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History of television sitcoms
Tv sitcom essay on todays influence
The history of sitcoms
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I Love Lucy is one of the most popular TV sitcoms in the world. Airing for six seasons, it was the first sitcom to be filmed with a three camera format in front of a live studio audience. Everything was scripted even though it may have looked ad-libbed. Lucille Ball made sure everything was ran through multiple times until it was perfected. Almost every episode format consists of Lucy either wanting something or hiding something. Recurring themes include Lucy’s desire to enter show business, division of the sexes, Lucy’s jealousy, elaborate plans (and their undoing), traditional husband/wife conflicts, and the use of trickery
The show starred real-life husband and wife, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It takes place in New York. Lucille played Lucy Ricardo, a housewife that wants nothing more than to be a star. She shows how women were not valued for their intelligence and how they were not encouraged to have a career. She goes to great lengths with outrageous schemes in order to achieve her dream which often gets her in trouble, as well as her husband, Ricky Ricardo.
Ricky is the band leader at the Club Tropicana in New York. He is a typical husband who worries his wife is spending too much money and wants her to stay home and tend to the house. Lucy and Ricky are loving parents to their son Little Ricky who isn’t introduced until the
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Fred is a World War I veteran. He is notoriously cheap because he had lost significant wealth when the stock market crashed. Because of this, he makes sure he watches his wife’s spending. Him and his wife were former vaudeville performs, so Ricky brings them into his show leaving Lucy left out as the only one in the gang who wasn’t in show business. Ethel teams up with Lucy in her shenanigans as her unwilling sidekick. At first she would try to talk Lucy out of whatever plan she had come up with, but eventually she would give in to the
Ricky respects his mother; however he also is in fear of her. Chero wants Ricky to go to college, but not necessarily for an education. He believes she wants him to go to college so he can collect social security checks each month until he graduates. When his mother sends him to see Dr. Howell to discuss his future, Dr. Howell states that Ricky should be led by his own convictions. When Ricky’s mother asks what Dr. Howell said, Ricky fabricates a story relating what he believes his mother wants to hear.
The Beulah Show, airing on ABC in the early 1950s, is the first sitcom to star an African American actress who plays as a maid to the Henderson family (Bronstein). In the episode “Beulah goes Gardening”, the Henderson discuss Beulah’s demanding workload―housework and gardening―after realizing Beulah did all of their gardening. Beulah tells Oriole, her friend, about her rosebush problem, and the next morning, Beulah sasses Bill, her boyfriend, into helping her. While the show may seem revolutionary with an African American actress and an innocent representation of a 1950s family, this show in reality demonstrates the harmfulness of the lack of diversity and misrepresentation on television. Tropes like “Mammy” and the “sassy black woman” are
The word sitcom is short for Situation Comedy. A good sitcom story idea places the star (or supporting character) into a situation in need of a resolution, which will cause the character to respond in unexpected, exaggerated, and hugely sidesplitting ways (Rannow, pg. 13). A comedy now days are different from how they were in the 1960's and 1970's though. Today directors use sexual content and foul language to make people laugh and do not usually have a purpose or point to get across to the audience with each show. In earlier comedy, such as The Brady Bunch, Director Jack Arnold tried have a lesson learned in each episode while still maintaining a sense of humor, minus the foul language and sexual content. Although the show is not extremely funny to most people it is still a classic show that deserves to be remembered.
The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded.
The overarching theme of the play is all about social status. The only thing Lala cares about is getting an acceptable date to Ballyhoo. Because of the time period the play was written in; every character has to act very superficial. Family does not seem to matter, relationships do not seem to matter like they do nowadays, but the only thing that seems to matter is reputation.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007) women’s labor force participation raised from 33.9% in 1950 to 57.5% in 1990. The TV shows Married with Children and Roseanne are similar and different in the way they portray that statistic through their gender roles. Married with Children shows the more traditional type of gender roles, while Roseanne shows gender roles that were not as common in past decades. Both shows exemplify gender roles that were common and rare compared to decades prior. The TV shows, Married with Children and Roseanne are similar and different because of the gender roles each television show displays.
