Examples of Sitcoms:
Some examples of U.K sitcoms are:
- Only fools and horses
- Vicar of dibley
- Fawlty towers
- Dad’s army
- Outnumbered
- Inbetweeners
- Open all hours
- My family
Some example of U.S sitcoms:
- Blackadder
- The 70’s show
- Friends
- The big bang theory
- The fresh prince of Belair
- Scrubs
- My wife and kids
- Everybody hates Chris
- Everybody loves Raymond
Here is a brainstorm of the conventions of a sitcom:
Analysis of scheduling of sitcoms in one weeks television
Scheduling of a sitcom depends on the content of it. For example: Friends is usually on at around 7pm. whereas Men Behaving Badly would be scheduled to be on around 9 or 10pm. This is because of the 9 o clock watershed, which assumes that most young children are in bed and not watching TV. However, it has become much harder to schedule because the market is saturated with programs.
The BBC, the first radio and television broadcaster in the UK, still relies on the licensing fee to fund their International Operation. However, commercial companies such as: ITV and Channel 4 use advertising as a form of revenue. Recently, product companies such as: Appeltizer pays Channel 4 to sponsor Friends. This is important revenue for the commercial TV companies. Also, because they are cheap to make and can attract a large audience, the revenue from advertisements on commercial channels is attracted.
Analysis of sitcom focusing on character
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Only twelve episodes were produced, but the series has had a lasting and powerful influence on later shows. Each episode lasted for 30 minutes and was broadcast weekly in two series of six episodes.
The show is set in a fictional hotel ‘Fawlty Towers’ in the Devon town of Torquay. The hotel is owned and run by Basil and Sybil Fawlty:
The episodes typically revolve around Basil Fawlty's efforts to succeed and his frustration at mistakes, both his own and those of others, which prevent him from doing so.
Much of the humour comes from Basil's insulting and sometimes aggressive manner, engaging in angry but witty arguments with guests, staff and in particular his wife, who he addresses with insults such as "that golfing puff adder", "my little piranha fish," and "my little nest of vipers". Despite this, he frequently feels intimidated as she is able to insult him back.
Basil Fawlty, played by John Cleese is desperate to belong to a higher social class. He sees the successful running of the hotel as a means of achieving this, yet his job forces him to be pleasant to people he despises or aspires to be above socially.
While he is terrified of his wife's sharp tongue, he wishes to stand up to her, and his plans often conflict with her wishes. She is often verbally abusive towards him and though he is much taller than Sybil, he often finds himself on the receiving end of Sybil's temper. Basil usually turns to Manuel or Polly to help him with whatever scheme he has planned, while trying his best to prevent Sybil from finding out.
Manuel:
Basil behaves violently towards Manuel who is an emotional and largely useless Spanish waiter who cannot understand English for innocent mistakes, including beating Manuel with a frying pan and hitting him over the head, despite Manuel's desperate pleading.
Polly:
Employed as a waitress, Polly is often stuck doing many other jobs in the hotel. She is also the voice of sanity, although she loyally attempts to help Basil when he is trying to cover for a mistake he's made, for fear of being sacked if she doesn't co-operate.
Analysis of sitcom focusing on Britishness
Stereotypes of Britishness are:
- The queen/royalty
- Fish and chips
- Bowler hat
- Obsession with the weather
- Big Ben, Houses of Parliaments, double decker buses, guards
- Builders
- Patriotic
- British bulldogs
- War/ battles
- British music/punk music
- Being a gentleman, etiquette, politeness
- Drinking tea
- Bad weather
- Horseracing
- Moustache
- Britishness is having a stiff upper lip and never showing emotion, being able to laugh about your problems and to carry on no matter what. British people are usually very warm, welcoming and a very forgiving country.
One episode which stereotypes this is ‘The Germans’ in Fawlty Towers. Basil proceeds to mention the war at every opportunity, upsetting the German guests more and more as he rapidly descends into a fit of xenophobic ranting about everything and everyone that most Germans would rather forget. Basil is at his insensitive best (or should that be worst) but at least on this occasion he can blame a knock on the head for his behaviour! The line by Basil: “Don't mention the war!” has become one of those phrases from great British comedies that have become of common use.
When the fed up German asks Basil to stop going on about the war, Basil kindly reminds him that they started it. “We did not start it,” protests the German. “Yes you did, you invaded Poland”, replies Basil!
Basel represents britishness as he looks like a gentleman and his language is sophisticated. He also pretends that nothing is wrong and everything is fine.
