Blog Post #7

     The typical format for half-hour television comedies tends to be episodic. This means that the show introduces and wraps up a storyline within one episode. Comedies that are more serial (when the show advances a long-term plot over several episodes) usually have a substantial dramatic component, and are not just solely comedic.
      Sitcoms of the episodic persuasion often contain life lessons being learned by the characters, but they are often contained in the single episode, and the characters never mention that incident again. In the lecture, Professor Tain mentioned how if one episode plot deals with a dog dying, the characters are unlikely to say 3 episodes later, "Hey, remember when the dog died?" Whereas in a serial sitcom, plot lines are revisited in future episodes, and even though the comedy aspect remains intact, drama plays a significant role as well.

      A classic example of an episodic sitcom is one of my favorites, Seinfeld. The main character, Jerry, has a different main squeeze in nearly every episode. And, we rarely ever again hear about his past girlfriends. Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer also always seem to get into various shenanigans that are at the peak of action at the end of each episode, and yet the predicaments and their repercussions seems to be forgotten by the start of the next. Kramer burning down Susan's dad's cabin, George fighting with the bubble boy, Elaine getting into a throw-down with George's father... These are just a handful of the many examples that come and go in the confinements of one episode.