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the beginning of sitcoms
Sitcom format was born with the initial broadcast of Sam 'n' Henry on WGN in Chicago. This was a 15 minute daily program. -
THE START OF SITCOMS ON American television
In the late 1940s, the sitcom was among the first formats adapted for the new medium of television. Most sitcoms were a half-hour in length and aired weekly. -
Multiple camera setups were introduced
I Love Lucy introduced a new way of filming sitcoms. Desi Arnaz is credited with the first successful use of the multiple-camera setup, where three cameras shoot the action on stage simultaneously and the best shots from each of the cameras are later edited together. -
Family or married couples sitcoms
A trend in the 1960's was the fact that most of the popular sitcoms included domesticated comedy in families and married couples. One popular sitcom was the Brady Bunch -
Single Camera Filming Style
Instead of using a multi-camera setup, the 1960s mainly used a single camera which was more practical given the visual effects and sharp editing, features which were not possible with the same finesse in multi-camera production. Many of these programs were not filmed before live audiences, and featured a laugh track -
Animated and sci-fi sitcoms
The animated sitcom was born during this period with The Flintstones and The Jetsons. the latter show was the first example of the science fiction sitcom subgenre -
Returning to Three-Camera Shoot before Audiences
In the early 1970s, sitcoms began to address controversial issues in a serious way, and largely returned to the three-camera shoot before a live audience. -
Stand up comedians in sitcoms
Stand-up comic Bill Cosby starred in the sitcom The Cosby Show, which was the earliest of the current trend of ssuccessful sitcoms built around a stand-up comic's stage persona. -
Growth of Cable Television
By the mid-1980s, the growth of cable television meant that television audiences were fracturing. Programming could now be targeted at specific audiences rather than at a general or adult audience, and this included sitcoms too. -
The rebirth of animated sitcoms
The early 1990s saw the rebirth of the animated sitcom, a trend which continues to this day. Most notable is The Simpsons, the longest-running sitcom in US history. -
Sitcoms Featuring Ongoing Story Lines
In the mid-1990s several sitcoms had featured on-going story lines a popular example is Seinfeld, one of the most popular U.S. sitcoms of the 1990s. -
Mockumentary Sitcoms
Recently, the U.S. has been imitating previous work from the UK. This is known as Mockumentary in which fictional events are shown in documentary style, such as The Office, Modern Family, and Parks and Recreation
