Sitcom: What It Is, How It Works
by
Richard F. Taflinger, PhD
This is a neoAristotelian analysis of the television situation comedy since 1947. Included are my own theory of comedy, the business of television, action, character, thought, diction, music and spectacle as applied to the sitcom, and a listing of all the sitcoms that have been on American primetime television since 1947.
Table of Contents
• 2 - Introduction
• 5 - A Theory of Comedy • 8 - NeoAristotelian Theory • 13 - The Business of Television
• 17 - Landmark Forms of Comedy on Television ◦ Beginning to 1969
◦ 1969 On
• 29 - A History of Comedy on Television ◦ Beginning to 1970
◦ 1970 On
• 41 - An Examination of the Situation Comedy • 44 - The Actcom: Action Based Sitcoms • 52 - The Domcom: Character Based Sitcoms
Domcom Characters
• 62 - The Dramedy: Thought Based Sitcoms • 70 - The Theory of Comedy Applied to Sitcoms • 72 - Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
The invariable question people ask me when I say I'm writing about television is "For or against?". Before I can even draw breath to answer "Neither", their eyes blaze and they proceed to give me their opinions of the terrible muck that TV foists upon an unsuspecting public under the guise of entertainment. Had I instead said that I was writing about theatre attendance at Gold Rush mining camps in the 1850s, or the existence (or lack thereof) of a stage in the Attic Greek theatre, their eyes would glaze, they would murmur a polite "That's nice", and go on their way, shaking their heads and muttering something about esoteric eggheads and Ivory Towers.
Well, in a way they might be right. Gold Rush theatre and Greek stages are not something that impinges upon the life of virtually every person in the United States. Television does.
Television is the major form of entertainment in the world today. By 1986 there were about 150,000,000 television receivers in the United States--more than the number of cars, bathtubs, washing machines, or refrigerators, and not far behind the telephone. In addition, the average family in 1992 watched television seven hours and seventeen minutes a day, or over 50 hours a week, more than the average work week. Television is obviously a major component of American life.
Of course, television as an entertainment medium is very much different from any other performing art. The differences are manifold, but I'll just point up some of the major ones. First, of course, are commercials. One doesn't see that many commercials at a play or the movies (except perhaps at drive-in movies at which the management is trying to get the patrons out of the back seat and into the refreshment counter).
Second, you have a whole different attitude when approaching commercial television than when approaching the theatre. In the latter case you go and sit in a darkened room with the idea of concentrating on that one thing: the play or movie. In addition, you are surrounded by other people with the same idea. Occasionally a station shows a movie (or you rent one) and you invite friends over to watch it with you in silence and absorption. This is not, however, how television is usually watched.
Television is in your home, a very basic fact. Rarely do you sit in a darkened room, surrounded by others intent on watching the tube. On the contrary, there are constant interruptions: the phone rings, it's time to cook dinner, a visitor at the door, housework, any number of things diabolically fighting for your attention.
Third, television is a private enterprise on public property, or, more correctly, carried on through public airwaves. It is therefore subject to Federal intervention. Comparatively speaking, the theatre and movies can do just about as they damn well please, but television must answer to just about anybody.
Fourth, theatre is considered an art; television is considered, particularly by those who run it, an industry, more interested in gold than in the Golden Age.
The last point notwithstanding, television is indeed an art just as much as drama or movies; it's just harder to tell because of all the other things with which it must contend. It is to an examination of television as an art that this book dedicates itself.
This book, although it discusses television in general to a great extent, concentrates on the situation comedy. The art form that is television is an extensive subject. For this reason I decided to survey and analyze only one form, the situation comedy.
The sitcom is the most numerous form of program on television. A conservative estimate of the number of scripts written and produced for this form in the last fifty years is 27,000. However, such scripts as a source of data and examination are effectively nonexistent. Inquiries to the Library of Congress, the National Association of Broadcasters, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences yielded nothing. I therefore decided to approach the subject of the sitcom from a different point of view.
Even if there are few scripts available, there is no dearth of productions to watch on television every day and night, including many reruns of programs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, either in syndication or on television festivals. Therefore, this study is from the point of view of the observer, the person who sits in a chair or lounges on the couch and watches television.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The vernacular of television is filled with expressions, idioms, and abbreviations that have crept into everyday language of American Life. Few people don't know the meanings of such words as zoom, rerun, suds, soap opera, ratings, Neilson, and spinoff, and of course, sitcom. However, to make this book a little easier on the reader (and myself) I decided it would help to coin some new terms. There are two reasons for this. First, for the sake of brevity. Second, to allow instant identification of the types of situation comedy I discuss. This should help in avoiding possible confusion as I discuss aspects of different types of sitcoms. Following the example set by the industry itself, I use contractions to label the various types of situation comedies I, and you, dear reader, will encounter.
The situation comedy, in television vernacular, is called the sitcom. However, this term applies to all types of situation comedy, and, as I will show, there are three distinct types of sitcom. For clarity, I will substitute terms for each type: actcom for the action comedy, domcom for the domestic comedy, and dramedy for the dramatic comedy.
The actcom is the most numerous type of sitcom on television, and can be based on a variety of themes: the family (I LOVE LUCY, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE GOLDEN GIRLS), gimmicks (BEWITCHED, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, ALF), places (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, HOGAN'S HEROES, HARRY), occupations (McHALE'S NAVY, SIROTA'S COURT, THROB). In any case, the emphasis is on action, verbal and physical.
The domcom is more expansive than the actcom, having a wider variety of events and a greater sense of seriousness. It involves more people, both in the regular cast and in transient actors brought into individual episodes. Examples of the domcom include FATHER KNOWS BEST, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, MY THREE SONS, THE BRADY BUNCH, THE DONNA REED SHOW, ROSEANNE and THE COSBY SHOW.
The greatest emphasis in a domcom is on the characters and their growth and development as human beings. This type of sitcom is called a domestic comedy because it is almost invariably set in and around a family unit: a mother and/or father, and most definitely, children. A major factor in motion picture and theatrical drama is that the events portray the most important thing to happen in the protagonist's life. However, in an episodic television series, the event must not be the most important event in the protagonist's life. If it is, subsequent episodes will be anticlimactic. The
domcom neatly circumvents this problem. Children are incomplete adults, the physical and mental and emotional facets of their characters unknown, or at least not fully understood. Thus, the event can be the most important thing in their lives at that time, without it being the most important in their entire lives. They may go through a major crisis without it affecting their future beyond increasing their growth and maturity. (For a more complete discussion of this important aspect of drama, see DOMCOM.)
