541 TELEVISION HUMOR: Sit Coms & Late Night TV by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen

542 TV Critic

543 Ten Top Sit Coms of All Time 1. Seinfeld 2. Friends 3. Scrubs 4. My Hero 5. The Vicar of Dibley 6. The Simpsons 7. Frasier 8. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 9. The King of Queens 10. Everybody Loves Raymond (Thelen ENG 414 PowerPoint)

544 How Sophisticated is Seinfeld? IN ONE EPISODE THERE ARE FOUR PRIMARY STORY ARCS: 1.Jerry and his toys 2.George and his animals 3.Elaine and the sidler 4.Kramer and the Merv Griffin Set (Note that the Merve Griffen set was found in a dumpster. Note also that this episode is scripted for Kramer (like the original Merv Griffin), but unscripted for everyone else) Seinfeld: Kramer and the Merv Griffin Set:

545 Drew Carey

546 Family Guy

547 Friends

548 Kelsey Grammer as Frasier

549 The Office

5410 Ray Ramono

5411 Scrubs

5412 Jerry Seinfeld

5413 The Simpsons

5414 Southpark

5415 Sit Coms: An Overview Take a few stereotyped characters whose views/interests/inclinations are discordant; place them in a context of interaction from which they cannot escape; set in motion a course of events which leads them to formulate interpretations which clash, but without serious consequences; vary the action from one episode to another, but maintain the setting and the underlying patterns of conduct; provide clear and repeated signals of humorous intent; and arrange each episode in the form of a prolonged joke sequence with an unexpected semantic reversal at the end. (Mulkay ). (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 5)

5416 Types of Sit Coms Anne Spangler classes sit coms by –Setting: workplace, home… –Main Characters: single, women, black… –Tone: warmedy, dramedy, surreal… Leo Charney classes sit coms as: –Family Sitcoms: The Goldbergs, Everybody Loves Raymond, Roseanne… –Friends-as-Family Sitcoms: Seinfeld, Friends, Threes Company, Cheers, Golden Girls… –Workplace Sitcoms: Cheers, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Office… (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 10)

5417 Rick Mitzs Categories Careercoms Cheers, Dick Van Dyke Show Corncoms The Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith Couplecoms I Love Lucy Domcoms: Father Knows Best Ethnicoms The Goldbergs, Sanford and Son Kidcoms: Leave lt To Beaver Scificoms Alf, Morc Servicecoms: M*A*S*H, N.C.I.S. (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 11)

5418 Static vs. Dynamic Sit Coms Seinfeld and Friends demonstrate the two poles of the sitcoms development: the show on which no one changes versus the show on which everyone changes. (Charney ) (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

5419 Static Sit Coms The static sitcom, sticks to its expected characters and themes. On Seinfeld, Jerry, Elaine, George, Kramer, and above all, Jerrys nemesis Newman have a great deal in common with such never- changing cartoon icons as Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, constantly bringing the same traits to the same situations. (Charney ) (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

5420 Dynamic Sitcoms Friends, Sex and the City, and Mad About You are dynamic sitcoms, with their long arcs of character evolution and carefully worked-out resolutions. They are a hybrid between the sitcom and the soap opera. The characters age, change, and grow as they would in real life. (Charney ) (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 7)

5421 Sitcoms: Some Analogies There are military sitcoms, school based sitcoms, comedies that feature aliens from abroad as far as Mars and Ork, ethnic shows, urban and rural shows, and work-place comedies. All the familiar character types of American humor from the wise fools of the colonial and early national literature to the little men of comic strips, silent film, and journalism, to con men and tricksters are featured in sitcoms. (Mintz in Raskin [2008] 295)

5422 Pre-TV: Radio Sit Coms Amos n Andy first aired in 1928, and was adapted for TV in Amos n Andy came out of the minstrelsy tradition, and came to television as blackface comedy. It was cancelled after two seasons. (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 9)

