
Happy Hour	0.156132654	139
Emily's Reasons Why Not	0.148602712	140
Danny	0.141724969	141
Return of Jezebel James	0.124514803	142

Starred shows are still on the air. They get harmed in these rankings because they have fewer episodes than completed series. It should be noted because of the cast and storyline overhaul, the final season of Scrubs is being separated from the rest of the series, and is being referred to as a spinoff entitled Scrubs 2.0.

Continue to Part 2