The problems encountered are more serious and related more to human nature than those in an actcom. The problems, complications, and solutions in an actcom are physical in nature, while in a domcom they are mental and/or emotional. In addition, the resolutions in a domcom are a learning experience for all involved rather than a simple clearing up of a misunderstanding. Concepts of peace, love and laughter are emphasized, as are concepts of family unity.
A dramedy is the rarest and most serious type of sitcom; its entire being is not devoted to evoking laughter from the audience. Its emphasis is on thought, often presenting themes that are not humorous: war, death, crime, aging, unemployment, racism, sexism, etc. The humor is more comic intensification than an end in itself.
The themes are personified, showing the regular characters in conflict with the themes as they affect individuals, not as impersonal labels for intangible concepts. Often two factions are represented, either with two characters in direct conflict with each other, each representing a point of view on the theme, or characters in conflict with the intangible by observing the effects of it on others and attempting to aid them. ALL IN THE FAMILY and MAUDE are examples of the first, M*A*S*H, BARNEY MILLER and NIGHT COURT of the second.
SUMMARY
Television is an important part of American life, and, although a great amount has been said and written about its significance and impact on politics, sociology, communications, technology, and the American life style, almost no attention has been paid to the programs themselves as an art form. No one has actually described what appears on the home screen without moralizing or philosophizing about its effects on the world outside the program. It is my purpose to fill this lack for the television situation comedy, to describe what appears on the screen, to find what kinds of plots, what kinds of characters, what kinds of themes or lack thereof are used.
It was not my intention to do a finely detailed examination of scripts or authors' styles. Such a study would take a lifetime, involving as it would what I estimate at some 27,000 individual scripts. My technique was to observe and examine a random sample of programs over the period from 1950 to 1993. This involved watching at least one episode of each of the 680 sitcoms that have been on the air, and between 50 and 200 episodes of many. (Before wondering what sane person would watch 6,000 hours of sitcoms, examine your assumption. What makes you think I'm sane, at least now?) From this study I derived a set of classifications and criteria for each type of sitcom that may be used in future studies as a guide, as an aid to the present or future creator or writer of comedy and TV shows, or for casual TV viewers who enjoy amazing their friends and confounding their enemies with their incredible insight into television.
To accomplish my purpose I first had to determine what a situation comedy is. To do this I relied on two sources: what other authors called situation comedies, particularly Vincent Terrace, Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, and Alex McNeil, and television itself, by watching the shows and comparing them with the six criteria for comedy.
The second step was to examine the situation comedy according to the neo-Aristotelian principles of drama: plot, character, thought, spectacle, diction, and music. During this examination I looked for various things that would help me in classifying and developing criteria for the situation comedy. From this examination I was able to formulate the findings enumerated in the following chapters.
A Theory of Comedy
Comedy is that which makes one laugh. This is the basis for any study of comedy. However, just what is it that makes one laugh?
Six elements are required for something to be humorous: 1) it must appeal to the intellect rather than the emotions; 2) it must be mechanical;
3) it must be inherently human, with the capability of reminding us of humanity;
4) there must be a set of established societal norms with which the observer is familiar, either through everyday life or through the author providing it in expository material, or both;
5) the situation and its component parts (the actions performed and the dialogue spoken) must be inconsistent or unsuitable to the surrounding or associations (i.e., the societal norms); and
6) it must be perceived by the observer as harmless or painless to the participants. When these criteria have been met, people will laugh. If any one is absent, then the attempt at humor will fail. The first criterion, the appeal to intellect rather than emotion, is obvious when ethnic humor is used. Polish (Irish, whitey, gay, fraternity, sorority, etc.) jokes can be hilarious to everyone; everyone, that is, except to the Poles (Irish, whitey, gay, fraternity, sorority, etc.). To the group that is being made fun of, jokes at their expense are not funny -- they are insulting and rude. People respond to insults and rudeness subjectively, taking umbrage, or, in more simple terms, get angry, which is an emotion. To those who have no personal interest in the joke, i.e., everybody else, there is no insult and they take an objective, intellectual view of the joke and can respond to the other criteria for comedy if they are met. Thus, one can take the old joke, "How many Poles does it take to screw in a light bulb? Five: one to hold the bulb and four to turn the ladder.", substitute a different group for Poles in each retelling, and irritate a whole new set of people each time.
Lenny Bruce counted on the intellectual basis of comedy when, in one of his routines, he identified all the races and ethnic groups in his audience with insulting labels: "I see we have three niggers in the audience. And over there I see two wogs, and five spics, and four kikes," etc.. As he started the routine there were gasps of incredulity and even anger: the audience couldn't believe that Bruce would be so insulting and insensitive. But as Bruce continued and the list grew longer, and it became clear that he was listing everything he could think of, the words lost their connotative, emotional meaning as insulting terms and turned into just noises. In other words, they lost their emotive content and became an intellectual exercise in how words l ose their meanings outside of context. At this point, the audience, all of whom had been appalled and angry at exactly the same words, started laughing at them: the audience was reacting intellectually, not emotionally.
The second two criteria for comedy, that it be mechanical and inherently human, are delineated by Henri Bergson in his essay "Laughter". His theory revolves around a basic axiom, that the laughable element consists of a mechanical inelasticity, just where one would expect adaptability and flexibility. It's humorous when a person acts in a manner that is inappropriate to a stimulus or situation, as in any slapstick comedy routine. It is funny when a chair is pulled out from under someone who is sitting down, because he doesn't adapt to the change in situation and continues to sit in a mechanical fashion. Dogberry, in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, is funny because he continues blithely along, thinking he's in charge of the situation when in actuality he has no idea what's happening. Lucy on I LOVE LUCY is funny because she mechanically reacts to events without thinking about how events have changed the situation.
An extension of Bergson's theory is his idea that comedy is inherently human. Something is funny only insofar as it is or reminds the audience of humanity. The audience may laugh at the antics of an animal, such as chimpanzees or horses or bears, but only in direct proportion to the animal's capability of reminding the audience of something human. Thus, animals such as chimps and orangutans are often dressed in human clothing to heighten the reminder, and horses, such as Mr. Ed and Francis the Talking Mule, can talk and think better than the men they're around.
One major point that becomes apparent when one examines comedy is that it is based on incongruity: the unexpected with the expected, the unusual with the usual, themisfit in what has been established as a societal norm.
For there to be incongruity there must be something to be incongruous to. Therefore, for a comedy to work there must be an established set of cultural, human and societal norms, mores, idioms, idiosyncrasies, and terminologies against which incongruities may be found. Such norms may be internal or external. Internal norms are those which the author has provided in the script. External
norms are those which exist in the society for which the script was written.
