Sitcoms

Year 11 Media Controlled Test

What is a Sitcom?

A sitcom is a genre of comedy program which originated in radio. It is short for ‘situation comedy’.

Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television, as one of its dominant narrative forms. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace.

What do you know about Sitcoms?

You probably watch a

lot of sitcoms on TV

already.

For example, ‘The

Simpsons’ is the longest

running American

sitcom.

American Sitcoms

Thanks to cable, satellite and television stations having

more money to buy the rights to foreign TV shows, we are

saturated with American television. Some of the most

popular sitcoms for teenagers are American.

British Sitcoms

With American sitcoms having such a large share of the

audience, home grown shows have declined over the years

and few new ones are being made. Some of the most

successful were:

Situations

The essence of the situation comedy is that the characters remain in the same situation from episode to episode.

The situation is usually that of a family, workplace, or a group of friends.

What is the situation for each of these shows?

1.

2.

3.

The shows you know

1. Create a table of the sitcoms you know, both American and British, and describe the ‘situation’ each of them takes place in.

For example, ‘Friends’ revolves around two apartments in the same block and a coffee shop, Central Perk. Most of the action takes place in these situations.

Running Gags

The emerging mass medium of radio allowed audiences to return to programs over and over, which allowed programs to return to the same characters and situations each episode and expect audiences to be familiar with them. Thus, while the humor in sitcoms varies, it is usually character-driven, which may result in running gags during the series.

In ‘The Simpsons’ there are many running gags like Smithers being in love with Mr Burns or Homer being addicted to donuts. The show also relies on stereotyping, such as Apu as the Asian shopkeeper and Wiggam as the useless, corrupt policeman.

Case Study

Choose six characters from The Simpsons and write down what their ‘running gag’ is throughout the show. This must be something that the audience need to know previously to understand its relevance.For example, Principle Skinner lives with his overbearing mother and can’t get a date!

Character Running Gag

StorylinesDue to the need to retain the same situation over many episodes, in many sitcoms characters remained largely static. Events of individual episodes typically resolve themselves by the end, and are rarely mentioned in subsequent episodes. This episodic nature is mirrored in many dramas as well, but there are also many sitcoms that feature story arcs across many episodes, where the characters and situations slowly change over the course of their run.

For example, in ‘Scrubs’ each episode has its own plot, however story arcs (such as Turk and Carla getting engaged)

feature over many episodes.

Story Arcs Task

Pick a sitcom you know very well.

Using a diagram or chart, plan out its main characters along with any story arcs that appear across many episodes.

For example, you might write out all the characters in ‘Friends’ and

explain the ongoing plot lines, for example ‘Ross and Rachel’ etc.