Sitcoms

In the world today, television sitcoms are something that every person has been into during some point of their lifetime, no matter what their interests are. Sitcoms can serve as an escape from reality, into a realm of comedy and entertainment. There are several characteristics that distinguish a sitcom from other genres of shows playing on television, such as being episodic and thirty minutes in length, and funny and entertaining to the audiences. They revolve around a family or a group of people that share something in common. Situations in sitcoms are usually blown out of proportion and contain random or absurd moments. Also, there is a lack of character development and a deep plot. All of these characteristics function to simply entertain the viewers.

An example of a popular sitcom that appeals to viewers is the animated sitcom Family Guy. Every characteristic explained above can be found in this sitcom. Family Guy runs for only thirty minutes. It is episodic, so there is no major change in the plot or the characters between episodes. For example, a character named Bonnie remains pregnant for about six seasons of the sitcom, and all of the characters remain in the same state at the beginning of an episode, so if they are ill in one episode, they most likely will be normal in the next. Also, Family Guy is centered around the Griffin family, since most sitcoms revolve around a family or similar group. There are a substantial amount of absurd and random moments occurring during each episode of this sitcom. Many of the situations are extremely hyperbolic and unrealistic, which appeal greatly to the humor of the viewers. Controversial issues are satirized, to the point where there exist no boundaries for what can be made fun of. This makes the show entertaining for all viewers, due to the lack of seriousness. Moments during the sitcom can be very random and absurd, and the spontaneity is what makes it funny. Throughout the many episodes, there is no change within the characters, and their personalities remain one-dimensional. Family Guy contains several of the aspects that are found in a sitcom today.

Sitcoms continue to be one of the most successful genres in television, and they have come a long way from what they used to be in the past.