I Love Sitcoms! Bill Tune bctune@gmail.com I am an unabashed fan of situation comedies, aka sitcoms. I love humor; I love to laugh; I love to escape the harsh realities of this world; I love sitcoms! I don't usually brag about this due to the perception that sitcoms represent mindless TV at its worst, an entertainment venue best suited for the non-intellectual. (Have you seen reality TV??) However, I feel it is time to come to the defense of this much-maligned genre. I'm not defending ALL sitcoms, because some of them are very poor, but there are many examples of quality shows that touch our hearts as well as our funny bones. For starters, guess what I watched this morning while treading the mill at the YMCA? - I Love Lucy. What better place to start than with the genius of Lucille Ball? Her show pioneered many techniques still used today: shooting in front of a live studio audience, using three cameras (and subsequent editing), and recording shows on film. Back in the 50's most shows were broadcast live from New York to the Eastern and Central time zones, then rebroadcast to the west coast using a kinescope recording of poor quality and limited durability. Lucy and Desi wanted to work from Los Angeles, not New York, but that was only possible with the more expensive technique of recording the shows on film. They volunteered to take pay cuts to offset the use of film, but they also insisted on the rights to all future rebroadcasts. Was it pure genius or just good luck? This was before the concept of reruns, and the studio couldn't imagine anyone wanting to watch a program a second time. (Studio executives weren't laughing about that decision years later.) While the crude recordings of other shows of the era have decayed to non-usable status, we are still watching the antics of the Ricardo’s and Mertz's. Many of Lucy's “moments” have become legend: stomping grapes in Italy, working in the chocolate factory with Ethel, Vitameatavegamin, the list goes on. Good comedy is timeless. The sitcom has seen many changes since the 50's. Besides the obvious advances in technology (“Brought to you in Living Color!”), changes in censorship have reflected the evolution of our society. Lucy and Ricky had to sleep in twin beds. Mary Tyler Moore raised eyebrows on The Dick Van Dyke Show by wearing slacks. The Mary Tyler Moore show was originally going to be about a single, divorcee making it on her own, but producers didn't want the public to think Mary (aka Laura Petri) had divorced Robert Petri, so her character was changed to single, never married. The list of taboo topics has changed dramatically over the years, but more about that later. What, you may ask, are the key elements in a good sitcom? I suspect they are basically the same for any show - good writing combined with talented actors, resulting in character development that causes a connection with the viewer. A good situational comedy is much more than a series of jokes and gags. Just as most drama shows have occasional moments of levity, most comedies have a serious side as well. Norman Lear's All In The Family in the early-to-mid 70's broke the sitcom mold by dealing with serious social issues (racism, women's lib, the Vietnam war, menopause, etc.), while keeping us laughing at the same time. The appeal of the show ran much deeper than the use of controversial topics. As with other quality programs, it was well written and people easily identified with the characters. However, the really good sit-coms have one more important, albeit related, feature: they make you feel something outside the realm of humor. On some level you grow to care about the characters and their relationships, and over time you see these characters grow and change like most of us do in real life. Whether it's the friendships between Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel, the sibling rivalry of Frasier and Niles on Frasier, or the complex family dynamics in Home Improvement, the good shows have characters that remind us of our families, our friends, or maybe even ourselves. They can also help raise awareness by educating us on issues we otherwise would never experience. Some of my all time favorite sitcoms have been (by decade) 50's: I Love Lucy; 60's: The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show; 70's: All In The Family, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, Mork and Mindy; 80's: The Cosby Show, Cheers, Golden Girls, Designing Women; 90's: Seinfield, Friends, Frasier, and Home Improvement. Of the current long-running shows, I prefer: Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, 30 Rock (just concluded), Parks and Recreation, Two and a Half Men, and Hot in Cleveland. I'm also growing fond of some of the new arrivals: 1600 Penn, Last Man Standing, The Neighbors, The New Normal, Mike and Molly, and Whitney. Thanks to the amazing world of the DVR, I have the freedom to record these shows and view them at my convenience, skipping commercials while I watch. I've already mentioned the importance of relatable characters and their subsequent growth and development over time. In this respect, M*A*S*H stands out as one of the all time greats. In expanding a show about a 3-year war into an 11-year TV series, the writers of this show had plenty of time to develop characters and even change some of them, usually for the better. (Due to the seriousness of the setting of a mobile war hospital, some classify M*A*S*H as a dramedy, a combined comedy-drama that consistently contained elements of both.) Many a show has lost its momentum after losing a main character, but M*A*S*H only got stronger. Of course, it helped that they had so many characters to start with. I was not sure I could forgive them for killing off Mclain Stevenson's character, Lt. Col. Henry Blake. As resistant as I was to liking the new Col. Sherman T. Potter, played by Henry Morgan, he became my favorite. Other changes happened but with no drop in quality. Trapper John was replaced by B. J. Honeycutt; Radar O'Reilly left, allowing the character of Klinger to evolve in ways before unimaginable. Then we had the saga of Maj. Frank Burns. To enjoy watching any major character (no pun intended), I think it is important to like the character, or at least you have to like disliking him (as a villain or a no-good). Unfortunately, Frank Burns was the one character I never liked. He had no socially redeeming qualities; I couldn't even enjoy disliking him. I was so glad to see that sniveling, sorry excuse for a human being leave the show I rejoiced at the introduction of Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester, III. Charles, as it turned out, was a pompous, egotistical surgeon from Boston who thought himself far above the station of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital doctor. In spite of his obvious character flaws and the ensuing antics by his tent-mates, Charles was also revealed to be a real human being with some redeeming qualities. For example, it was his family's tradition at Christmas to make an anonymous donation to a local orphanage. This made for a very touching Christmas episode. In another episode he showed true compassion for a soldier who stuttered. The closing scene revealed that Charles' sister struggled with the same affliction. I liked Charles when he was good, and I enjoyed disliking him when he chose to act better than everyone else. The other characters held up well over the years: Hawkeye, Father Mulcahy, and nurse Maj. Margaret Houlihan. I especially enjoyed watching Margaret evolve from a ridiculous Frank Burns admirer in the beginning to a character of great strength and depth at the end. She showed real vulnerability in the episodes where she tried to live up to the high expectations of her father, the General. If I try to name the funniest moment I've experienced in my 5+ decades of watching sitcoms, my mind goes blank because there have been far too many to consider. Plus, the detail needed to describe such a moment would probably prove tedious and ineffective in essay form. However, I would like to share a tender moment that I feel epitomizes the quality that I appreciate about good sitcoms. In 1600 Penn, one of the new sitcoms, the First Lady is a stepmom to the President's four kids. One of the running subplots involves her clumsy attempts to connect with her stepchildren. In one episode, the elementary-aged boy is running for school president. The odds are stacked against him, so the stepmom uses her expertise in campaigning to help him get elected. After his surprise victory, a crowd gathers around to congratulate him, including his elated stepmom. As she tries to hug him, he brushes her off with, “Get back, Mom, you're embarrassing me!” This seemingly rude, thankless act brings her to tears - of joy, because, “That's the first time he's ever called me Mom!” I'm an emotional sap, and, perhaps, easily entertained, but I cherish the tender moments on these shows as much as the laughs. I love sitcoms! enough

