That Sitcom Show

As described by Professor Tait during Wednesday's lecture, the traditional American sitcom provides a snippet of story with each episode that ends cleanly at the end of every — normally 30-minute — installment. The episodic structure creates a view-friendly plot line featuring characters that change very little as the seasons progress, allowing people to tune in any time without any prior knowledge of the series and understand what is going on. Additionally, sitcoms tend to produce humorous pieces that are a bit hyperbolic in nature, making for a quick taste of comedic entertainment in a manner not unlike what Easy Listening does as a genre for the music medium.

 "That 70's Show," a period sitcom centered around a group of teens growing up in a small town in Wisconsin, delivered such snippets of comedic actions to viewers over the course of its 8 seasons on air. With plot lines that often focus in on exaggerated tales of teenage shenanigans, each episode has a tendency to serve as a skit-like event, linking together in a series that often has very few other common linkages aside. Episodes included the humorous aftermath of an impromptu graffiti session on the side of the local water tower to one of the main character's comical relationship with his stern father and extremely nurturing mother.

A television-centric stage set-up also provides a classic example of "people watching people watch TV," another aspect of TV sitcoms described during Professor Tait's lecture. The main hangout for the group, character Eric Foreman's basement, features a television set straight out of the '70s that the furniture in the area is arranged around. Characters also consistently gather around it, during which time snippets of comedic dialogue tend to occur.

Additionally, characters in "That 70's Show" undergo little development throughout the series aside from some love-interests that are interwoven across a span of several episodes, creating a viewing experience that is extremely accessible to anyone looking for a little entertainment.


Image courtesy of fanpop.com.