Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays To All !

     I wanted to wish you all the best in these times of holidays, Christmas, Kwanza, whatever you celebrate... 

I will be taking a short break from posting here until the shows start back up in January. So, don't hesitate to check out the older posts so that we have plenty to talk about in 2012 ! 

Happy Holidays everyone and Happy new Year when the time comes ! 2012, finally, Doomsday !!! 

Anyways, thank you for reading and see you next year !!!

TRJ

Futurama

     Futurama is, in my opinion, one of the best animated sitcoms of all times. First aired on FOX between 1999 and 2003 then canceled to only have reruns on Adult Swim. In 2007, four really good movies came out until 2008 when Comedy Central started to air new episodes and now episodes are scheduled to air at least until 2012-13. 

Why do I like Futurama so much ? Because it gives an interesting point of view of our own society but with an imaginary perception from the future. Not only that, it's a pretty funny show with touching characters. 

Not too much touchy-feely, but a cute subtle twist at the end of most episodes like in "Where the Buggalo Roam" S03 E10, when Kif and Amy kiss and Kif writes in his diary with his particular voice "Dear Diary, I just made love for the second time". I like that little touch of cuteness because it isn't overbearing, yet keeps the show in the Sitcom tradition. 

     The songs and music are really good and I admire Christopher Tyng for bringing the series alive with such awesome tunes. 

Alec Baldwin - My Man Crush n°1

      Now let me be clear, I'm a relatively happy heterosexual. It's just that sometimes you get caught up watching a show, suddenly 3 seasons have gone by and it's already tomorrow. Real case of the Mondays ! HA HA HA...

     Rewatching 30 Rock from the start, and remembering my first experience with the show, I found myself, not as the analyst I idealize myself to be, but rather as the schoolgirl phasing out every character in the show except Jack Donaghy while ice cream gently drips from my lips on my purple PJs with my hair held up by the only crayon I have left from that not-so-long ago childhood. 

Future-Drama - The Simpsons S23 E09

     When I watched last night's episode of the Simpsons, it made me think of the problem with very long shows. So the Simpsons are on season 23, 23 years of the Simpsons. 

Think about it like this : 496 episodes have aired. That's more days than in a year. Nobody gets older so it's a sort of weird time warp that is operated where nothing ever changes. 

But that's what sitcoms do. They keep us in an unaltered reality where time has stopped. Sure, the seasons change and the family celebrates different holidays and keeps up with the times with technology, cultural and political references. 

Where Are The Fireworks ? Modern Family Review

     When I watched Modern Family's "Express Christmas", S03 E10, I was fearing the traditional Christmas Special and total disinterest on my part. Yet, as Modern Family often does, my expectations were wrong and so, the episode started in a completely non-Christmas way with the whole family by the pool sunbathing. There are only a couple of episodes that start with the whole family together (see my review on Modern Family S03 E08), usually they meet up in the end as each family part plot-line is resolved.

         What was important in this episode, was to show the whole family together to put emphasis on the fact that they won't be on the actual Christmas day and for us as viewers, it felt kind of weird to imagine them not spending Christmas together since they seemed to always do everything as a family relating to the name of the show, as it were, Modern Family. In that way when Cam says that he, Lilly and Mitchell could go to Missouri for Christmas, Claire objects saying that Christmas is spent with family and Cam sets her straight reminding her that his family is in Missouri. Once again, for us as viewers, it is not conceivable that Cam has actually another family. Sure his mother has been seen but only in Cam and Mitchell's house, only in California. The family must keep a familiar setting and if not, must move together like in the Hawai Episodes (S01 E22-23).

Christmas Is Coming

     As the streets shine with that winter glow of Christmas decorations, as every morning I wake and rush to the window to see if it has snowed, as I watch TV and listen to the radio where people try to sell me presents for the holidays, I realize that every year it's the same thing.

We'll get the same Christmas Specials in Sitcoms, the same feel-good moment at the end where the whole family is together. And next year, it'll be the same thing, so will the year after that,... etc...

     All this makes me think about monotony and regularity. These shows I watch and then comment on are all pretty much the same. Sure, the structure, the characters and the jokes change to some extent, but in the end, they are all the same. Because that is how Sitcoms are defined as I said many times : 

"I'll Start Packing" - Typical Joke n° 2

     For this post, I want to tell you about what I call the "I'll Start Packing" Joke which is at the same time my favorite typical joke and the one I dislike the most. My favorite because it is so simple and so often used that, just like a word you repeat over and over again, it lost all meaning. The one I dislike the most because I really hate seing it in modern shows since it is so unoriginal. 

