
Sitcom
A History in 24 Episodes from I Love Lucy to Community
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
A carefully curated tour through TV comedy series, this mixtape of fondly remembered shows surveys the genealogy of the form, the larger trends in its history, the best of what the genre has accomplished, and the most standard of its works. From I Love Lucy, The Phil Silvers Show, and M*A*S*H to Taxi, The Larry Sanders Show, and 30 Rock, this guide presents the sitcom as a capsule version of the 20th-century artsârealism giving way to modernism and then to postmodernism, all between the hours of 8 and 10pm on weeknights. Each chapter springs from an individual representative entity, including The Simpsons' "22 Short Films About Springfield," The Mary Tyler Moore Show's "Chuckles Bites the Dust," Seinfeld's "The Pitch," and Freaks and Geeks' "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers," where Martin Starr's nerdy Bill takes comfort inâwhat elseâthe pleasures of laughing at TV.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 I Love Lucy: âLucy Does a Tv Commercialâ
- 2 The Honeymooners: âBetter Living through Tvâ
- 3 The Phil Silvers Show: âDobermanâs Sisterâ
- 4 Leave It to Beaver: âBeaver Gets âSpelledâ
- 5 The Dick Van Dyke Show: âForty-Four Ticketsâ
- 6 Gilliganâsisland: âSt. Gilligan and the Dragonâ
- 7 The Mary Tyler Moore Show: âChuckles Bites the Dustâ
- 8 All in the Family: âthe First and Last Supperâ
- 9 M*a*S*H: âYankee Doodle Doctorâ
- 10 Taxi: âLatka the Playboyâ
- 11 Cheers: âStrange Bedfellows, Pt. 2â
- 12 The Cosby Show: âPilotâ
- 13 Roseanne: âTerms of Estrangement, Part 1â
- 14 The Simpsons: â22 Short Films about Springfieldâ
- 15 Seinfeld: âthe Pitchâ
- 16 The Larry Sanders Show: âthe Mr. Sharon Stone Showâ
- 17 Friends: âthe One with the Embryosâ
- 18 Sex and the City: âMy Motherboard, My Selfâ
- 19 Freaks and Geeks: âDead Dogs and Gym Teachersâ
- 20 Curb Your Enthusiasm: âSeinfeldâ
- 21 Arrested Development: âS.O.B.Sâ
- 22 The Office: âCasino Nightâ
- 23 30 Rock: âRosemaryâs Babyâ
- 24 Community: âModern Warfareâ
- Acknowledgments
- Bibliography