Quote: Lazzard @ 12th March 2022, 1:33 PMOld School Sit-Com would always re-set, it was as if the characters had no memory of previous episodes.
Most of the time but not always and it's not essential. What's more important is that they don't change in character from previous eps. They should be permanently flawed as you know.
Quote: Lazzard @ 12th March 2022, 1:33 PMI'm not sure SitCom is even a very useful term anymore - apart from describing comedy programs of the past.
The BBC agree with you, they are asking for narrative comedies on their WR site now, although it's so low key now you do wonder if they really want any from anyone they don't know.
I disagree with them passionately, sitcom is a highly popular format, and an instantly recognisable one. Replace it completely with comedy dramas and woolly light soaps and they'll kill the golden goose it made its name with.
This is all because I had the temerity to call Fleabird a sitcom.
I doubt it, this thread was started in 2013!
I have a theory that this is actually about the demise of studio-based sitcom ( though I still think the term itself is past it's sell by date).
A live audience very much influences the way things are played - waiting for laughs, hyper-real acting etc etc etc.
They're also recorded weeks before transmission, to an audience that won't have seen the "previous" episodes - might not even know the premise of the show. So an ongoing storyline would be very difficult - anything to do with the 'series arc' would be lost on the audience, leading to a muted response.
Then you have the need for limited sets - there's only so much room on a studio floor. So these are bound to be the 'home' set and maybe a couple of others.
And before location filming became possible on easily transportable video, rather than those giant outside broadcast lorries, it had to be shot on film, leading to 1) a jarring effect in the show itself, and 2) having to run the filmed segment on little TV monitors in the TV studio to get a reasonable laugh track, and to make sure the invited audience knew what was going on. So, best to stay indoors much as possible, ideally on the 'home' set.
Even costumes are effected - costume changes take an age - you've only got the audience for two hours.
Consequently writers at the time were working with what they had - what would work in the studio.
Writing styles developed to fit.
Some would call them shackles, others might call them vital restraints - but once the technological genie was out of the bottle, all bets were off.
Lines became blurred and new voices got involved.
Studio time gets harder and harder to book, because more popular, and importantly, cheaper formats were developing.
So now, all hail the comedy panel show! You only need gag writers. for those, not proper writers. And one shiny set.
Streaming and catch-up tv has/will only hasten the demise - you want to watch the next episode not just because it's funny, but because you want to find out what happens. Comedy-drama in other words.
It's a theory.