Sitcoms

A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

SitWHAT?!?!?!
A situation
comedy (sitcom) is
a genre of comedy.

Characteristics
A situation comedy
has a storyline and
ongoing characters.
The situation is often
composed of comedic
sequences set within
a family or workplace

Often the status

quo of the situation
is maintained from
episode to episode.

Running gags evolve

during a series

Breef History
Born on January 1926 with the initial broadcast of Sam 'n' Henry on WGN radio in Chicago, Illinois.
The sitcom was among the first formats adapted for the new medium of television.
The first television sitcom is said to be Pinwright's Progress, that first aired in the United Kingdom between 1946
and 1947.
Many of the earliest sitcoms were direct adaptations of existing radio shows such as Burns and Allen.
The first American sitcom is Mary Kay and Johnny, the show first aired on November, 18, 1947

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy
Premiered on October 15, 1951

It had 6 seasons and 181 episodes

A daffy woman constantly strives to become a star

along with her bandleader husband and gets
herself in the strangest situations.

I Love Lucy
Ricky Ricardo

Cuban singer and

bandleader

I Love Lucy
Lucy Ricardo

Rickys wife

I Love Lucy
Fred Mertz

WWI veteran and Lucy

and Rickys landlord

I Love Lucy
Ethel Mertz

Freds wife

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

The Honeymooners

The Honeymooners
Premiered on October October 1, 1955

It had 1 seasons and 39 episodes

A bus driver and his sewer worker friend struggle

to strike it rich while their wives look on with
weary patience

The Honeymooners
Ralph Kramden

A bus driver for the

fictional Gotham Bus
Company

The Honeymooners
Ed Norton

A New York
City sewer worker and
Ralph's best friend

The Honeymooners
Alice Kramden

Ralph's patient but

sharp-tongued wife of
roughly 15 years.

The Honeymooners
Trixie Norton

Ed's wife and Alice's

best friend.

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show

Premiered on October October 3, 1960

It had 8 seasons and 249 episodes

Widower Sheriff Andy and his son Opie live with

Andy's Aunt Bee in Mayberry NC. With virtually no
crimes to solve, most of Andy's time is spent
philosophizing and calming down Deputy Barney.

The Andy Griffith Show

Sheriff Andy Taylor
Widowed sheriff of the
fictional small
community of
Mayberry

The Andy Griffith Show

Opie Taylor

Andys son

The Andy Griffith Show

Aunt Bee Taylor

Andys aunt and

housekeeper

The Andy Griffith Show

Deputy Barney Fife

Andys inept deputy

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

The Addams Family

The Addams Family

Premiered on September 18, 1964

It had 2 seasons and 64 episodes

The misadventures of a blissfully macabre but

extremely loving family.

The Addams Family

Gomez Addams

Gomez is passionately
in love with his wife

The Addams Family

Morticia Addams

A cultivated and
beautiful woman who
dabbles in art.

The Addams Family

Uncle Fester

Morticia's exuberant,
kind, and "electric"
uncle

The Addams Family

Lurch

Is the household butler

The Addams Family

Wednesday Friday
Addams
Gomez and Morticia's
daughter.

The Addams Family

Pugsley Addams

Gomez and Morticia's

son and Wednesday's
older brother.

The Addams Family

Thing T. Thing

A disembodied hand that

appears out of boxes and
other conveniently placed
containers.

The Addams Family

Grandmama Addams

The Mother of Gomez.

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

All in The Family

All in The Family

Premiered on January 12, 1971

It had 9 seasons and 208 episodes

A working class bigot constantly squabbles with

his family over the important issues of the day.

All in The Family

Archie Bunker

An assertively
prejudiced blue-collar
worker.

All in The Family

Edith Bunker

Archies wife.

All in The Family

Gloria Stivic

The Bunkers' collegeage daughter, married

to Michael Stivic

All in The Family

Michael Stivic

Gloria's PolishAmerican hippie husba

nd

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Happy Days

Happy Days
Premiered on January 15, 1974

It had 11 seasons and 255 episodes

The Cunningham family live through the 1950s

with help and guidance from the lovable and
almost superhuman greaser, Fonzie.

Happy Days
Richie Cunningham

He is the second son of

Howard and Marion
Cunningham

Happy Days
Marion "Mrs.C"
Cunningham
Wife of Howard
Cunningham, mother of
Richie and Joanie

Happy Days
Howard "Mr.C"
Cunningham
Husband of Marion
Cunningham

Happy Days
Joanie Cunningham

Richie's younger sister

Happy Days
Arthur Herbert "Fonzie"
Fonzarelli
Known for being
especially cool and for
his catchphrases

Happy Days
Warren "Potsie" Weber

Richie's best friend and

an aspiring talented
singer.

Happy Days
Charles "Chachi"
Arcola
Fonzie's younger cousin

Happy Days
Ralph Malph

He usually had two

things on his mind, girls
and jokes.

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Cheers

Cheers
Premiered on September 30, 1982

It had 11 seasons and 270 episodes

The regulars of the Boston bar Cheers share their

experiences and lives with each other while
drinking or working at the bar where everybody
knows your name.

Cheers
Sam Malone

Former Baseball
player and an owner of
Cheers.