   You might have guessed from its name what joke I'm talking about, just in case, here's a basic example : 

The Basic Mystery Factor

     In most shows, there is some sort of ongoing mystery that will never really be elucidated. In my opinion, there is something to understand other than just comic-effect. Let's take a quick look at different mysteries and see how they impact a sitcom. 

        The Simpsons never say in which US State they are. This could be unimportant, but they insure that you keep wondering with different allusions and try to maintain the mystery alive.

       In The Big Bang Theory, there used to be a mystery about how the elevator stopped working but it was resolved recently. There is however the fact that Howard's mother is always heard but never seen.

Creating An Illusion

     I was watching It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (IASIP), the latest episode (S07 E10 "How Mac Got Fat"), and it gave me the idea for this post. The set-up is Mac telling the story of how he got fat to a priest. Watch it, as always, IASIP is hands down hilarious.

     When you make a show, tell a story, shoot a movie, whatever,... The goal is to create an Illusion so that your audience gets sucked in the story. Illusions are built in various ways, some very easy like just saying "Once upon a time", some much more complicated like a movie set during the French Revolution where you would need to have realistic clothing, tools, buildings, and so on. 

About Last Night...

     I wanted to review the four animated shows that aired last night : Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show and the Simpsons.

     Often, what we fear when Sitcoms get towards episode 4 or 5 of any given season, the show loses a bit of its momentum, and so, I wanted to check up on the state of these four animated Sitcoms.

The Sitcom Blog Trailer on Youtube !!!

Watch the video on YouTube made by T.R.Josset :

Review - Modern Family S03 E08 - "After The Fire"

     Modern Family (MF) is one of my favorite shows lately because it brings something new to the old table of Sitcoms. There is a sort of clean fresh new feeling that fills my want for better Sitcoms.

The latest episode, "After the Fire" S03 E08, as all the others before, has generously met my expectations and I thought I'd share a few things with you.

     Now the first thing I noticed during my initial viewing is that this particular episode is somewhat inverted compared to the usual MF structure. 

This is what we usually get : 

Review - Family Guy S10 E05 - "Back to the Pilot"

     In a comment on my post about Optimum Cruise Speed, Gabe J (Check out his awesome blog here!) and I discussed changes over time in sitcoms (such as the appearance of Butters in South Park) and I wrote : 

"I just watched the latest family guy episode, and rethinking of the first episodes, the whole show has drastically changed course and the characters have evolved much later than POCS or TOCS.". 

The episode of Family Guy (FG) I was referring to was S10 E03 - "Screams of Silence : the Story of Brenda Q" that apparently got pretty controversial as you can see here. 

     Now I just watched the latest FG episode, "Back to the Pilot", it seems the creators wanted to show how much the series has changed. Brian and Stewie go back in time to the very first aired episode of FG and, to their surprise, everything is much different. 

Sitcom Opening Titles

     What is the point of having the same sequence at the beginning of each episode ? For us, who have seen so many, we don't need a brief introduction to the cast, we don't learn anything more,... So what's the point ?

- The main goal for an opening sequence would be to introduce the cast to first viewers. Ok. But once I've seen a couple episodes, I want to get to it, get to the story. 

- In my opinion, the main titles are a sort of rallying point for all the people who are familiar with the show. It sets the mood : "the next twenty minutes or so are for you, for fun, for laughs". 

The Unexpected Outcome - Typical Joke n° 1

     One defining feature of sitcoms is that the same joke templates are used over and over again. These jokes don't really come up in different types of entertainment, like movies or books... However, in "boulevard" theater you will find the same jokes. I explain this like this :

"Boulevard" Theater and Sitcoms have basic plot-lines that are usually the same. Therefore, Sitcoms and "Boulevard" Theater share the same jokes.

The Two Voices - The Janus (Typical Characters n° 1)

     Some shows can be very deep, others very simplistic. But in most shows, there is one (sometimes more) character that I call the JANUS.

     The Janus is usually an extreme character who has two different voice tones. For example : One for the funny, one for the drama. Both voices are very opposite so that the audience knows exactly what is the mood of each scene.

Optimum Cruise Speed

     So I'm re-watching in order That 70's Show, I'm in the middle of season two and there are several things that hit me and I'd like to share them with you.

