Early Sitcoms

Although television premiered in the early 1930s, it wasn’t until after World War Two that families began to switch over from radio. As television became popular, networks began searching for content. CBS hired a manager of program development, Worthington Minor, who sought out new ideas. Since short situational radio comedies had been popular with audiences and advertisers, Minor decided the format might translate well to television. He offered Gertrude Berg, the creator of “The Goldbergs,” the opportunity to move neighborhoods, from radio to television, in 1949.

“The Goldbergs” was a radio hit and former vaudeville show that premiered in the Catskills in 1925. The show revolved around the lives of Jewish immigrants, Molly and Jake Goldberg, and their two children. The episodes, set in the Goldbergs’ Bronx apartment, usually featured a solvable friend or family-related dilemma. While resolving the problem, Molly would consult or interact with characters from around the neighborhood — dispensing advice, recipes and a lot of humor. Future programs would replicate this style.
Following Minor and Berg’s lead, several other networks lured radio stars to the new medium. “The Aldrich Family,” “The Life of Riley” and “Lum and Abner” all premiered in 1949. While some shows enjoyed more success than others, one thing was certain: People wanted to see more.
In 1950, CBS program executive Harry Ackerman decided to repurpose the radio show “My Favorite Husband” for television. He approached the show’s female lead, Lucille Ball, about creating a television version. She agreed to do the program if it also featured her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz. Although three of the most popular programs at the time were ethnic sitcoms (“The Goldbergs,” “Mama” and “Amos and Andy”), studio executives balked at the idea of showing a Cuban band-leader as a typical American woman’s husband.
Ball decided to make the sitcom on her own. She and Arnaz formed a production company, Desilu, and tested their show by presenting it as a 20-minute vaudeville-style comedy act on the road. After a successful tour, they made a pilot script that bombed. Upon viewing the pilot, their friend, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, suggested they make the characters less like themselves and more ordinary and relatable to the audience. Enter Lucy MacGillicuddy Ricardo and Ricky Ricardo. Rounding out the cast were Fred and Ethel Mertz, their landlords and neighbors.
Like “The Goldbergs,” “I Love Lucy” helped set the tone and style of the American sitcom. Part family and friend oriented, part work oriented, many of Lucy’s plot lines revolved around settling a dilemma. Unlike “The Goldbergs,” these dilemmas were often outrageously absurd and relied heavily on physical comedy, one of Ball’s talents.
“I Love Lucy” also helped determine the look and feel of the sitcom. While it was performed in front of a live studio audience and aired on Monday nights just like “The Goldbergs,” “I Love Lucy” was shot in Hollywood instead of New York. Because Arnaz and Ball disliked kinescope, the process used by live broadcast television shows, they directly filmed their sitcom. Arnaz helped design a workable set that would accommodate up to four cameras for each episode. These episodes were not broadcast live, but edited and released to other stations to air in their appropriate time slot.
But what makes a sitcom a sitcom? In the next section, we’ll look at the sitcom from a writer or producer’s point of view.

Sitcom Format

A sitcom typically lasts around 30 minutes. In the early days of television, the show’s advertising came before the opening credits and at the end credits, using only about two and a half minutes of the show’s 15 or 30 minutes. Frequent advertising breaks cut today’s half hour programs down to 22 minutes.
A sitcom usually has four main characters. In most cases, they include a hero, an anti-hero, a love interest and a buddy. Of course, there are always variations of this theme, but it’s a common formula. Even a seemingly unlikely example like the family sitcom “Married with Children” fits the type. Ed is the unlikely hero, Peg, the anti-hero, Kelly, every high school boy’s love interest and Bud, well, the buddy.
Since sitcoms are only 30 minutes long, it is essential that the plot line be fairly tight and resolvable. Successful plots will typically fall within a family or workplace setting or some combination of the two. Within this setting, there are A and B storylines. An A storyline is the main plot of the sitcom. In most cases, the A story runs throughout the show and does not resolve until the final scene. The B storyline is secondary. Depending on how many characters are in the cast, there can be other peripheral stories — C, D, and so on. Throw in a hook or plot twist and you have a show.
Sitcoms also often have teasers — a short scene that appears before or during the opening credits. Not all shows have them, but most include them as a way to get the audience laughing as they click through channels. The teaser may or may not directly relate to the A or B storyline. One example of a great teaser can be seen in the early episodes of “Seinfeld.” Jerry Seinfeld uses a short stand-up routine to set the audience up for what they were going to see. His teaser is a lead-in joke or humorous observation.
The key to a successful sitcom is variety and character-driven humor like the running gag or inside joke. The running gag is a funny situation or line of dialogue that reappears in an episode or series of episodes. Sometimes the running gag becomes a catchphrase. The line or situation is often unintentional at first, but ends up striking a chord with the audience. When the audience reacts favorably, the line or the situation gets written back in and usually becomes funnier because of its multiple appearances. The success of the running gag or inside joke relies on the actor’s delivery.
For more Detail: How Sitcoms Work