My Sit-Com Book

Hi gang

This is a bit different for this thread - I am currently writing a book, entitled the UK Sit-Com Guide (it was originally British Sit-Com Guide!) which is going to be aimed at A Level Students which considers sit-coms from a historical and theoretical point of view. It will also contain case studies from four very different "sit-coms" and will also include some very rare and exclusive photographs from the recordings of one particular comedy series.

I feel that sit-coms haven't really had quite the study that they deserve and I have some ideas about what actually makes a sit-com as opposed to other sorts of comedy series.

5,000+ words have already been written and I hope to publish via Lulu for sale via Amazon.co.uk.

Will keep you all in tune with news.

Steve

Sounds interesting.

But spelling the word sitcom as 'sit-com' would be VERY distracting for me if it was used throughout an entire book.

Quote: zooo @ September 1, 2007, 1:05 PM

Sounds interesting.

But spelling the word sitcom as 'sit-com' would be VERY distracting for me if it was used throughout an entire book.

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Thanks for the advice, in looking at the manuscript so far I've used both sit-com and sitcom!

Oh you fickle thing.

Quote: zooo @ September 1, 2007, 2:29 PM

Oh you fickle thing.

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It's because I use so many PCs and laptops to write little bits and thing just cut and paste together, hence the rather "fickle" formatting!

Quote: zooo @ September 1, 2007, 1:05 PM

Sounds interesting.

But spelling the word sitcom as 'sit-com' would be VERY distracting for me if it was used throughout an entire book.

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spot on, would drive me crazy also.

Quote: LDLmedia @ September 1, 2007, 1:03 PM

I am currently writing a book, entitled the UK Sit-Com Guide (it was originally British Sit-Com Guide!) which is going to be aimed at A Level Students which considers sit-coms from a historical and theoretical point of view.

View original

Cool, a nice angle. In my opinion all A-level students should be force fed sitcom, but then again I am a little biased on that front!

Quote: LDLmedia @ September 1, 2007, 1:03 PM

It will also contain case studies from four very different "sit-coms"

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Out of interest can you reveal which four? Is it one from each decade? Actually you'd need five then. If it were me, I think the ones I would choose, based on educational grounds, would be...

1960s: Till Death Us Do Part
1970s: Fawlty Towers or Mind Your Language
1980s: The New Statesman
1990s: Men Behaving Badly
2000s: The Office

Actually, I've always thought Only Fools and Horses could be a great teaching aid - watching Del turn into a Yuppie into a modern man must be fairly educational.

Sitcoms should definitely be used more in history lessons: Blackadder, Dad's Army, Open All Hours etc could teach kids a lot about the eras in which they were set. I learn a lot about the war from Blackadder actually (hope it was accurate!).

Quote: LDLmedia @ September 1, 2007, 1:03 PM

sit-com

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Yup, another vote for it being "sitcom" not "sit-com". Before naming this website I checked with the Oxford English Dictionary - "sitcom" is the recognised informal noun for a situation comedy.

They have used Blackadder in an English A-level, an excerpt from the very end.

Quote: Mark @ September 1, 2007, 7:35 PM

Cool, a nice angle. In my opinion all A-level students should be force fed sitcom, but then again I am a little biased on that front!

Out of interest can you reveal which four? Is it one from each decade? Actually you'd need five then. If it were me, I think the ones I would choose, based on educational grounds, would be...

1960s: Till Death Us Do Part
1970s: Fawlty Towers or Mind Your Language
1980s: The New Statesman
1990s: Men Behaving Badly
2000s: The Office

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Funny, you have one right!

The list - so far - is just four and may seem random:

Till Death Us Do Part (also including Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health)

Red Dwarf

Father Ted

Steptoe and Son

I also have Drop the Dead Donkey and Fawlty Towers on standby.

The choice really because I already had some written bits and pieces on each one and that I thought it was a more dynamic mix.

As regards Only Fools, I can exclusively reveal that the book will argue that that programme is NOT a situation comedy....

Because it's not funny.

Quote: zooo @ September 1, 2007, 10:24 PM

Because it's not funny.

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Stop messin' about!

Quote: LDLmedia @ September 1, 2007, 10:18 PM

As regards Only Fools, I can exclusively reveal that the book will argue that that programme is NOT a situation comedy...

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Not sure how you're going to argue that because OFAH is blatently a sitcom - it contains all the ingredients - but I look forward to reading your argument with interest.

Quote: Mark @ September 2, 2007, 11:48 AM

Not sure how you're going to argue that because OFAH is blatently a sitcom - it contains all the ingredients - but I look forward to reading your argument with interest.

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It does yes contain the usual ingredients, but it also has other ingredients that put it towards a "comedy serial", probably more accidentally than by design, which a sitcom by it's nature is not. "Series" and "serial" - the fun I am having with those two concepts at the moment!

I tend to agree with Mark. You might approach your argument by saying what OFAH is (rather than what it isn't). Most sitcoms are presented as stand-alone episodes in a 'series' ... where the order of presentation doesn't compromise the viewers continuity of understanding. Then there are comedy 'serials' which do have a particular sequence and wouldn't make a lot of sense if episodes were shown in the wrong order. Then you have one-off comedy plays which obviously start at the 'beginning' and finish at the 'end'. I suppose, historically, all sitcoms have their roots in the comedy play idea, although they (in theory) give writers the opportunity to present very similar (or the same!) characters and themes over and over again as episode follows episode. Sitcom is rather like farce in many ways, as presented by Brian Rix and the Whitehall Theatre productions of way back. The stories are broadly predictable (although not in fine detail) and the laughter that arises from bizarre situations inflicted on the characters is to much the same level.
So, I'd say OFAH is definitely sitcom ... if not what?

Edit: Whoops ... LDLmedia's response and mine 'crossed in the post'!!!

Blimey!
I am confused. Ohhhh my brain.
Nothing else to declare. Me no understand.
*Walks off, head down in shame*