The major problem is to know what norms exist, and which have become out-of-date. Many times some people, upon hearing a joke, will respond with "I don't get it". This is because they don't know or understand the societal norms being violated in the joke. This is also why you can never explain a joke: to explain you must first expound on the norms, then show how they have been violated. Such an explanation removes any incongruity by illustrating how it works within the norms.
The need for norms also explains why humor can become passé. Stand-up comedians do very few jokes about President Eisenhower's administration because the norms have changed: no one understands topical references to forty years ago.
Plays and jokes can also go out-of-date. Neil Simon's early plays often depended heavily on social attitudes of the time, particularly those about the relationships between men and women. However, sex roles and attitudes have changed considerably since 1961 and COME BLOW YOUR HORN, and the humor in the character Alan Baker's rather sexist approach to women and sex now evokes an emotional reaction in many people, distaste, rather than laughter. The humor that does work takes as its norms human attitudes and norms that are independent of society and culture.
Nonetheless, a funny play can remain funny, even when the norms change. Shakespeare's "breeches parts", such as Viola in TWELFTH NIGHT or Rosalind in AS YOU LIKE IT, evoked great laughter from Elizabethan audiences because their societal norms said that women do not wear men's clothing, and the sight of Viola and Rosalind in male attire was incongruous. Today, women wearing men's clothing is the norm, and therefore seeing Viola in pants is not funny. Nonetheless,
there are many things in Shakespeare's plays that are incongruous to today's norms, and thus his comedies continue to be funny four hundred years later. We still laugh, perhaps not at what Elizabethan audiences did, but the plays are still funny because he gained most of his humor from human rather than societal norms.
Three aspects of incongruity are literalization, reversal, and exaggeration. In literalization the joke comes from taking a figure of speech and then performing it literally. When Max Smart (GET SMART) asks the robot agent Hymie to "give me a hand", Hymie detaches a hand and gives it over, interpreting the instruction literally. On the situation comedy CHEERS, Coach, and later Woody, the bartenders, take everything that is said to them at face value, apparently incapable of recognizing innuendo, hyperbole, or figures of speech.
Reversal is simply reversing the normal, taking what is normal and expected and doing or saying the opposite. When Retief, in Keith Laumer's science fiction novel RETIEF AND THE WARLORDS, is subjected to what his captors think are the most horrendous tortures, he is assailed with modern art and smellovision renditions of overheated tires, burnt toast, chow mein, aged Gorgonzola, and the authentic odor of sanctity.
An exaggeration is taking what is normal and blowing it out of proportion. Events occur to which the characters will react beyond all proportion: the mountain out of a molehill syndrome. The jealous wife's discovery of a blonde hair on her husband's jacket leads her to build an entire scenario of mad trysts, trips to the Riveria, and a murder plot against her, until he points at the collie sitting at her feet. Such exaggeration is a standard in comedy.
The greatest incongruity is the violating of societal taboos. This violation can provoke the greatest laughter. In American society the greatest taboos are discussions of sex, death, and biological functions. These are all subjects which society has decreed should be discussed seriously, discreetly, and euphemistically, if discussed at all. It is from these taboos that much humor is derived.
The sixth and final criterion for humor is, as Aristotle states, that ". . . which causes no pain or destruction . . . is distorted but painless" (my emphasis). The comic action is perceived by the audience as causing the participants no actual harm: their physical, mental, and/or emotional well-being may be stretched, distorted, or crushed, but they recover quickly and by the end of the performance they are once again in their original state. A prime example are the Warner Brothers' Road Runner cartoons, in which Wile E. Coyote is dropped, crushed, pummeled, rolled, wrung, and otherwise punished for his attempts to catch the road runner, yet seconds later is putting together his next Acme widget to carry out his next plan. Wile is never damaged permanently, no matter how high the cliff he falls off or how big the rock that lands on him. The criterion applies to real life, as well. It is funny when someone slips on the ice and falls: people laugh--until they realize that the person broke his leg. At that moment the event is no longer humorous.
The six criteria must all be present for an attempt at humor to succeed: if only one is missing then the joke will fail. As long as the audience knows the norms and can thus see the incongruity, the participants act in an inflexible manner but are inherently human, no one appears to get hurt, and the audience doesn't take it personally, then an attempt at being funny will succeed.
NeoAristotelian Theory
Elements of Drama: • Action • Character • Thought • Diction • Music • SpectacleDon't let the chapter title throw you: it may sound frightening but in fact neo-Aristotelian criticism is very simple. 2500 years ago, the great Greek philosopher Aristotle devised a way of examining drama. He came up with a set of component parts that all dramatic presentations had in common. Using these parts it is possible to understand drama, in much the same way that opening the back of a clock allows you to see the parts interrelate and work together. The face of the clock is the result; the gears make it work. The show is the result; the elements of drama make it work. The current use of Aristotle's ideas is called neo-Aristotelian because they have been clarified by new ("neo") critics.
Since I've based the following chapters discussing the situation comedy on the neo-Aristotelian elements of drama, it's a good idea to review them (I'm sure you already know what they are). Many writers and critics have discussed and described the principles, among them R.S. Crane, in Critics and Criticism, Theodore Hatlen, in Orientation to the Theatre, and Hubert
Heffner, in Modern Theatre Practice. They generally agree that there are six major elements in drama: action, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle, the first three comprising what Crane terms "plot".
PLOT
" . . . the plot of any novel or drama is the particular temporal synthesis effected by the writer of the elements of action, character and thought, that constitute the matter of his invention."
What the above piece of academese means is that a plot is a mixture of three elements, action, character, and thought, the proportion of each element being determined by the writer according to his purpose (i.e., an examination of character with action and thought subordinate, action more important than character or thought, etc.). Action refers to any occurrence
performed by a character, be it physical, mental, or emotional, that furthers the plot, delineates character, or explains or dramatizes a theme. For example, a character enters and crosses a room (physical) in an agitated manner (emotional) speaking of the stupid thing her husband has just done (mental).
Character refers to mental, physical, and emotional traits presented by an actor that allows the audience to perceive him or her as a distinct individual.
Thought refers to a theme the author is trying to present to the audience and the rational, motivated background to the action.
All three elements are necessary and present in scripts, but one will almost invariably dominate. It is therefore possible to say that there are three types of plots: plot of action, plot of character, and plot of thought.
A plot of action is one in which characterizations are subordinated to the dictates of action, the development of character given secondary importance. For example,whensomeone does a pratfall, it doesn't really matter who falls, just that he did.
