You might be onto something there. The old Thursday night NBC lineup (30 Rock, Parks & Rec, The Office, Community) had insane lineups of writing talent that pretty much all went on to do great things. With more TV being produced, it might mean only a couple good to great writers for each show instead a great writers room top to bottom.

I feel like little-to-no lightning is being caught. The success rate was never high, but I think it was higher. Shows like King of Queens and even Two and a Half Men weren't considered the pinnacle of comedy, but I still think they're clearly better than other multi-cam sitcoms that have lasted multiple seasons today. And I wasn't even a fan of those shows when they were on.