‘The focus of this examination is institutional/ scheduling issues and audience pleasures. These pages on sit-com provide a background only to the topic. The specific issues of institution/scheduling and audience pleasures in relation to sit-com will need to be taught separately.’
Brief Definition
The British TV sitcom is a television series that derives humour from the same characters in a fixed location exploring a variety of comic plotlines including misunderstandings, suspense, disguise, and failed aspirations.
Simply, the sitcom is a close group of associated people gathered in one place relating to each other and reacting to external forces with humour.
The sitcom is one of the most popular and enduring television formats in Britain and at times has commanded larger audiences than soaps.
How does the sitcom work?
Successful sitcoms involve audiences with characters and plots that are both reassuringly realistic and comically exaggerated.
An average sitcom has to work in 30 minutes of television time. It has to have a beginning, middle and end, and conform to Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory.
This is a situation comedy so it has to have a happy ending.
The characters are at the centre of a sitcom. Each episode must have an intriguing and engaging plot often initiated by an outside event that is hostile to the group (...