A plot of character is one in which the characters, their responses to the action, and the effects of the events on the characters' development are of paramount importance. Action and thought are used to bring the characters to development and growth. In a plot of character, who does the pratfall rather than the act itself becomes the important part of the event because he learns not to step on banana peels.
A plot of thought is one in which a certain theme or point of view is depicted. The author uses action and characters to delineate, discuss and examine that theme or point of view. Who slips on the banana peel or that he slips at all is merely the author's way of illustrating the point that human beings are capable of making fools of themselves.
The above are three types of plots. How they are carried out is by using the six major elements of drama.
Action
Action, most critics agree, consists of eight parts: the exposition, the problem, the point of attack, foreshadowing, complications, crises, the climax, and the denouement.
Exposition establishes the time and place, the characters and their relationships, and the prevailing
status quo or equilibrium. The audience is given the information necessary to understand and appreciate the changes that are to come.
The problem is the event that upsets the equilibrium, disrupts the status quo, and sets the plot in motion. It is usually something simple in all types of plots, from King Lear giving his kingdom to his daughters according to how they say they love him, to Lucy Ricardo losing her birth certificate. Whatever the problem is, it will relate to the type of plot: in a plot of action it will force the character to do something; in a plot of character it will force one or more the characters to examine some facet of themselves; in a plot of thought it will force one or more the characters into conflict with or support of the theme.
The point of attack is the point in the linear flow of the story at which the writer decides to begin the plot by presenting the problem. For example, Columbo, starring Peter Falk, starts with what leads up to the murder -- most mysteries start with the introduction of the detective after the murder has been committed; Oedipus Rex starts years after the death of his father on the road and is concerned only with the investigation.
Foreshadowing is the writer planting clues during the course of the script, like the clues in a
mystery story, that will allow the audience to believe the outcome. It is usually done subtlely, so the audience doesn't guess the ending too soon, but it prepares the audience for future developments, and is a device used in all types of plots. For example, in the movie JAWS, the boat captain gets a machete to cut the ropes holding the shark to the back of the boat. When the shark escapes he sticks
the machete into the railing, where the camera focuses on it for a second. This is the foreshadowing that he will use it later to fight off the shark.
A complication occurs after the appearance of the problem and interferes with the restoration of the status quo or the reestablishment of an equilibrium. A character tries to reach an objective, but complications intervene and require the character to readjust as the drama gathers momentum and intensity.
A complication can accomplish any one or a combination of several things: it can push the action along, it can aid in the understanding of a character by the way he responds to the complication, and it can show conflict or additional facets of a theme.
A crisis is the point at which actions may lead in two or more directions and a decision must be made or an event must occur. A crisis is a natural outgrowth of a complication as the character works toward an understanding of the complication and finally reaches the point at which he feels circumstances demand a decision or force an action. For example, if Lucy Ricardo can't find her birth certificate (the problem), a complication may be that she finds someone to vouch for her age, and the crisis would be the person refusing to reveal her own age to help Lucy. Lucy must thus do something else.
The climax is the ultimate crisis, the peak of the plot in terms of action, emotion and thought. It is the point of maximum disequilibrium, maximum disruption of the status quo. In a plot of action, the characters must do something. In a plot of character, the characters must make a decision about themselves. In a plot of thought, the characters must decide what to believe about the theme, and, if necessary, act upon that belief.
The denouement is the conclusion of the story, immediately following the climax. It shows the results, good or ill, of the character's climactic decision, and ties up any loose ends such as explanations about why previous decisions were wrong or right. It also shows the reestablishment of an equilibrium or the restoration of the status quo.
In a plot of action, the denouement shows that the problem has been solved and that no further action is necessary. In a plot of character, the denouement shows that the character has reached a new understanding of rherself and accepts it as a new, or newly discovered, facet of rher personality (sometimes it is the audience that reaches a new understanding). In a plot of thought, the denouement shows the validity or nonvalidity of the theme or point of view. In any case, the denouement illustrates the end of the drama's problem.
The best example of the denouement appears in mystery stories. The inspector calls all of the suspects into the library, leans against the mantle casually, then points and says, "the murderer is . . . ". That is the climax. The denouement is the inspector's explanation of how he arrived at the answer, explaining the clues and how they came together. If he had given the explanation before identifying the murderer, the identity would have been an anti-climax for the reader, since the reader would have arrived at the answer too soon.
Character
Characters are the agents that carry through the plot. The physical, mental, and emotional actions performed by the characters are the means by which a story is told.
Characters represent human beings and are therefore complex in thought, emotion, and interpersonal relationships. Depending on the type of plot (action, character, or thought), characterizations may be shallow (lacking complex thought processes, emotions, and motivations) or deep. The audience must be provided with some knowledge about the characters in order to form opinions and judgments about what happens to them.
There are four basic ways of determining and showing a characterization: what he or she says, what he or she does, what other characters say about him or her, and how he or she looks.
The depth of characterizations, the complexity of emotion, activity, motivation and thought processes, varies according to the type of plot. In a plot of action, characterizations are generally sketchy since a writer is more concerned with the action itself and not with the meaning of the action. The characters perform the actions, rarely analyze them.
The characterizations in plots of character are deeper. The plots are explorations of character, revealing facets and showing growth and change in response to the events. In order for the changes to be seen and appreciated it is necessary to show the original character in depth and examine closely the motivations and mental and emotional phenomena impinging on the individual leading to development of the character.
In a plot of thought, unless the play is dogmatic or propagandistic and thus uses characters that are stereotyped and exaggerated for effect, characterizations are generally deep, at least for the main characters. They are complex in thought and action so that they may examine the theme. However, such characterizations are established quickly and change little during the course of the show so that they do not get in the way of the examination of the theme.
There are three major ways in which an audience regards characters: with sympathy, with antipathy, or neutrally. There are, of course, degrees of feeling, but one will predominate. Sympathetic characters are those for whom the audience cares and hopes for a happy ending: the good guys. Antipathetic characters are those for whom the audience feels dislike and hopes will lose in any conflict with sympathetic characters: the bad guys. Neutrals are characters for whom the audience feels neither sympathy nor antipathy. Such characters are usually supernumeraries who support neither side in plot conflicts.
In any case, the audience should feel something for every character (with the natural exceptions of neutrals). If the audience does feel something, there is interest in what the characters do and a desire to learn what will happen to them. If not, there is no interest in and no point to the show.
Thought
Thought is more than just the writer's theme or point of view in the writing of the script. It is also the rational background to the actions and emotions of the characters. Whatever a character does, there should be some reason for doing it. That is the character's motivation. Motivations should be believable to the audience. It should understand why the character does something through knowing how the character thinks, even though characters make decisions under pressure, often in the throes of emotional upheaval.