The typical episode of the critically acclaimed, indie-darling, sitcom 30 Rock focuses on the lives of the writers, producers, executives and love interests of those involved in the production of a fictional sketch comedy television show called TGS with Tracy Jordan. 30 Rock is widely known as a show that deals with race, gender and class issues from multiple, humorous perspectives. Yet watching Season Five, Episode Twenty, a viewer could grow uncomfortable at the racial generalizations. The episode is entitled “Queen of Jordan” and is intended to parody the Real Housewives franchise of reality television. The episode was shot and aired as if it were a Bravo network reality show, entirely separate from 30 Rock, although it features the antics of the usual cast of 30 Rock. Although the critically acclaimed television show 30 Rock parodies the characterization of personhood on reality television, characters such as Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd) and her crew are still derivatives of these three classical African American stereotypes. 30 Rock’s uses these stereotypes to parody reality television and the humor stems from laughing at the racists rather than the race of the characters.
I love Lucy was a very popular sitcom in the 1950s. Through humor and plot it brings out more of positive aspects and less of negative aspects for the 1950's that Coontz described in `What we really missed about the 1950s.'
Different Strokes a comedy sitcom, first aired in 1978, and lasted until 1986. This sitcom consisted of a widowed Manhattan millionaire, Phillip Drummond , who adopted two orphaned brothers. Arnold who was 8 years old and Willis who was 12. The boys' mother was Drummonds housekeeper who became very ill, so Drummond made a promise to her that he would take care of her two sons after she passed away. Drummond treated the two boys like his own. He also lived with his daughter, Kimberly, who was 13 years old, and his current housekeeper. This sitcom showed typical life lessons in growing up, and social problems that were occurring during that time. Some of the aspects of this show were both positive and negative.
Ricky wowed the judges with his singing and dancing, but was rejected because he was too short. This happened twice before Ricky was finally accepted into the group. Upon his third audition, Ricky’s determination, along with his wonderful singing and dancing abilities, impressed the managers significantly. At the age of thirteen, Ricky was made an official member of Menudo. It was not for another month that Ricky made his debut as a Menudo member. In his first performance with the group in San Juan, Ricky got into a bit of trouble. It had been planned that the group would stay still during the show, but Ricky unintentionally defied the choreographer by walking around the stage. This mistake and the discipline that followed ensured that Ricky, and everyone else in the group, would adhere strictly to the instructions given. Ricky enjoyed all the years he spent travelling and performing with Menudo.
The Andy Griffith Show, was a television sitcom that aired in the 1960s. Watching it from the perspective of someone in today’s society, a number of norms stood out to me. The norms of that time have changed dramatically as well as the ways they were enforced.
He seems to like the foster family as a real family when they give him a birthday gift he said '' This is my first birthday gift and best and first birthday''. The three shot is about the birthday party. In the three short there are hec, Bella and Ricky. The three shot showing Ricky changed the character because is looking at Bella if he looking, Bella, even through hec is uncomfortable we can understand that the Ricky is growing into the family as they are are sitting as a family to eat their meal and he is interested to know them, like them and happy to live with them.
English fashion model Georgia Jagger has made the bold statement that “Reality TV rots people 's brains”. This seems to be a common opinion among many people. Which leads one to wonder why these reality programs are still created year after year despite all of the constant criticism. The reality T.V. show that continue to reel in audiences on a weekly basis seem to be those which have to do with finding love. These types of shows can, and are often, altered to keep the genre from going stale, but essentially they all serve the same purpose. Dating shows aim to match up complete stranger in an attempt of finding “true love”. Although most shows recycle the same program with slight differences, their audience does not seem to go down. The reason
The characters in each of these plays grapple for identity and connection, which Shepard recognizes as true in modern American families. As they assert themselves, family tension is the result and the Brady Bunch dream is only that: a dream.
Television comedies have been on the air for decades, and throughout this time many different shows have come and gone. Due to the dominance of these shows, comedies are one of the biggest draws on television. There are many different types of comedies, each with their own unique characteristics and features that differentiate them from others and lead to their popularity. Whether the show is a sketch comedy, sitcom, mockumentary or dramatic comedy, each utilizes different types of humour, locations, themes, and situations to appeal to the audience; which is likely why they are so popular today.