Something niggles at me that it isn't and I can't put my finger on why...
Is Hitchhikers a sitcom?
It's a dramedy, sitcom is fixed in place, with fixed characters.
That said it's one of my favourites, and recently ended up watching the whole lot on Paramount till 2am.
If you mean H2G2, then it's a tricky one. I'd probably go for "no", but it's a blurry line here. One of the few shows where it's probably down to individual opinion as to whether it can be a 'sitcom' or not.
I always thought with sitcom when the half hour is up, every one's back where they started?
No, not necessarily. The "classic" sitcoms, and indeed the majority, are self-contained, but linear ones do exist. They're just rarer. For me, the location of H2G2 changed too much to class it as a true sitcom. And I don't think it's serious enough to qualify as a drama.
Comic adventure, maybe?
(And don't get me started on the film.)
The TV was probably one of the most perfect bits of TV scifi comedy ever. I actually mist up to wonderful world at the end. The books were amazing, and the radio show stellar.
The film was ok, better than most scifi comedies (the animations amazing, Mos Def fantastic). But they butchered it weirdly (why give it a happy ending, and then keep the dated stuff about digital watches).
Alas it was like a passable painter going up against the Michael Angelo of TV scifi.
God what ever happened to really clever TV, that was about stuff, and ideas?
Quote: Aaron @ March 14, 2008, 8:26 PM. The "classic" sitcoms, and indeed the majority, are self-contained, but linear ones do exist.
For example, the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, a sit-com, had a definite linear plot.
I think the main difference between H2G2 and, say, Red Dwarf (definitely a sitcom) is that in H2G2, the main jokes lie in the ideas Douglas Adams comes up with, Babel Fish, Infinite Improability Drive, etc and I think this takes H2G2 away from the classic sitcom format. In the classic sitcom format, the jokes come from the way characters react to situations, in H2G2, the jokes come from the situations themselves and the characters merely are a way of progressing the plot to get to the next situation.
For example, in the Babel Fish example, the main joke is that a) a creature that can automatically translate all languages exists at all and b) the way that the fish leads people to conclude that there isn't a God and therefore causes bloody wars
Whereas in Red Dwarf, the existance of a creature that can drain emotions is just introduced (such a creature, if it existed in H2G2 would probably get a page of introduction from the guide) and the humour comes from when the characters interract having been drained of their emotions of fear, anger, guilt and pride.
Or something like that.
PERFECT summary there Culfy. I agree wholeheartedly, definitely comic ideas rather than SITuations. 
But at that stage it becomes narrative comedy, or dramedy. Reginald Perrin is fantastic, but it's linear not circular plots surely stop it being a sitcom?
By it's very definition HG2TG isn't a sitcom. It's a loyal, faithful, often inspired interpretation of 4 books, with a defined end.
I think what we all may have put our collective fingers on, is that there is a form of comedy out there. That isn't dramedy (comedy that follows the forms of drama), sitcom (circular comedy based around fixed characters), or broken comedy (sketch based comedy).
What should we call it?
It's an important point. If you send a sitcom script to a production company, and it isn't a sitcom script. You're going to have problems.
Narrative prgressive comedy?
Yep, something like that. Serial narrative comedy? Or maybe stop trying to be clever and we can just go for "funny story"? 
(Of course, the H2G2 books are a relatively loyal interpretation of radio series'! I don't think that the TV show went further than H2G2 itself though, did it? Quite a while since I've watched or read.)
No, but thanks for asking.
Quote: Aaron @ March 15, 2008, 10:29 PMYep, something like that. Serial narrative comedy? Or maybe stop trying to be clever and we can just go for "funny story"?
(Of course, the H2G2 books are a relatively loyal interpretation of radio series'! I don't think that the TV show went further than H2G2 itself though, did it? Quite a while since I've watched or read.)
Ah you should, they're both a rare and pleasant treat. It's great to watch the show, and after while realize that you're being expected to think, as well as laugh. n.b. City of Death in Dr Who is the lost Hitchhikers script, written by Douglas Adams in the same stylee and it shows.
City of Death and Shada became Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency, while Life, the Universe and Everything started life as a Doctor Who movie - Doctor Who and the Krikketmen.
Douglas Adams did like to reuse his ideas.
Well for all his genius, he was famously lazy. Didn't stop him being a visionary genius, funny guy, and all round top bloke.
He was one of the few celebrities I wanted to meet, and one of the very few I was actually sad to see die.