Sitcoms & Sexuality

Situational Comedy is one of the most dominating show genres on broadcast television today. Situational comedies are also referred to as sitcoms. These shows endear audiences with relatable circumstances that are exaggerated for humorous purposes. Humor being one of the main focuses of sitcoms, they often times depict a main character’s experiences in life. The audience experiences the trials and tribulations of life with the character, which is partly what causes a regular watcher to develop a “parasocial” relationship with them (“Research Report,” 2013). Upon examination of the development of the television sitcom, many of the humorous moments throughout the years have stemmed from embellished situations in character-to-character relationships. An analysis of these relationships, with emphasis on those of an intimate relationship has shown that today sexuality is often the source of primary humor. This sexuality in sitcoms is currently the most repetitive type of humor and is considered the standard, but such was not always the case. Early sitcoms focused on more traditional problems of marriage, of family affairs, and other every day social inter-relationship problems, and even had a different method of presentation, but throughout time they evolved to depend on the provocative behavior of the characters. The sexual problems they experience took the role of their every day problems; vulgar topics such as this became the cultural norm in comedy today. At the start of the 1950’s the television was a new and exciting product in its early stages. In 1950 a mere nine percent of American households possessed a television set, but by the beginning of the 60’s the percentage had increased to ninety percent (Television: Moving Image Section--Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division", 2013). In the 1950’s the television was the most popular consumer product and revolutionized the American way of life. The introduction of the television ultimately changed