5423 Amos n Andy (1930s Radio) ( TV)

5424

5425 Molly Goldberg Molly Goldberg first aired on radio in 1929 and was adapted for TV in After five years on TV, it was cancelled. It represented a middle-class Jewish family living in an apartment in the Bronx. (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 9)

5426 The Goldbergs (1930s Radio) ( TV)

5427

5428 Sit Com Zeitgeists 1950s: Traditional Families –Nuclear family –White, Suburban, Patriarchal –Conventional Stereotypes: businessman dad, stay-at-home mom, good-hearted and law-abiding children –Examples: Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 12)

5429 Mayberry RFD (1950s TV)

5430 The Addams Family: Lurch (1950s TV)

s: Beginnings of Diversity Nuclear Families (Dick Van Dyke Show) Fantastic Families: The Munsters, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie Single Parents: My Three Sons, The Andy Griffith Show Single Working Women: That Girl, Julia, Hazel (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 12)

5432 The Munsters (1960s TV)

5433 Beverly Hillbillies (1960s TV)

s: Controversial with Social Awareness Wholesome Families: Happy Days, The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie Crass, Bigoted, Racist Families: All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons Feminist Sit Coms: Mary Tyler Moore Show Sex-Liberation: Threes Company Blended Families: Brady Bunch, Diffrent Strokes Taboo subjects like abortion, rape, interfaith marriage, poverty, antiwar sentiment are treated (Brooks 87) (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 13)

5435 Alf (1970s TV)

5436 All in the Family (1970s TV)

5437 The Brady Bunch (1970s TV)

s: Realism & Variation Wholesome Sitcoms, some with Dual Career Marriages: The Cosby Show Animated Sitcoms: The Simpsons Rude, Crass, & Blue-Collar Sitcoms: Married…with Children, Roseanne Children tend to be independent; there are different types of families in terms of fathers, mothers, race, etc. (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 14)

5439 The Cosby Show (1980s TV)

5440 The Simpsons (1980s TV)

5441

5442 Golden Girls (1980s TV)

5443 Roseanne (1980s TV)

s & 2000s: Few Taboos & Total Diversity Family: Home Improvement Animated: Beavis & Butt-head, Southpark, King of the Hill Teen Audience: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Dawsons Creek, Malcolm in the Middle Single, Working Women: Will & Grace, Sex and the City Character Development & Growth: Seinfeld Sixty-Minute Format: Ally McBeal (Morrison PowerPoint [2009]: 16)

5445 Family Guy (1990s TV)

5446 Friends (2000s TV)

5447 Home Improvement (1990s TV)

5448 Seinfeld (1990s TV)

5449

5450 Ally McBeal (2000s TV)

5451 SITCOM WEB SITES 30 ROCK: AMERICAN DAD: BETTER OFF TED: THE BIG BANG THEORY: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES:

5452 CHEERS: COMMUNITY: THE COSBY SHOW: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND:

5453 THE FAIRLY ODD PARENTS: FAMILY GUY: FRASIER: THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR: FRIENDS: FULL HOUSE:

54 FUTURAMA: THE GOLDEN GIRLS: GROWING PAINS: HOME IMPROVEMENT: ITS ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: THE JEFFERSONS:

5455 THE KING OF QUEENS: MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE: MARRIED WITH CHILDREN: MAUDE: MY HERO: MY NAME IS EARL:

5456 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE: THE ODD COUPLE: THE OFFICE: SCRUBS: SEINFELD: SEX AND THE CITY:

5457 THE SIMPSONS: SISTER, SISTER: SOUTH PARK: SPIN CITY: SPONGE BOB SQUARE PANTS: STEVE HARVEY:

5458 STILL STANDING: THAT 70S SHOW: TWO AND A HALF MEN: TYLER PERRYS HOUSE OF PAYNE: THE VICAR OF DIBLEY: WAR AT HOME: THE WINNER:

5459 !!Late Night Television Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert

5460 !!!Greg Beato writes in Amusing us to Depth Multiple Surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Annenberg Public Policy Center have found that viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are among Americas most informed citizens. (390)

