Sitcoms

The situation comedy (sitcom) is a format that first developed in radio and later became the primary form of comedy on television. The first sitcom to be number one in US ratings overall was I Love Lucy. A typical I Love Lucy episode involved one of Lucy's ambitious but hare-brained schemes, whether it be sneaking into Ricky's nightclub act, finding a way to hobnob with celebrities, showing up her fellow women's club members, or simply trying to improve the quality of her life. Usually she ends up in some comedic mess, a form of slapstick comedy. The I Love Lucy show grew out of a radio program in which Lucille Ball was featured. Another popular sitcom of the 50s to cross over from radio was Amos & Andy.

In the decades since, several sitcoms have been tops in the ratings. In the 1960s The Beverly Hillbillies and The Andy Griffith Show show held that distinction. Both of these programs were based on the country bumpkin - the Clampetts bringing their hillbilly ways to Beverly Hills, and the slow talking sheriff in the small rural town. In the 1970s All in the Family was the top rated show while dealing with serious issues it was based on the loudmouth bigot usually getting his come-uppance.

The most successful sitcoms of the 1980s were The Cosby Show, Roseanne, and Cheers. The Cosby Show is noteworth because is was a family comedy about an African American family based on the gentle comedy of Bill Cosby. Roseanne was also a family sitcom, but based on loud and large blue-collar parents. Cheers on the otherhand was about a neighborhood bar frequented by a mix of working-class and professional drinkers.

In the 1990s the increasing popularity of cable changed the popularity of the sitcom. Cable provided more viewing options and made it more difficult for any one show to dominate in the manner that The Cosby Show or Cheers did in their eras. That said Seinfeld and Friends managed to be among the most watched shows of the decade. The 2000s has seen a further erosion in the sitcom with Friends being the only one to be the top watched show in any year of this decade, thus far, and the cancellation of the Emmy winning Arrested Development. Arrested Development had been one of the few critically successful comedies to have started in the 2000s, but recent comedies like The Office and My Name Is Earl have garnered some praise.

While many sitcoms were based on families or family situations, another common thread in sitcoms is "workplace comedies." The Andy Griffith Show and Arrested Development had elements of both workplace and family comedy. For more on this see US sitcom.

Although often derided by the critics, a few sitcoms have managed to be successful with both critics and audiences alike. Amongst these are Frasier, Seinfeld, All in the Family, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The television sitcom provides an opportunity to compare British and American humor. Many British sitcoms have been re-made for American audiences. For example, Till Death Us Do Part became All in the Family; Man About the House became Three's Company; and, the immensely popular Steptoe and Son became Sanford and Son. The Office was originally a British sitcom that has been successfully remade remade for an American audience using the same title (and often the same scripts). However, most British sitcoms usually fare better in their original forms. Re-makes of other British comedies have failed.