I Love Sitcoms!

I am an unabashed fan of situation comedies, aka sitcoms. I love humor; I love to laugh; I love to escape the harsh realities of this world; I love sitcoms! I don't usually brag about this due to the perception that sitcoms represent mindless TV at its worst, an entertainment venue best suited for the non-intellectual. (Have you seen reality TV??)

However, I feel it is time to come to the defense of this much-maligned genre. I'm not defending ALL sitcoms, because some of them are very poor, but there are many examples of quality shows that touch our hearts as well as our funny bones.

For starters, guess what I watched this morning while treading the mill at the YMCA? - I Love Lucy. What better place to start than with the genius of Lucille Ball? Her show pioneered many techniques still used today: shooting in front of a live studio audience, using three cameras (and subsequent editing), and recording shows on film. Back in the 50's most shows were broadcast live from New York to the Eastern and Central time zones, then rebroadcast to the west coast using a kinescope recording of poor quality and limited durability. Lucy and Desi wanted to work from Los Angeles, not New York, but that was only possible with the more expensive technique of recording the shows on film. They volunteered to take pay cuts to offset the use of film, but they also insisted on the rights to all future rebroadcasts. Was it pure genius or just good luck? This was before the concept of reruns, and the studio couldn't imagine anyone wanting to watch a program a second time. (Studio executives weren't laughing about that decision years later.) While the crude recordings of other shows of the era have decayed to non-usable status, we are still watching the antics of the Ricardo’s and Mertz's. Many of Lucy's “moments” have become legend: stomping grapes in Italy, working in the chocolate factory with Ethel, Vitameatavegamin, the list goes on. Good comedy is timeless.

The sitcom has seen many changes since the 50's. Besides the obvious advances in technology (“Brought to you in Living Color!”), changes in censorship have reflected the evolution of our society. Lucy and Ricky had to sleep in twin beds. Mary Tyler Moore raised eyebrows on The Dick Van Dyke Show by wearing slacks. The Mary Tyler Moore show was originally going to be about a single, divorcee making it on her own, but producers didn't want the public to think Mary (aka Laura Petri) had divorced Robert Petri, so her character was changed to single, never married. The list of taboo topics has changed dramatically over the years, but more about that later.

What, you may ask, are the key elements in a good sitcom? I suspect they are basically the same for any show - good writing combined with talented actors, resulting in character development that causes a connection with the viewer. A good situational comedy is much more than a series of jokes and gags. Just as most drama shows have occasional moments of levity, most comedies have a serious side as well.

