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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.
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.'
The Andy Griffith Show and I love Lucy have been two of the most watched shows in the history of television aired on CBS. I Love Lucy was a scripted sitcom recorded in front of a live studio audience with multiple cameras to give it better comic energy. It took place in an apartment in New York and her husband was an upcoming Cuban American who sung in a band. Although this was a black and white film, Lucy and Ricardo had colorful personalities. Lucy was always dressed nicely and Ricardo was always in a suit or business like attire. The house was always spotless as she was a housewife and an excellent mother later on. Lucy had a way of getting into trouble but Ricky somehow managed to get them out. She also displayed some traits that women were stereotyped for such as not showing or looking your age, being careless with money, and other secretive things. Ricardo on the other hand was the total opposite of Lucy which in the end balanced out their relationship. He has more patience than most and when he gets extremely mad, he would speak reall...
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
Vaudeville was very popular from the late 1800s to the early 1900s in North America. Vaudeville shows were made up of many random acts that were placed together in a common play bill. Some acts were, for example, plays, clowns, jugglers, comedians, etc. Once the radio was introduced, vaudeville’s started to become less popular as the radio’s popularity started to increase. The radio started out with maximum five programs but as the demand for radios increased so did the amount of programs, which went up to almost 500. Radios was the place families and friends gathered to hear the news, sporting events, music, entertainment, etc. One show millions of people listened to was The Burns and Allen Show, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Allen was the one who had all the punch lines and was very silly and Burns was the straight man, serious, and was the one who allowed Allen the opportunity to say her punch lines. Burns and Allen were one of the few people who succeeded in different medians and brought changes to the way entertainment was performed.
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.
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 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.
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.
It was about a nouveau riche African-American couple, George and Louise Jefferson. Jefferson was a successful businessman, millionaire and owned seven dry cleaning stores. They lived in a ritzy penthouse on the East Side. In fact, the theme song referred to the fact that they “were movin’ on up!” They lived their lives filled with money and success.
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.
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
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.
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
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.