Nevertheless, thought does include the writer's theme, the moral, the spine of his text, the point he is trying to get across to the audience. If the author doesn't have a point, neither does the drama, and the audience can lose interest.
Diction
Diction refers to the language of the script, the words the actors speak. However, words, the lines spoken, do not exist in a vacuum. They are inextricably bound to the characters speaking them, the events and emotions that have gone before and have been foreshadowed to come in the future. The lines suggest many things: the character's state of mind and emotion, relationships with and to others, intelligence or lack thereof, health, background, interests, likes and dislikes.
Music
Music, to the neo-Aristotelians, refers not only to music but to all the auditory elements in a production: the sounds and rhythms of the words, background music, and sound effects. The affects of sound on an audience can greatly enhance mood, atmosphere, and tension. Just watch Hitchcock's Psycho with the sound off to see how effective the sound track is in raising the tension and terror during the shower scene.
Spectacle
Spectacle refers to the visual effects in a production: sets, make-up, costumes, movement. The spectacle provides the background and support for the characters, the plot and the meaning of the script. Spectacle evokes an immediate visual understanding of the atmosphere and mood. In addition, it aids production by allowing a smooth flow of action and visual enhancement of the production. Done properly, the spectacle does not overwhelm the characters, becoming an end unto itself. When special effects, as in some recent science fiction movies, become the emphasis, the movie itself can be boring.
THE STRUCTURE OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS
The above elements of drama are used in examining everything from movies to plays to books to TV shows. However, unlike movies, plays or books, television programs have other factors that you must be aware of to understand them.
Television has a tight external structure forced on it by the limitations and practices of commercial television. A thirty minute television series episode, the most common, has the following characteristics:
• 1. It generally has a playing time of 24 minutes, which, with six minutes of the show's sponsor's commercials fills the standard half-hour television time unit. The 24 minutes are generally divided into four segments which will be discussed later.
• 2. It appears once a week, each individual episode's plot usually unconnected with any other episode's plot.
• 3. It uses a cast of actors playing the main and supporting characters that continue in their roles in every show, with transient characters brought in to provide variety and/or plot complications.
• 4. The relationships of the regular cast of characters stays the same throughout the series, as long as the format remains the same.
• 5. The main settings remain the same as long as the format stays the same.
• 6. The major situations in which the characters are found remain the same, plots arising out of the problems introduced to the situation and the characters responding to the problems.
Characteristics three through six remove the necessity of establishing characters, relationships, times and locales for each show, except for those transitory elements necessary to tell each story. The structure of a typical television show episode is very simple, and applies to the situation comedy. Every show has an opening used before each episode which acts as background to the credits, and which, with pictures and perhaps lyrics to a title song, establish characters, time, environment, and the basic situation: the exposition.
Episodes often begin with a teaser, one to two minutes in length, which introduces that episode's problem, the disruption of the status quo, in such a way that it leaves the audience eager to see what will happen after the first set of commercials.
Act I, 9 to 10 minutes in length, follows the first set of commercials. The major and any minor problems are set, as are any transient characters that are important to the plot. Complications and action appropriate to the type of plot (action, character or thought) build to a crisis just at the end of the segment that will hold the audience through the second set of commercials, wondering what the outcome of the crisis will be.
Act II, also 9 to 10 minutes in length, begins with a reminder of where we left off in Act I. The Act I crisis is explained, elaborated on, and resolved. Complication and action continue to build toward the climax, the point of solution and resolution. In many shows, this occurs just before the third set of commercials.
After the third commercial break comes the tag, the denouement, which runs 45 seconds to two minutes, a final build-up to a punchline more or less but not necessarily related to the plot of the episode. The purpose of the tag is to show that the status quo has been reestablished and to leave the audience with a good feeling about the show so they will watch it again next week.
Thus far the situation comedy appears to be just like every other half-hour series program on television. What makes it different is one prime consideration: it is supposed to be funny. Its main reason for existing is to evoke laughter from its audience. I'll discuss how it goes about doing that in the next chapter.
The Business of Television
Television is the most popular art form for many people. They have the set on seven or more hours a day, seven days a week, watching everything from soaps to sitcoms. Such a voracious appetite for entertainment and information requires a huge quantity of material in the form of programs. Television needs shortcuts to provide those programs.
The most prevalent form of show on television is the episodic series. An episodic series is in which has a continuing set of characters and settings with a different plot in each episode. This formula for a show allowed many writers to contribute to the show. This approach to doing programs came from radio, and usually used mystery-crime or comedy formulas.
Though occasional forays had been made over the years into single shows, anthologies, and mini-series, by and large these other forms of shows fade into absolute insignificance compared to the overwhelming use of the episodic series on television.
The quality of the shows stems from a wide variety of influences, but mediocrity (i.e., ordinary, neither extremely high nor extremely low quality) appears to be the order of the day. However, contrary to popular opinion, the TV industry is not nece ssarily to blame for mediocrity. The ratings show that mediocrity, and not the difficult-to-define "quality", draws enough audience to make commercial TV pay. The rating systems, Neilson, American Research Bureau, etc., all show the same results: audie nces are offered quality programming--thoughtful, provocative drama, discussion programs, cultural offerings such as opera, ballet, concerts--they just don't watch it. This does not mean to say that there is no quality programming on television. It simp ly indicates that the kind of quality demanded by critics--both professional and self-styled alike--is not economically nor commercially feasible.
It is easy to compare the television industry with the farm industry. There are the farmers who create the product, food. They sell the food to the wholesaler who in turn sells it to the supermarkets. Often the wholesaler is also a producer, buying from independent farmers but running its own farms to supply its packing plants. Only when the food has been sold to the supermarkets will it finally reach the consumer.
The same cycle of events holds for the television industry. The producer creates the product, a television program (usually a series of episodes) which he sells to the wholesaler, the national television broadcast and cable networks. The networks themselves are often producers, cutting the cost of having to buy from an outside source. The networks in turn sell the program to sponsors by selling them the time during the playing of the program to advertise whatever the sponsor wants to sell, be it a product or an image. Only then will the final product, the television show, reach the consumer, the viewer.
The analogy can be carried further. The most popular items receive the most shelf space or air time. Gourmet items are tucked away into a small corner where they won't compete with the better selling products, and are carried in much smaller supply. For example, if everyone is eating beans the supermarket will carry a large supply of beans, while the escargot, a relatively less popular item, is kept in low quantities. The supermarket managers decide how much to carry in stock by the simple method of counting how many cans of beans or escargot they sell. The networks do the same by counting how many people watch a particular show.
