Sitcoms Influence On Culture

Television has influenced society with the way audiences perceive culture and respond to stories presented on the screen. The first sitcoms ever produced were in the 1940’s when television was still in black and white. Television revolutionized from black and white to color by the 1990s and was also animated. Now by the 2000’s is was a wide range of camera systems in sitcoms that you can pick from such as a single camera system, multi camera system, animation, and even a hybrid. No matter the system a sitcom chose; all shows had something in common which are the length of time they air on television (which is about half an hour) and they are all comedies in format. Sitcoms want to allow audiences to forget about their realities they have in
They tend to go through several rounds of syndication because they were so successful when they first aired. Friends, Two and Half Men, Seinfeld re-runs are still playing on either Nike at Nite or TBS. I watched Friends when I was ten and I watch Friends now as a twenty-two year old. Shows that can appeal to all ages are the most popular is where the adult humor is not so vulgar that young audience won’t understand. Young audiences can still appreciate the other show dynamics that it offers if they don’t get the adult humor. Other networks or producers try to compete with certain strategies if they are trying to produce a new show such as bringing in old familiar faces that were successful on past shows, “Networks were relying on familiar faces to capture their sitcom past this year, Adgate says, pointing to new shows with Williams, Michael J. Fox in The Michael J. Fox Show and Sean Hayes in Sean Saves the World (Kissell).” Sean Hayes was known for his famous role in Will and Grace. Now that the show is off air, the actor is brought back to produce another show and producers think that the audience that use to watch Will and Grace will now watch Sean Saves the World to see the actor again because they remember him being funny on Will and Grace. Rick Kissell says this is called “bringing old faces of comedy to bring audiences in”. The same thing happened with Matthew Perry. He has been through various shows such as Mr. Sunshine and Go On that have flopped after Friends. Producers think Perry will try to bring audiences in for his next comedy, The Odd Couple. This strategy is sometimes successful, but other times audiences have a difficult time getting hooked due to comparing the actor in their previous role(s) that made them famous. This could be why Matthew Perry hasn’t nailed a new sitcom after Friends because the audience will only see him as Chandler