Birth of TV Comedy, Monday First Period

[chosehumanity]

"And this week, we're starting with the actual comedy," Mitchell said, without really seguing much. "Not to disparage anyone's jokes, but I think some of you are dearly in need of some education."

He clapped his hands.

"Let's start at the beginning," he said. "Like most genres in television, the TV comedy was birthed from the radio tradition. In fact, in the old days, some sitcoms on TV ran concurrent with similar shows on the radio, such as Hancock's Half Hour. Sadly, a lot of these series have been lost, such as Pinwright's Progress, which was never recorded in a fashion it could be recovered in."

Mitchell had seen it. Not that he'd brag about it.

"So sadly, we have to look to the sixties for the real material. If you stay in Britain, at least. The 'sitcom', the situational comedy, was always the most prevalent kind of TV comedy. The other two options were stand-up and sketch comedy; the former involved a single person, sometimes two, talking to the audience. The second involved unrelated short bits of comedy, stuffed into a single show. Like meta for Monty Python, but we'll be getting to that next week. Sitcoms, on the other hand, had a consistent storyline set in a situational background. Like a family, or a business."

He pushed himself up out of his chair. "So much for the boring background," he said, "We're here to watch TV, right? Early fifties, and the sixties. We'll show some examples of British and American sitcoms and see about the differences."

Beat.

"And then I want you all to tell me which part of your life would work the best as a sitcom. Just for the fun of it."

[[ wait for the ocd up! ]]

Comments

Two Questions

[chosehumanity]

"What are the differences and the similarities between these two shows?" he asked. "And where would you set a sitcom about your own life? No ducking the question, I'm watching you lot."

Re: Two Questions

[therewaslife]

"There's the difference in setting, obviously," Bod answered after a moment. "One's taking place during a very real event and the other could be taking place in what could have been any day during that time period. The humor is derived differently from different situations and using some different ways to make the audience laugh."

The second part had Bod pausing, lips pursed while he thought. He knew the obvious answer. Everyone probably knew the obvious answer. "I don't know if I could say a specific location. Maybe a variety of different places while I'm traveling? A new town each episode to provide new situations for humor?"

Re: Two Questions

[vanillajello]

"The big similarity is that neither of them are funny. One's just American and loud, while the other's British." Beat. "And really kinda loud too."

Oh yeah. Someone was in a great mood.

"Also, a sitcom about my life?" She snorted derisively. "Probably set in an insane asylum masquerading as a school. Or a home."

Re: Two Questions

[hrodberxtas.livejournal.com]

"Well, the second show relies more on slapstick and zany situations that even silly people would have a hard time finding themselves in. Where as the first one relies more on the times, things folks might have found funny only during the war.". He shrugged, "A story based on my life would probably be like the Three Stooges, and take place near Athens. With me as the viewer.."

Re: Two Questions

[iknowstuff.livejournal.com]

"Well in the case of I Heart Heather, you're dealing with a good deal of slapstick that comes naturally out of a situation," Layla replied. "And then the lunacy of the show keeps building on it and so forth until it reaches the climax. As for my own sitcom... It would have to be about a girl working for a detective agency where all the employees have super powers."

Except for Rictor but he didn't really count.