However, instead of counting each individual, they count only a random sampling. This sampling is called a rating. In both cases, whatever receives the highest count is accorded the most shelf or air space, be it beans or westerns. If a product doesn't sell, it is dropped in favor of one that might. Brands are also taken into account. Brand X may be carried for a short time, but if it doesn't sell it is taken off the shelf or the air. Those that sell consistently, like Van Camp's or ROSEANNE, are constantly renewed.
The networks' greatest problem is that, unlike supermarkets, their "shelf space" is extremely limited: 6 to 8 hours a day, 42 to 56 hours a week, or a maximum of 112 half-hour time units a week (the half-hour being the standard time unit used in television.) Of these 112 units only 42 are usually devoted to types of shows other than game shows, soap operas, cartoons and sports. There are 20 other categories: comedy, westerns, news, movies, documentaries, religious broadcasts, children's shows, fa rm shows, detective, police, doctor, science fiction, talk shows, educational, music, public affairs, animal, lawyer, straight drama, and miscellaneous programs. It is easy to see that a decision must be made.
Of course, network prime-time is not the only television there is on the air. There is also programming by local stations, cable, and superstations such as WTBS available to the viewing audience. These other sources of programming actually have at their disposal more time than the networks to fill with programming and advertising.
Local and superstations often use programs bought in syndication to fill their schedules. Such syndicated programs include game shows, music shows, dramas, comedies, and reruns of past and current shows.
Naturally, these stations also take ratings into consideration when they buy syndicated programs. The better rating the station thinks a particular show will garner, the higher the advertising rate they can charge potential advertisers for commercial time. However, they must balance how much the syndicator charges for his program with the potential profit margin: a low cost program with a high rating potential (and thus high profit margin) is preferable to a high cost program with a moderate ratin g potential. Thus, game shows, which are comparatively inexpensive to produce yet gather a large audience are very popular with the stations, as are movies and cartoons.
Nonetheless, a steady diet of game shows (syndicated) and soap operas (from the networks) would begin to pall for the most dedicated couch potato. The stations, realizing that variety will help retain the audience, purchase other types of programs from syndicators. Among the other types of programs are dramas such as MAGNUM, P.I. and DALLAS. However, the most often purchased syndicated program other than game shows are situation comedies. Some of these shows include THE COSBY SHOW, GILLIGAN'S ISL AND, FAMILY TIES, THE MUNSTERS, LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY, HAPPY DAYS, MORK AND MINDY, GOOD TIMES, BEWITCHED, ONE DAY AT A TIME, DIFF'RENT STROKES,THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, GIMME A BREAK, M*A*S*H, WKRP IN CINCINNATI, TAXI, CHEERS, NIGHT COURT, and even situation comedies from decades ago, such as FATHER KNOWS BEST, THE HONEYMOONERS, BURNS AND ALLEN, DOBIE GILLIS, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW and the ubiquitous I LOVE LUCY. Each of these shows is chosen because the station thinks it will draw a sufficiently large audie nce to justify its expense and provide a profit.
To clarify how stations program I did some checking. The following figures are derived from examining the programming in a relatively small market during the course of a week picked at random. Using TV GUIDE magazine I listed every program according to type during the course of the week and determined each type's relative percentage. In case that week had something special about it, such as a mini-series, sports tournament, awards show, etc., I also did spot checks of ten other weeks during the course of a year (1986). The spot checks helped ensure that the figures below represent an average use of airtime. I used one affiliate for each of the major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS), two independent stations, one cable station (Nickelodeon) and one super station (WTBS, Atlanta). It included not only prime-time (8:00 to 11:00 PM) but all other hours the stations broadcast, first-run and syndicated programs. (See Fig. 1 for a graphic representation of the following figures.)
These six channels carried 1,095 hours of programming out of a possible 1,176 hours available during the week (seven 24-hour days x 7 stations=1,176 hours). Of those hours, 161, or 14.7%, were dedicated to the situation comedy. This may not seem like much until the percentage is compared to the other 26 types of programs. The most airtime is devoted to movies: 175.5 hoursor 16.03%. The next category is the situation comedy. This is followed by: cartoons (112 hours, 10.23%); news (110 hours, 14 .7%); and dramas [including such programs as ROUTE 66, I SPY,
DALLAS, THE FALL GUY, etc.](92 hours, 8.4%). From this point the number of hours devoted to other types of programs drops considerably: soap operas (50 hours, 4.57%); sports [including major league, pro wrestling, bowling, etc.](45 hours, 4.11%); children's shows (40.5 hours, 3.7%); game shows and religious programs (both at 39 hours, 3.56%); crime shows (30 hours, 2.74%); music shows (29 hours, 2.56%); talk and information shows (both at 27 hours or 2.46%); miscellaneous comedy shows [including THE THREE STOOGES, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE BENNY HILL SHOW and THE LOVE BOAT](24 hours, 2.19%); commercials [the phenomenon of hour-long commercials for books and tapes on how to get rich in real est ate, gambling, positive thinking, etc.](16 hours, 1.46%); entertainment shows [such as ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT and movie reviews](15 hours, 1.37%); action shows [such as THE DUKES OF HAZZARD](12 hours, 1.1%); science-fiction (10 hours, 0.91%); science shows [such as MR. WIZARD](9 hours, 0.82%); lawyer shows (8 hours, 0.73%); shopping services [wherein a customer can call a number and order a product shown on the air](7 hours, 0.64%); health shows (7 hours, 0.64%); mystery shows (6 hours, 0.55%); westerns (2 hours, 0.18%)[in case you're wondering, I found GUNSMOKE, the hour-long version, shown twice]; educational (1 hour, 0.09%); and a comedy-variety show [HEE HAW, in syndication](1 hour, 0.09%).
[Fig. 1.1, Graph of above figures]
Perhaps now would be a good time to discuss ratings for a moment. What makes THE COSBY SHOW better than Brand X? The answer is simple: ratings. And why are ratings so important? Again the answer is simple. Television is an industry. Low rating s mean low profits, and vice versa. Sponsors want their highly expensive advertising seen by as many people as possible. The quality of the program is rarely taken into consideration. The prime consideration is the rating.
There are various ways to find television ratings: Trendex uses telephone and door-to-door polls. The most famous, however, is the Neilson. The Neilson is based on the idea that if one takes a pint of liquid out of a tank car and it proves to be m ilk, one can assume the tank contains milk. This is in turns based on the idea that people are as homogeneous as the milk, a premise followed by networks and raters alike with the blind devotion found in some nursery supervisors, most spaniel dogs, and a ll missionaries.
