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TELEVISION HUMOR:Sit Coms & Late Night TV

by Don L. F. Nilsen

and Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Ten Top Sit Coms of All Time

1. Seinfeld

2. Friends

3. Scrubs

4. My Hero

5. The Vicar of Dibley

6. The Simpsons

7. Frasier

8. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

9. The King of Queens

10. Everybody Loves Raymond

(Thelen ENG 414 PowerPoint)

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Drew Carey

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Family Guy

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Friends

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Kelsey Grammer as Frasier

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The Office

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Ray Ramono

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Scrubs

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Jerry Seinfeld

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The Simpsons

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Southpark

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Sit Coms: An Overview

• “Take a few stereotyped characters whose views/interests/inclinations are discordant; place them in a context of interaction from which they cannot escape; set in motion a course of events which leads them to formulate interpretations which clash, but without serious consequences; vary the action from one episode to another, but maintain the setting and the underlying patterns of conduct; provide clear and repeated signals of humorous intent; and arrange each episode in the form of a prolonged joke sequence with an ‘unexpected’ semantic reversal at the end.”

(Mulkay 183-184).(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 5)

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Types of Sit Coms

• Anne Spangler classes sit coms by– Setting: workplace, home…– Main Characters: single, women, black…– Tone: “warmedy,” “dramedy,” “surreal”…

• Leo Charney classes sit coms as:– Family Sitcoms: The Goldbergs, Everybody Loves

Raymond, Roseanne…– Friends-as-Family Sitcoms: Seinfeld, Friends, Three’s

Company, Cheers, Golden Girls…– Workplace Sitcoms: Cheers, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore

Show, The Office…

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 10)

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Rick Mitz’s Categories

• “Careercoms” Cheers, Dick Van Dyke Show• “Corncoms” The Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith• “Couplecoms” I Love Lucy• “Domcoms”: Father Knows Best• “Ethnicoms” The Goldbergs, Sanford and Son• “Kidcoms”: Leave lt To Beaver• “Scificoms” Alf, Morc• “Servicecoms”: M*A*S*H, N.C.I.S.

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 11)

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Static vs. Dynamic Sit Coms

• “Seinfeld and Friends demonstrate the two poles of the sitcom’s development: the show on which no one changes versus the show on which everyone changes.”

(Charney 599-600)

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

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Static Sit Coms

• The static sitcom, sticks to its expected characters and themes.

• On Seinfeld, Jerry, Elaine, George, Kramer, and above all, Jerry’s nemesis Newman have a great deal in common with such never-changing cartoon icons as Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, constantly bringing the same traits to the same situations.

(Charney 599-600)(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

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Dynamic Sitcoms

• Friends, Sex and the City, and Mad About You are dynamic sitcoms, “with their long arcs of character evolution and carefully worked-out resolutions.”

• They are a hybrid between the sitcom and the soap opera. The characters age, change, and grow as they would in real life.

(Charney 599-600)(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

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Sitcoms: Some Analogies

• There are military sitcoms, school based sitcoms, comedies that feature aliens from abroad as far as Mars and Ork, ethnic shows, urban and rural shows, and work-place comedies.

• “All the familiar character types of American humor from the wise fools of the colonial and early national literature to the ‘little men’ of comic strips, silent film, and journalism, to con men and tricksters are featured in sitcoms.”

(Mintz in Raskin [2008] 295)

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Pre-TV: Radio Sit Coms

• Amos ’n Andy first aired in 1928, and was adapted for TV in 1951.

• Amos ’n Andy came out of the minstrelsy tradition, and came to television as “blackface comedy.”

• It was cancelled after two seasons.(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 9)

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Amos ‘n Andy (1930s Radio)(1951-1952 TV)

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Molly Goldberg

• Molly Goldberg first aired on radio in 1929 and was adapted for TV in 1949.

• After five years on TV, it was cancelled.

• It represented a middle-class Jewish family living in an apartment in the Bronx.

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 9)

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The Goldbergs (1930s Radio)(1949-1953 TV)

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Sit Com Zeitgeists

• 1950s: Traditional Families– Nuclear family– White, Suburban, Patriarchal– Conventional Stereotypes: businessman

dad, stay-at-home mom, good-hearted and law-abiding children

– Examples: Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 12)

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Mayberry RFD (1950s TV)

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The Addams Family: Lurch (1950s TV)

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1960s: Beginnings of Diversity

• Nuclear Families (Dick Van Dyke Show)

• Fantastic Families: The Munsters, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie

• Single Parents: My Three Sons, The Andy Griffith Show

• Single Working Women: That Girl, Julia, Hazel

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 12)

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• The Munsters (1960s TV)

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Beverly Hillbillies (1960s TV)

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1970s: Controversial with Social Awareness

• Wholesome Families: Happy Days, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie

• Crass, Bigoted, Racist Families: All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons

• Feminist Sit Coms: Mary Tyler Moore Show

• Sex-Liberation: Three’s Company

• Blended Families: Brady Bunch, Diff’rent Strokes

• Taboo subjects like abortion, rape, interfaith marriage, poverty, antiwar sentiment are treated (Brooks 87)

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 13)

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Alf (1970s TV)

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All in the Family (1970s TV)

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The Brady Bunch (1970s TV)

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1980s: Realism & Variation

• Wholesome Sitcoms, some with Dual Career Marriages: The Cosby Show

• Animated Sitcoms: The Simpsons

• Rude, Crass, & Blue-Collar Sitcoms: Married…with Children, Roseanne

• Children tend to be independent; there are different types of families in terms of fathers, mothers, race, etc.

