Post 8: How I met my sitcom

The television sitcom sprung from a live show. Some sitcoms are filmed in front of a live audience like a theater production, only there is a camera reproducing the image for the other million audiences watching the same show in their homes. According to Colin Tain, the TV sitcom is recognized by the characteristic of humor and the aspect of episodic narrative.

The humor within the sitcom genre, gives the audience an emotional connection through laughter and character appeal. A sitcom would not be a sitcom without humor; in fact humor is one of the characteristics that separates the sitcom from the drama. According to Colin Tain, the episodic sitcom has a modified three-act structure, and has mini-resolutions. The characters within a sitcom tend to only have a problem for that episode. Sitcoms do not tend to carry out the problems over a span of time. I believe that sitcoms are the type of show that one can easily tune into for the first time, and pick up the general plot as they watch. This can be because in many sitcoms there are cycles and repeated patterns that audience members can recognize from other sitcoms they have seen before.

One sitcom that I have recently started watching is How I Met Your Mother. From barely watching a few minutes of it, I naturally laughed without really knowing what the show was about. I think this is a great example of a sitcom not only because I appreciated the humor, but because I could catch on to the plot with the show having common repeated patterns. For example, the group of friends within the show are always at a bar talking. The show uses flashbacks to help the audience understand the conversations of the main characters. This makes it easy for the audience to keep up with what the show is about for that one episode. The show also is a good example for an episodic narrative, because each episode is a new story that the main character is remembering and retelling to his kids on how exactly he met their mother.

A good sitcom needs to make the audience laugh through the characteristic of humor, but it also needs to give the audience an opportunity to stay hooked in an easy way. The episodic narrative of How I Met Your Mother gives their old audience a new laugh, and gives their new audience a reason to not change the channel.

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