Originally the Neilson rating was determined by attaching a box to the back of television sets in 1500 homes carefully selected to represent a cross section, demographically, of the entire United States. This box recorded when the set was on and to what channel it was tuned minute by minute. Today, the Neilson company uses the PeopleMeter, an electronic device that does the same as the box did, but also records who is in the room with the set at the same time. By checking the records of what show was on what channel it is possible to determine how many sets were tuned to a particular show. The greatest drawback to the box was that it didn't tell how many, if indeed any, people were watching the set, only that the set was on. The PeopleMeter was devised to overcome this drawback (if people remember to punch their button on the meter when they enter or leave a room). On the basis of the results from the meters, the rating, a show can be canceled in a few weeks or continue for years.
Ratings not only determine the fates of individual shows but also types of shows. The more popular a certain type is (e.g., western, doctor, lawyer), the more the networks want that type on the air, based on the idea that if one is popular, four will be more popular (remember the great American axiom: if some is good, more is better. Too much is just right). An examination of the prime-time schedules for past years reveals that the most popular type of show is the situation comedy.
Why is the situation comedy the most popular form of comedy show on television? I will examine this question first from the point of view of the television industry.
The television industry is in business to make money. There is nothing unusual about this. Any industry that wishes to remain in business has making money as its main concern. The only way television has to make money is from the advertising budgets of other industries. What the television industry sells are promises and time: promises that a certain number of people will see the advertising, and the time at which those people will see it. Television tries to get as many people as possible to w atch their sets at a certain time of day or night, and then sells to a business the right to use that time for advertising.
But what could possibly induce millions of people to watch their sets at a certain time? Certainly not the advertising itself. The answer is entertainment, in the form of adventure, sports, witty conversation, information, music, news, or just plain fun, and the most popular form of entertainment on television is the fun.
In 1965, 16.11% of the prime-time schedule was devoted to the situation comedy. By the following year this percentage had increased to 25.17%. In 1979, it was an incredible 33.34% of the prime-time network schedule. This may have been oversaturation as over the next six years it fell to 15.15%, and is now making a comeback. The percentages fluctuate, but the comedy show has generally maintained the lead over all other forms of television program (with the exception of movies) even today (1992), w ith 25% of the prime-time network schedule devoted to the situation comedy. Obviously the networks think somebody is out there watching, and what that somebody wants to watch is the situation comedy.
The Development and Landmark Forms of Television Comedy
Wally Cleaver (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) tries to think of the best way to ask a girl out; David Hogan (VALERIE, later THE HOGAN FAMILY) is given a lecture on safe sex and using condoms before he goes on a date.
The situation comedy has changed considerably over the years since it first came on the home screen. This chapter is in two parts: 1) an examination of the variety show, the only regularly scheduled comedy show besides the situation comedy, and the forms it takes; and 2) a discussion of the types of situation comedies and seminal influences on the development of the situation comedy on television, covering originators and landmark forms, their copies, and their spinoffs.
Variety Show Star-Based Shows
One popular type of comedy show was the variety program, which appeared in many forms. One form revolved around a well- known star, often a stand-up comedian and/or comedy actor. Such stars were Jack Benny, Jack Carson, and Abbott and Costello. The format of a star-based show involved short comedy sketches, and the stars would usually appear in their own personae in the various situations used in the sketches.
The star-based shows in 1950 were transfers from radio, and if one looks at the longevity of an individual show, the star-based is the most popular form of comedy. In 1950, the second longest running comedy in the history of television first appeared on the air. That show was THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM, and it ran continuously for 15 years. However, in terms of quantity of shows on the air in any given year, the star-based must rank as the lowest. There was never more than four on the air at any one time, and then only in 1952-54.
Personality-Based Shows
A second type of variety show was the personality-based show. Rather than having an already established star as its leading figure appearing as himself, there would be a comedic actor such as Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, or Ernie Kovacs playing whatever role was called for in the sketch. Although they did become stars, these personalities maintained their type of variety show as personality-based rather than star-based.
Comedy-Variety Shows
A second type of variety show was the comedy-variety show. It, like the personality-based show, used short comedy sketches, but, unlike the personality-based, comedy was not the basic staple. Instead, a majority of the show was devoted to various types of acts, such as song, dance and recitations, as well as stand-up comedy routines and sketches.
The comedy-variety show came in two formats: 1) celebrity-centered;and 2) review. The celebrity centered format was created for a star, either an existing one or a potential one. The star was usually a successful performer or group of performers from a field other than comedy. These performers were most often recording and concert musicians. They were proven successes in their field, and it was the networks' hope that this success would carry over to television. Examples include Sonny and Cher, the Captain and Tenille, and Donny and Marie Osmond.
There were exceptions to the musical performer rule. Comedians occasionally had comedy-variety shows, but they were usually also capable of musical performance--singing, dancing, playing an instrument, etc. For example, Carol Burnett is also a singer, and Dick van Dyke is a song-and-dance man.
The review form of the comedy-variety show did not have a regularly appearing celebrity around whom the show was based. Instead, there was often a guest host who did introductions and a few of the acts. This guest host might appear on a rotating basis with other hosts, or on a one-time basis, or appear on an irregular basis. Often, but not always there was a regular corps of performers who did various acts during the show and assisted the guest hosts in his acts. There was a heavy reliance on guest stars, particularly singers, dancers, and comedians, especially on those show that did not have a regular corps. Examples of this type of show are THE SATURDAY NIGHT REVIEW, WASHINGTON SQUARE, and THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE.
The variety show, once a numerous form of comedy show, has dwindled to almost nothing. What has replaced and surpassed it in popularity is the situation comedy. This type of show is characterized by a continuing cast of characters, continuing settings, relationships, and situations.
One thing that is immediately clear when watching television is that its programming is dominated by entertainment formats, many of which were developed on radio. These include soap operas, talk, doctor, detective, police, mystery, western and science fiction shows, and anthology programming. To many people, particularly those born since 1950, the situation comedy is a form of broadcast programming invented by and for television. However, those people over forty years of age know that the situation comedy has its roots not in television but in radio, going back to 1929 and the popular AMOS 'N' ANDY, the first comedy show to capture in a vise-like grip the funny bone of the American people. The situation comedy helped to establish the idea of a continuing cast in a different situation each week.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the situation comedy was a staple on radio, with such programs as L'IL ABNER, BABY SNOOKS, BLONDIE, THE GOLDBERGS, and HENRY ALDRICH. The situation comedies were particularly popular during World War II, perhaps because they helped the audience to forget what the serious world outside was like.
