The American Sitcom

           Since the days of "I Love Lucy," sitcoms have become an important part of American life. For years, families all around the country have gathered around the TV at a certain time every week to watch their favorite sitcom. Within the genre of sitcoms, most television shows have a lot in common. They are comedies that tend to be episodic, meaning they introduce new plots that are resolved within the episode each week. They can be silly, often to the point of hyperbole. This is an important aspect of the genre, because it means that viewers who may not watch every week can understand and enjoy the show during those weeks they do watch, which is often not true for serialized dramas like "Lost." Many times, sitcoms are shot in front of live audiences (meaning that there are laugh tracks which essentially let the viewer know when they should be laughing) and use the multiple-camera format. Sitcoms typically follow a similar pattern throughout the show and tend to be much more predictable than dramas. A lot of the time, they feature wide indoor sets, and don't usually show outdoor shots.
           Take for instance a show that has always been a favorite of mine: NBC's "Friends" which aired from 1994-2004. Friends follows all these typical characteristics of a sitcom. It uses a multiple camera setup and is shot in front of a live audience. There is a laugh track in every scene, and whenever something particularly shocking happens, the audience will usually scream for a while. The show is episodic--every episode introduces a couple of new conflicts that are each resolved by the end of the show. Every episode follows a typical pattern. Friends differs from other sitcoms in the fact that it has six equal stars. So where as most sitcoms focus on one or two or so main characters, Friends has six actors that all get equal screen time. This leads to many different subplots throughout the show, all of which are also resolved by the end of each episode. The show is certainly hyperbolic at times, and each character has a certain persona they embody--everyone knows Chandler is the funny guy and Joey is the slightly dumb Ladies' Man. The sets in Friends are wide open rooms (apartments that are incredibly large by New York standards) and the viewer can usually not see the outdoors. Friends is a classic example of an incredibly popular American sitcom.