Norman Lear's All In The Family in the early-to-mid 70's broke the sitcom mold by dealing with serious social issues (racism, women's lib, the Vietnam war, menopause, etc.), while keeping us laughing at the same time. The appeal of the show ran much deeper than the use of controversial topics. As with other quality programs, it was well written and people easily identified with the characters. However, the really good sit-coms have one more important, albeit related, feature: they make you feel something outside the realm of humor. On some level you grow to care about the characters and their relationships, and over time you see these characters grow and change like most of us do in real life. Whether it's the friendships between Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel, the sibling rivalry of Frasier and Niles on Frasier, or the complex family dynamics in Home Improvement, the good shows have characters that remind us of our families, our friends, or maybe even ourselves. They can also help raise awareness by educating us on issues we otherwise would never experience.

Some of my all time favorite sitcoms have been (by decade) 50's: I Love Lucy; 60's: The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show; 70's: All In The Family, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, Mork and Mindy; 80's: The Cosby Show, Cheers, Golden Girls, Designing Women; 90's: Seinfield, Friends, Frasier, and Home Improvement. Of the current long-running shows, I prefer: Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, 30 Rock (just concluded), Parks and Recreation, Two and a Half Men, and Hot in Cleveland. I'm also growing fond of some of the new arrivals: 1600 Penn, Last Man Standing, The Neighbors, The New Normal, Mike and Molly, and Whitney. Thanks to the amazing world of the DVR, I have the freedom to record these shows and view them at my convenience, skipping commercials while I watch.

I've already mentioned the importance of relatable characters and their subsequent growth and development over time. In this respect, M*A*S*H stands out as one of the all time greats. In expanding a show about a 3-year war into an 11-year TV series, the writers of this show had plenty of time to develop characters and even change some of them, usually for the better. (Due to the seriousness of the setting of a mobile war hospital, some classify M*A*S*H as a dramedy, a combined comedy-drama that consistently contained elements of both.) Many a show has lost its momentum after losing a main character, but M*A*S*H only got stronger. Of course, it helped that they had so many characters to start with. I was not sure I could forgive them for killing off Mclain Stevenson's character, Lt. Col. Henry Blake. As resistant as I was to liking the new Col. Sherman T. Potter, played by Henry Morgan, he became my favorite. Other changes happened but with no drop in quality. Trapper John was replaced by B. J. Honeycutt; Radar O'Reilly left, allowing the character of Klinger to evolve in ways before unimaginable. Then we had the saga of Maj. Frank Burns.

To enjoy watching any major character (no pun intended), I think it is important to like the character, or at least you have to like disliking him (as a villain or a no-good). Unfortunately, Frank Burns was the one character I never liked. He had no socially redeeming qualities; I couldn't even enjoy disliking him. I was so glad to see that sniveling, sorry excuse for a human being leave the show I rejoiced at the introduction of Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester, III. Charles, as it turned out, was a pompous, egotistical surgeon from Boston who thought himself far above the station of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital doctor. In spite of his obvious character flaws and the ensuing antics by his tent-mates, Charles was also revealed to be a real human being with some redeeming qualities. For example, it was his family's tradition at Christmas to make an anonymous donation to a local orphanage. This made for a very touching Christmas episode. In another episode he showed true compassion for a soldier who stuttered. The closing scene revealed that Charles' sister struggled with the same affliction. I liked Charles when he was good, and I enjoyed disliking him when he chose to act better than everyone else.

The other characters held up well over the years: Hawkeye, Father Mulcahy, and nurse Maj. Margaret Houlihan. I especially enjoyed watching Margaret evolve from a ridiculous Frank Burns admirer in the beginning to a character of great strength and depth at the end. She showed real vulnerability in the episodes where she tried to live up to the high expectations of her father, the General.

If I try to name the funniest moment I've experienced in my 5+ decades of watching sitcoms, my mind goes blank because there have been far too many to consider. Plus, the detail needed to describe such a moment would probably prove tedious and ineffective in essay form. However, I would like to share a tender moment that I feel epitomizes the quality that I appreciate about good sitcoms.

In 1600 Penn, one of the new sitcoms, the First Lady is a stepmom to the President's four kids. One of the running subplots involves her clumsy attempts to connect with her stepchildren. In one episode, the elementary-aged boy is running for school president. The odds are stacked against him, so the stepmom uses her expertise in campaigning to help him get elected. After his surprise victory, a crowd gathers around to congratulate him, including his elated stepmom. As she tries to hug him, he brushes her off with, “Get back, Mom, you're embarrassing me!” This seemingly rude, thankless act brings her to tears - of joy, because, “That's the first time he's ever called me Mom!”

I'm an emotional sap, and, perhaps, easily entertained, but I cherish the tender moments on these shows as much as the laughs. I love sitcoms!

enough

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