After World War II television became a commercial practicality and developed a need for programming. Radio, already well established, was a natural source for material. Many shows were transplanted from radio to television almost intact, including THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE, LIFE WITH LUIGI, AMOS 'N' ANDY, BEULAH, DUFFY'S TAVERN, THE HALLS OF IVY, JOE AND MABEL, MY FAVORITE HUSBAND, THE LIFE OF RILEY, FATHER KNOWS BEST, THE ALDRICH FAMILY, and THE GOLDBERGS. The situation comedy soon became a mainstay of television programming.
The television situation comedy has gone through many permutations in the years since 1950, altering its form and formats through public whim and corporate policy, depending on what the networks think the audience will watch, tempered by what the audience actually does.
#
When television comedy shows first began they were done by professional comedians (not necessarily actors) who were already well established, either before live audiences or on radio, or both. The shows were usually written and supervised by the performers themselves, using material that had proved itself through the years as being funny. For many of them this could not last. Once their original material was used it couldn't be done again (this idea has been forgotten, e.g., the rerun). In addition, they could not go out and work up something new and polish it before an audience over a long period of time. They had to have something new every week, television being a voracious eater of material. Some could not do it and left television. Some stayed, but relied heavily on writers, directors, and others. Some retained their originality and individuality--Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jack Benny. They were the ones who could follow their format of monologue and sketch and keep it fresh and alive and funny.
The format of the big comedy shows created a big problem: for each sketch and bit the writers and the star had to start from scratch, creating characters, situations, locations, times, everything; and they had to do this every week. All the stars ended up employing platoons of writers. The stars sometimes helped by creating characters they could repeat, such as Skelton's Freddy the Freeloader and Clem Kaddiddlehopper, and thus avoid the difficulty of creating the leading role, but even with this thingsgot stale.
It was found that the situation comedy negated many of these problems. The major characters and their personalities were set, the times and places determined, and the basic premise already established. The only major difficulty left was to find the problem in which the characters could get entangled.
Many of the situation comedies that appeared on the air were mere flash in the pan, but some had far-reaching effects. These effects were not always limited to just the situation comedy.
#
The early years was the period of the bumbling father or husband: Ralph Cramden, Stu Erwin, LIFE OF RILEY, LIFE WITH FATHER, MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY, MY FAVORITE HUSBAND, OZZIE AND HARRIET. There was also the female counterpart: I MARRIED JOAN, MY FRIEND IRMA. I LOVE LUCY, however, was a landmark in television comedy.
I LOVE LUCY
I LOVE LUCY premiered in 1951 and, from the first, was something different from the other situation comedies. It seemed on the surface to be just another comedy, but Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley and Vivian Vance created a show that set the standard for television comedy for years and even decades to come.
I LOVE LUCY changed not only the situation comedy, but television itself. Prior to I LOVE LUCY television programming originated in New York and was broadcast live over telephone cables or kinescoped (filming the show off the television screen) and sent around the country. Kinescopes were of low quality but were the best method for recording and distributing television programs at the time.
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (the owners, producers, and stars of I LOVE LUCY) wanted to live in California, not New York. They also had very definite ideas about how their show should be done, and proceeded to do it their way. Rather than going on the air live (a commercially unfeasible idea for a show originating in California due to time zone problems) or kinescoping, they decided to film the show and ship the results around the country to stations, thus creating two major facets of the television industry: high quality pictures and the ability to show the same episodes of a program again and again as reruns.
They also preferred the combined effects on performance of a live audience watching a full run of the show in sequence. The usual technique of filming called for shooting scenes out of sequence with one camera and splicing the film to create the illusion of continuity. Arnaz considered the problems involved in filming a show in sequence before a live audience and invented the 3-camera technique, in which three cameras shoot the entire show from different angles and distances all at the same time. All camera movements and shots were well worked out and rehearsed in advance. The resulting films were then edited and spliced together according to the dictates and desires of the director and/or producer. This novel method of filming required less time and money than the old way, two criteria vital to television. It also provided high quality film, thus allowing it to be shown in its original quality over and over. This laid the groundwork for the rerun. It thus became standard technique for many programs, having the advantages of high quality pictures, ease of distribution, ability to be rerun, and requiring less time and money.
Perhaps I LOVE LUCY's greatest impact was its popularity. It was first or second in the ratings during its entire history (1951-1976) and is still being rebroadcast today, some half-century after its premiere. In 1960 a national poll by Gary Steiner asked what programs the respondents would like to see back on the air (not reruns, but new episodes). I LOVE LUCY was the most frequently mentioned. This popularity led to many imitators and an increase in the number of situation comedies on the air. Within three years of I LOVE LUCY's premiere, the number of situation comedies almost tripled, from 13 to 35. Although it may strain logic to attribute a cause and effect relationship between I LOVE LUCY and the growth of the situation comedy, when one considers the networks' devotion to ratings and the effect I LOVE LUCY had upon the ratings, such a conclusion is, if not verifiable, then certainly possible.
I LOVE LUCY revolutionized television. It was the first program to be based in California rather than New York, to be done on film rather than kinescoped from a television screen, to be performed before a live studio audience and to be filmed in sequence using the 3-camera technique. It set the pattern for situation comedies for years to come. Henceforth, women would be scatter-brained but extremely clever, men would be loud and indignant and confused, and friends would be dupes and accomplices.
#
The thing that made early programs funny, at least in their time, was their inherent believability. The characters could exist, the situations could conceivably exist, the problems could actually happen. The average audience member recognized either himself or, more often, someone else (certain not to the degree of the oafish lump Riley or the scatterbrained Lucy, but elements that appeared in either one). They were pure entertainment, the sort of thing one could sit and watch and never have to think of a thing.
FATHER KNOWS BEST
The 1954-55 season brought the premiere of a new type of situation comedy, the domestic comedy, or domcom. The title of the show was FATHER KNOWS BEST, which remained on the air for nine years. This new type of situation comedy broke the pattern that had been firmly established three years before by I LOVE LUCY and open the way to plots and characterizations hitherto untried by television comedy.
The greatest difference between the old and the new types was that children, rather than being ancillary to the plots as in the old form, became vital elements central to the plots. The stories usually revolved around a child learning to grow up and live in the world, with the parents guiding and assisting.
The domcom soon became a favorite with audiences, scoring consistently well in the ratings, and the type has been repeated in many manifestations ever since.
#
Rural Comedies
In 1957 the forerunner to a type of situation comedy that was later to prove extremely popular premiered. THE REAL MCCOYS was the first of what came to be known as rural comedies, the most famous ofwhich was THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES (1962). Others of this type were
