American Television Comedies Essay

It has been a long day. You are exhausted and arrive home after spending several hours at work or school. You decide to watch television and you try to find a funny show, anything that can make you laugh and make your day better. Choosing between several types of comedy shows is hard because there are innumerable reasons to watch one type or another. A television comedy can sometimes be your friend, your psychologist, your teacher, your passion and/or your hobby. There can be very innocent comedies while there are also more explicit ones. There can also be silly, simple comedies while there are also more elaborate and intelligent comedies. Your decision of selecting one television comedy should always be based in the current mood that you are in. There is clearly a vast buffet of comedy shows in America and the networks will continue to cook more shows in order to make us always completely satisfied. No matter where you are, as long as you have a television that works properly, you have the opportunity of watching any type of comedy show. You can decide between sitcoms, comedy-dramas, sketch comedies, stand-up comedies and animated cartoons. Your girlfriend or boyfriend can dump you, you can fail a class, you can have a fight with your friends or family but those television comedies are, and, will always be there for you to make you laugh, or cry, or both. Sitcoms These will make you have a good laugh most of the times. These have also been the most common, successful and culturally significant type of television comedy. They were originated in England but now predominate in America. They can be either really silly like The Office but at the same time comedic genius or they can be more intelligent and more complex like Community. These have two main types of filming, single camera setup and multi camera setup. One of the best normal single camera comedies of all time is Arrested Development which had the advantage of being a sitcom and having the opportunity to air a new season seven years after its last episode. The magic of sitcoms is that even after several years you can still relate to them and enjoy them completely. Another type of single camera comedy is the mockumentary with shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. They are fake documentaries that follow a specific number of characters. Mockumentaries are usually really hard to get picked up by a network so when a mockumentary survives past the pilot, most of the times it is incredibly humorous and comedic genius. NBC tends to have more successful sitcoms and usually lines them up on Thursdays. So unless you are a party animal who starts partying on Thursday nights, you shouldn’t miss that lineup. Sitcoms are really easy to follow and you will most likely have to watch a whole season to understand the plot. Sitcoms are usually your best chance of laughing out loud. Comedy-drama These, sometimes also known as a dramedies, are programs that combine humor with more serious dramatic elements, providing you with laughs and tears. They aim for a considerably more realistic tone than conventional sitcoms. Dramedies can make you laugh and enjoy the comedy at the same time like Entourage. They won’t necessarily always make you laugh but their content itself is hilarious. They have you on the edge of your seat biting your nails while also pleasing you with some comic relief. One of the most critically acclaimed modern comedy-drama series is Girls which airs on HBO so you need to pay extra to watch it, or just wait until your creepy uncle who thinks he’s still a teenager lends you all the seasons on DVD. The continuity of character development and storylines are more relevant in comedy-dramas than in traditional sitcoms. Characters’ backstories tend to have a greater overall effect on storyline. One example of these is one of the most watched television shows of all time M*A*S*H. People identify themselves a lot with these types of comedies; they tend to be realistic and somehow manage to be extremely funny. M*A*S*H was such a big hit that became the most watched television episode in U. S. television history at the time, with a record-breaking 125 million viewers. If you like to cry and laugh at the same time then watch a dramedy. If you like romantic comedy films these are the comedy series that will most likely fit your personality. Even though sitcoms are the most famous type of television comedies, comedy-dramas are the most watched comedy shows, and if you like one episode of one of them, you will probably get attached to them to the point that you will have to cancel your plans of going to the club with your friends. Sketch Comedy â€Å"Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night! † Most people recognize that phrase. It was created in 1975 during the first episode of the cult television series Saturday Night Live. Sketch comedies are easy to follow and most of the times guarantee a good laugh. Perhaps SNL is the most common type of this style of comedy which consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called â€Å"sketches†, commonly between one and ten minutes long. Often sketches are first improvised by the actors and written down based on the outcome of these improv sessions; however, improvisation is not necessarily involved in all sketch comedy. If the actors are really good and professional then you will definitely laugh hysterically. Sometimes the mistakes the actors make are usually the funniest parts because most of the sketch comedies are filmed live, so if an actor loses it and starts laughing he has to continue either way. It is always amazing to see a professional actor and comedian lose it and try to get his or her composure back. Stand-up Comedy Stand-up comedies guarantee a good laugh, especially if you are up to date with current events. In these comedies, a comedian usually recites a fast-paced succession of humorous stories, short jokes called â€Å"bits†, and one-liners, which constitute what is typically called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. The most common examples of this are the talk shows like Ellen, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! , Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Late show with Craig Ferguson. These shows are usually really funny and can have some cultural or political content that can update you with current events or lets you see some issues in the eyes of another person. These stand-up comedians tend to be really smart people, like Conan O’Brien, and can turn the simplest thing into something with and immensely amount of comic material. It is also funny to see how comedians fight with each other like Jay Leno with Conan O’Brien did in 2010 over The Tonight Show. This didn’t help either of them because Jimmy Fallon is going to take over as host of The Tonight Show after the 2014 Winter Olympics. That show promises a lot and will definitely be one of the highest rated and most critically acclaimed since Fallon is an extremely talented omedian and musician. These stand-up shows are usually the best way of ending a horrible day. Unlike sitcoms, you can watch most of the shows that there are in every network but you will most definitely have a favorite, and you will stick with it, forever. Unlike the sitcoms, stand-up comedies can be seen at any time because there is no chronological order that will affect its content. Animated Cartoons These are typically hand crafted for children. Animated cartoons won’t necessarily make you laugh but most certainly make you at least giggle. Early children’s programming often recycled theatrical cartoons; later, low-budget animation produced especially for television dominated Saturday-morning network programming in the US. Some of the most known animated cartoons are The Jetsons, The Flintstones, The Simpsons, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, Futurama and Family Guy. Though most of them are designed for children, there are a few of them that are specifically made for adults like South Park and Family Guy. Animated Cartoons have been the only reason for waking you up, during your childhood, early on a Saturday morning and make you happy. Most of the modern animated cartoons that are intended for mature audiences only tend to be very explicit, controversial, racist and profane; yet, they are still incredibly funny and, unless you are a prude that takes every joke from everywhere personal, you should be able to laugh and enjoy them. You have reached a point in your life where thinking of waking up early on a Saturday morning is an impossible scenario, so leave the animated cartoons for your kids. If you want a new hobby and want to follow something for almost a whole year then watch some sitcoms that will surely make you laugh. If you are a drama queen that appreciates comedy then surely comedy-dramas are for you. If you get home late at night and your wife or husband wants to get kinky with you but you’re really tired then watch a stand-up comedy. They will make you laugh while your partner cries. If you feel like you want to see some people doing impersonations of famous people then watch some sketch comedies. No matter how old you are, what ethnicity you are, or if you are a male or a female, there will always a comedy series for you, ready to make you laugh, cry, or both.