(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 14)

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The Cosby Show (1980s TV)

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The Simpsons (1980s TV)

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Golden Girls (1980s TV)

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Roseanne (1980s TV)

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1990s & 2000s: Few Taboos & Total Diversity

• Family: Home Improvement

• Animated: Beavis & Butt-head, Southpark, King of the Hill

• Teen Audience: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Malcolm in the Middle

• Single, Working Women: Will & Grace, Sex and the City

• Character Development & Growth: Seinfeld

• Sixty-Minute Format: Ally McBeal(Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 16)

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Family Guy (1990s TV)

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Friends (2000s TV)

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Home Improvement (1990s TV)

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Seinfeld (1990s TV)

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Ally McBeal (2000s TV)

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SITCOM WEB SITES 30 ROCK:http://www.nbc.com/30_Rock/

AMERICAN DAD:http://www.fox.com/americandad/

BETTER OFF TED:http://abc.go.com/shows/better-off-ted

THE BIG BANG THEORY:http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES:http://abc.go.com/primetime/desperate/

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CHEERS:http://www.tv.com/cheers/show/66/summary.html

COMMUNITY:http://www.nbc.com/community/

THE COSBY SHOW:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086687/

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM:http://www.hbo.com/larrydavid/

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES:http://abc.bo.com/primetime/desperate/

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND:http://www.cbs.com/primetime/everybody_loves_raymond/

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THE FAIRLY ODD PARENTS:http://www.nick.com/shows/the_fairly_oddparents/index.jhtml

FAMILY GUY:http://www.familyguy.com/

FRASIER:http://www.tv.com/frasier/show/70/summary.html

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098800/

FRIENDS:http://www2.warnerbros.com/friendstv/container.html

FULL HOUSE:http://www.tv.com/fullhouse/show/1026/summary.html

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FUTURAMA:http://search.msn.com/video/results.aspx?q=futurama&FORM=VDRE

THE GOLDEN GIRLS:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088526/

GROWING PAINS:http://www.tv.com/growingpains/show/118/summary.html

HOME IMPROVEMENT:http://www.tv.com/home-improvement/show/635/summary.html

IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA:http://www.hulu.com/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia

THE JEFFERSONS:http://www.tvland.com/shows/jeffersons/

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THE KING OF QUEENS:http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/kingofqueens/

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE:http://www.fox.com/malcolm/

MARRIED WITH CHILDREN:http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/marriedwithchildren/

MAUDE:http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htm1M/maude/maude.htm

MY HERO:http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/myhero/

MY NAME IS EARL:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460091/

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THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE:http://www.cbs.com/primetime/old_christine/

THE ODD COUPLE:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063374/

THE OFFICE:http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/

SCRUBS:http://www.nbc.com/Scrubs/

SEINFELD:http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/seinfeld/

SEX AND THE CITY:http://www.hbo.com/city/

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THE SIMPSONS:http://www.thesimpsons.com/index.html

SISTER, SISTER:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108927/

SOUTH PARK:http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155394/?tab=featured

SPIN CITY:http://abc.go.com/primetime/spincity/

SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS:http://www.nickelodeon.com.au/toonroom/sponge/menu.php

STEVE HARVEY:http://www.steveharvey.com/

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STILL STANDING:http://www.cbs.com/primetime/still_standing/

THAT 70S SHOW:http://www.that70sshow.com/

TWO AND A HALF MEN:http://www.cbs.com/primetime/two_and_a_half_men/

TYLER PERRY’S HOUSE OF PAYNE:http://www.tbs.com/shows/houseofpayne/

THE VICAR OF DIBLEY:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qgfj

WAR AT HOME:http://www.fox.com/warathome/

THE WINNER:http://www.fox.com/winner/

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!!Late Night TelevisionJon Stewart & Stephen Colbert

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!!!TALK SHOW WEB SITESADAM CAROLLA:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004805/

STEPHEN COLBERT: “THE COLBERT REPORT”:http://www.colbertnation.com/home

JIMMY FALLON:http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/

CRAIG FERGUSON:http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_late_show/

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CHELSEA LATELY (CHELSEA HANDLER):http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/chelsea/index.jsp

DAVID LETTERMAN:http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/

JIMMY KIMMELL:http://abc.go.com/latenight/jimmykimmel/index?pn=index

JAY LENO:http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/

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DEMETRI MARTIN:http://www.demetrimartin.com

CONAN O’BRIEN:http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE:http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/

SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM:http://sarahblog.comedycentral.com/

JON STEWART: “THE DAILY SHOW”:http://www.thedailyshow.com/

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