Cheers
Carla Tortelli
A "wisecracking,
cynical" cocktail
waitress, who treats
customers badly.

Cheers
Cliff Clavin

A know-it-all bar
regular and postal
worker

Cheers
Norm Peterson

A bar regular and semiunemployed accountant

Cheers
Dr. Frasier Crane

A psychiatrist and bar

regular

Cheers
Woody Boyd

A not-sobright bartender

Cheers
Rebecca Howe
She starts out as a strong
independent woman,
managing the bar for the
corporation that was given
the bar by Sam after Diane
jilted him

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Seinfeld

Seinfeld
Premiered on July 5, 1989

It had 9 seasons and 180 episodes

The continuing misadventures of neurotic New

York stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his
equally neurotic New York friends.

Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld

A minor celebrity
stand-up comedian

Seinfeld
George Costanza

Jerrys best friend

Seinfeld
Elaine Benes

Jerrys ex-girlfriend

Seinfeld
Cosmo Kramer

Jerrys neighbor

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Friends

Friends
Premiered on September 22, 1994

It had 10 seasons and 236 episodes

A show about six friends in New York as they

navigate their way through life and learn to grow
up as they approach their thirties. All, with the
help from each other to get them through the
obstacles that life naturally has for us.

Friends
Rachel Green
A fashion enthusiast
and Monica Geller's
best friend from
childhood.

Friends
Monica Geller
A chef, known for her
perfectionist, bossy,
competitive, and
obsessive-compulsive
nature.

Friends
Phoebe Buffay

An eccentric masseuse and

self-taught musician.

Friends
Joey Tribbiani
A struggling actor and
food lover who
becomes famous for his
role on a soap opera.

Friends
Chandler Bing
An executive in statistical
analysis and data
reconfiguration for a large
multi-national corporation.

Friends
Ross Geller
Monica Geller's older
brother,
a paleontologist working
at the Museum of Natural
History.

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond

Premiered on September 13, 1996

It had 9 seasons and 210 episodes

It never stops for successful sports writer Ray

Barone, whose oddball family life consists of a fed
up wife, overbearing parents, and an older
brother with lifelong jealousy.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Ray Barone
He is a sportswriter
for Newsday. His parents,
Frank and Marie, and
brother Robert live across
the street.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Debra Barone
is Raymond's wife, as a
housewife, Debra claims she
is frequently overworked,
under-appreciated and
stressed out

Everybody Loves Raymond

Robert Barone

Raymond's older brother

and the son of Frank and
Marie.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Marie Barone
Raymond's mother, the wife
of Frank, and the matriarch
of the Barone family.
Intrusive, controlling,
manipulative and overnurturing

Everybody Loves Raymond

Frank Barone

Raymond's father and

Marie's husband, a
retired bookkeeper

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

Arrested Development

Arrested Development
Premiered on November 2, 2003

It had 4 seasons and 68 episodes

Level-headed son Michael Bluth takes over family

affairs after his father is imprisoned. But the rest
of his spoiled, dysfunctional family are making his
job unbearable.

Arrested Development
Michael Bluth
The show's straight man,
who strives to do the
right thing and keep his
family together, despite
everything.

Arrested Development
George Michael Bluth
Michaels teenage son

Arrested Development
Gob Bluth II

Michael's older brother, an

unsuccessful professional
magician

Arrested Development
Buster Bluth
Michaels youngest brother
that as a result of overmothering, is unstable,
socially inept, and prone
to panic attacks.

Arrested Development
Lindsay Bluth Fnke

Michael's twin sister.

She is spoiled and
materialistic

Arrested Development
Tobias Fnke
Lindsays husband, a
discredited psychiatristturned-aspiring actor.

Arrested Development
George Bluth Sr.

The patriarch of the family,

who goes to jail.

Arrested Development
Lucille Bluth
Michael's mother is
manipulative, materialistic,
and hypercritical of every
member of her family, as
well as being a perpetual
drunk.

Arrested Development
Maeby Fnke

Lindsays daughter, a
rebellious teen, in an effort
to get their attention.

Sitcoms
A VIEW OF SITCOMS IN AMERICA

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory

Premiered on September 24, 2007

It has 8 seasons

A woman who moves into an apartment across

the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward
physicists shows them how little they know about
life outside of the laboratory.

The Big Bang Theory

Leonard Hofstadter,
The straight man of the
series, he shares an
apartment with colleague
and
friend
Sheldon
Cooper.

The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon Cooper
He was a child prodigy
with an eidetic
memory who began
college at the age of 11.

The Big Bang Theory

Penny

She is an aspiring actress

who lives across the hall
from Sheldon and Leonard.

The Big Bang Theory

Howard Joel Wolowitz
Leonards friends that
works as an aerospace
engineer

The Big Bang Theory

Raj Koothrappali
Howards
friend
and
originally from India, he
works
as
a
particle astrophysicist. He
also cant speak with women

The Big Bang Theory

Amy Farrah Fowler
A woman Raj and Howard met
on an online dating site after
secretly setting up an account
using Sheldon's name and
information, Once she and
Sheldon meet, she becomes
his girlfriend.

The Big Bang Theory

Bernadette Rostenkowski
A waitress and co-worker
of Penny's. Bernadette is
introduced to Howard by
Penny.

Thats it!
Questions?