     First of all, it's a pretty good show in my opinion. I mean, it works rather well despite the unbalanced Gender Equilibrium, it has some pretty good jokes, the characters are distinct without being to extreme, role balancing is nice,... all in all a fun show to watch.

I know how the show will end and probably could map out each season according to the different episodes, so there are a few things when watching the first season again that made me go "uh,... well that's a bit weird."

POCS Vs TOCS

Positive, Negative and Neutral Plot Lines

     This will be a basic post on ordinary plot-lines. Let's remember our first rule of Sitcoms :

BEGINNING = ENDING

     Understand this as everything comes back to normal. There are some little changes, such as growing children, and some that are more important, such as Maude Flanders's death. But the main characters, where they live, their jobs, etc... do not change. Homer will always work at the power plant although he gets fired every two or three episodes.

Yet, a plot is defined by the evolution of characters due to a certain event within a particular time lapse. So let's take a look at the three main plot evolutions.

This Week's best sitcom quote

Every week I'll try to put a different quote on this blog. You'll find it on the main page just under the TV on the right.
Don't hesitate to submit what your favorite quote is !


TRJ

Families in Animated Sitcoms

The main topic of this post is analyzing the structure of Families in animated sitcoms, mainly Family Guy and The Simpsons.

Let's keep in mind what we already said on the Gender Equilibrium, it might come in handy.

It's always a question of balance.

(Side note : I'm writing this post while listening to Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone, awesome to the max!)

Adagio For Strings - Samuel Barber

     As I watch (for 1000th time) American Dad's "In Country...Club" (S05 E01), I'm amazed at how good the episode is. Probably because I always loved vietnam war movies and parodies. This spoof was really well done and if you haven't seen it I strongly advise you to get to it !

     It made me think of all the different sitcoms that played Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" in reference to Platoon.

     So I researched "Samuel Barber" in IMDB and here is a list of episodes that feature that particular piece in chronological order : 

Seinfeld : S08 E06 - "The Fatigues" 1996
The Simpsons : S14 E09 - "Strong Arms of the Ma" 2003
South Park : S08 E 02 - "Up the Down Steroid" 2004
The Simpsons : S18 E17 - "Marge Gamer" 2007
The Simpsons : S19 E06 - "Little Orphan Millie" 2007
American Dad : S05 E01 - "In Country...Club" 2009
How I Met Your Mother : S05 E13 - "Jenkins" 2010

Most of the time, Samuel Barber wasn't credited for "Adagio for Strings" in these episodes.

The movie Platoon came out in 1986 and the "Adagio for Strings" was featured in movies and documentaries as well as sitcoms before but mainly after Platoon.

When Does "Adagio for Strings" Appear :

The Gender Equilibrium

Hello,

     The main characters of sitcoms have a major difference which is gender. Some have all men, some have all women, some mix, but rarely can we find an equal number of men and women in the same show. Yet, the number of females and males is crucial if you want to build better character interrelationships, not to mention if you want to portray equal rights between men and women (Twenty first century, dude, come on !).

Now the question is what does the number and choice of males and females entail. 

In my humble opinion, shows that succeed and are popular display what I call a "Gender Equilibrium". Obviously, you can't apply this equilibrium to every show, but it is nonetheless interesting to see how the balance between men and women can be spot on or off.

Seinfeld - The Sitcom King

     It would be crazy to publish a blog about sitcoms with no mention of Seinfeld, the sitcom that changed the landscape of television comedy. You may like it or not, but Seinfeld and its characters became iconic in american pop culture. What makes Seinfeld so particular ?

     There are many factors that brought Seinfeld to be one of the most popular shows on television. Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up was already very popular by the time the show premiered in 1989, but the approximately 23 minute episodes that aired every week made him one of the most beloved comedians of his time. He still is very popular.

Let's take a closer look at the structure of the episodes.

How I Met Your Mother (S07 E05) - "Fiel Trip"

Hello again,

Quick message :

I just watched the new How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) episode and from the two first seconds, I could tell exactly what the episode was going to be about. That's why I wanted to share with you several elements of my viewing.

What Is A Sitcom

Welcome !

Let's get straight to business : What is a Sitcom ?

This will be my definition, you are absolutely free to post any comment to contradict me. But for the sake of this blog, I will stick to a simple and clear meaning of sitcom.

The most defining characteristic is that a sitcom is a TV show that exposes any given situation that undergoes rapidly a change which is resolved to return to the original situation.

Simply :

BEGINNING = ENDING