5461 !!!TALK SHOW WEB SITES ADAM CAROLLA: STEPHEN COLBERT: THE COLBERT REPORT: JIMMY FALLON: CRAIG FERGUSON:

5462 CHELSEA LATELY (CHELSEA HANDLER): DAVID LETTERMAN: JIMMY KIMMELL: JAY LENO:

5463 DEMETRI MARTIN: CONAN OBRIEN: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM: JON STEWART: THE DAILY SHOW:

5464 References: Apter, Michael J. Fawlty Towers: A Reversal Theory Analysis of a Popular Televison Comedy Series. Journal of Popular Culture 15.3 (1982): Balirano, Giuseppe, and Marcella Corduas. Detecting Semiotically- Expressed Humor in Diasporic TV Productions. HUMOR 21.3 (2008): Beato, Greg. Amusing Ourselves to Depth. Language Awareness, 10 th Edition. Eds. Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.Martins, Bergelin, Paul. Thirty-five Years of Corrupting Childrens Minds?: Pat McMahon and the Wallace and Ladmo Show. Studies in American Humor New Series 3.23 (2011):

Brooks, Marla. The American Family on Television: A Chronologyo of 121 Shows, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, Cantor, Muriel G. The American Family on Television: From Molly Goldberg to Bill Cosby. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 22.2 (1991): Cantor, Paul A. The Simpsons: Atomistic Politics and the Nuclear Family. Political Theory 27.6 (1999): Carter, Bill. The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night. New York, NY: Hyperion,

5466 Cassino, Dan, and Yasemin Besen-Cassino. Consuming Politics: Jon Stewart, Branding, and the Youth Vote in America. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Chan, Fong Yee. The Use of Humor in Television Advertising in Hong Kong. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 24.1 (2011): Charney, Leo. Television Sitcoms. Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide: 2 Volumes. Westport, CT: Praeger, Crawford, Alison. Oh Yeah!: Family Guy as Magical Realism? Journal of Film and Video 61.2 (2009): Dalton, Mary M., and Laura R. Linder, eds. The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed. Albany, NY: State Univ of New York Press, 2005.

5467 Davis, Dinah. Illusions and Ambiguities in the Telemedia Environment: An Exploration of the Transformation of Social Roles. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 39 (1995): Dobson, Hugo. Mister Sparkle Meets the Yakuza: The Depictions of Japan in The Simpsons. Journal of Popular Culture 39.1 (2006): Edge, Braínne. Comedy Improvisation on Television: Does It Work? Comedy Studies 1.1 (2010): Eisner, Joel, and David Krinsky, eds. Television Comedy Series: An Episode Guide to 153 TV Sitcoms in Syndication. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., Gardiner, Judith Kegan. Why Saddam is Gay: Masculinity Politics in South ParkBigger, Longer, and Uncut. Quarterly Review of Film and Video 22.1 (2005): Goldberg, Andrew. Family Guy: Brian Griffins Guide to Booze, Borads, and the Lost Art of Being a Man. New York, NY: Harper, Gournelos, Ted. Blasphemous Allusion: Coming of Age in South Park. Journal of Communication Inquiry 33.2 (2009):

5468 Gournelos, Ted. Puppets, Slaves, and Sex Changes: Mr. Garrison and South Parks Performative Sexualiry. Television and New Media 10.3 (2009): Gray, Jonathan. Watching with the Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality. London, England: Routledge, Groening, Matt. The Simpsons: One Step Beyond Forever. New York, NY: Matt Groening Productions, Hmielowski, Jay D., Lance R. Holbert, and Jayeon Lee. Predicting the Consumption of Political TV Satire: Affinity for Political Humor, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Communication Monographs 78 (2011): Hurd, Robert. Taking Seinfeld Seriously: Modernism in Popular Culture. New Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation 37.4 (12006): Jones, Gerard. Honey, Im Home! Sitcoms: Selling the American Dream. New York, NY: Grove/Weidenfield, 1992.

5469 Jones, Jeffrey P. Fake News versus Real News as Sources of Political lnformation: The Daily Show and Postmodern Political Reality. in Politicotainment: Televisions Take on the Real Ed. Kristina Riegert. New York, NY: Peter Lang, Leamer, Laurence. King of The Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. New York, NY: Morrow, Leno, Jay, and Bill Zehme. Leading with My Chin. New York, NY: HarperCollins, Lockyear, Sharon, ed. Reading Little Britain: Comedy Matters on Contemporary Television. London, England: I. B. Tauris, Mankoff, Bob. The New Yorker: Book of Literary Cartoons. New York, NY: Pocket Books, Marc, David. Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture. New York, NY: Blackwell, Marc, David. Demographic Vistas. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 1984.

5470 Marc, David. Origins of the Genre: In Search of the Radio Sitcom. in Dalton and Linder [2005]: Mills, Brett. Television Sitcom. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, Mitz, Rick. The Great TV Sitcom Book. New York, NY: Perigee Books, Moon, Tony. Spotlight Kids: The Depiction of Stand-Up Comedians in Fictional Drama: Film, Television and Theatre. Comedy Studies 1.2 (2010): Morreale, Joanne. Revisiting the Osbournes: The Hybrid-Reality Sitcom. Journal of Film and Video 55.1 (2003): Morrison, Krystina. The Radio and Television Sit Com. Unpublished ENG 414 PowerPoint, Tempe, AZ: ASU, April, Mulkay, Michael. On Humour: Its Nature and Place in Modern Society. Oxford, England: Polity Press, 1988.

5471 Nagy, Victoria. Motherhood, Stereotypes, and South Park. Womens Studies 39.1 (2010): Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20 th Century American Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor Scholarship: A Research Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Ortved, John. The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History. New York, NY: Faber and Faber, Pavese, Edith, and Judith Henry. TV Mania: A Timeline of Television. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Morris, J. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Audience Attitude Change During the 2004 Party Conventions. Political Behavior (2007):

5472 Putterman, Barry. On Television and Comedy: Essays on Style, Theme, Performer and Writer. New York, NY: MacFarland, Reincheld, Aaron. Saturday Night Live and Weekend Update. Journalism History 21.4 (2006): Rice, Jonah Lee. SpongeBob SquarePants: Pop Culture Tsunami or More? Journalof Popular Culture 42.6 (2009): Ross, Michael L., and Lorraine York. First, Theyre Foreigners: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Limits of Dissident Laughter. Canadian Review of American Studies 37.3 (2007): Santa Ana, Otto. Did you call in Mexican? The Racial Politics of Jay Leno Immigrant Jokes. Language in Society 38.1 (2009): Schwartz, Sherwood, and Lloyd J. Schwartz. Brady Brady Brady: The Completge Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team Who Really Know. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers, Scodari, Christine. Sex and the Sitcom: Gender and Genre in Millenial Television. in Dalton & Linder [2005]: 242ff.

5473 Senzani, Alessandra. Class and Gender as a Laughing Matter? The Case of Roseanne. HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 23.2 (2010): Shales, Thomas. Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York, NY: Bay Back Books, Smoodin, Eric. Animating Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, Spangler, Lynn C. Television Women from Lucy to Friends: Fifty Years of Sitcoms and Feminism. Westport, CT: Praeger, Seinkiewicz, Matt, and Nick Marx. Beyond a Cutout World: Ethnic Humor and Discursive Integration in South Park. Communication and Mass Media Complete (2009): Thelen, Jenna. Humor in Sit Coms. Unpublished ENG 414 PowerPoint, Tempe, AZ: ASU, 2009.

5474 Thomas, Ellen Mazur. The Origins of Graphic Design in America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, Trueth, Michael V. Laughter in the Living Room: Television Comedy and the American Home Audience. New York, NY: Peter Lang, Watterson, Bill. Calvin and Hobbes. New York, NY: Andrews McMeel Publishing, Wertheim, Arthur Frank. Radio Comedy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Wisnewski, Jeremy. Family Guy and Philosophy. Maldon, MA: Blackwell, Zoglin, Richard. Comedy at the Edge. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2008.