4. Game Shows – one of the oldest types of TV shows- the game show is a very cheap and very simple kind of show, you involve the audience, which is always exciting
- the thrill of winning and competing even if YOU aren’t – humans like to root/cheer for someone and game shows play on that
- even if they are the same, they are different in the way it plays out
Funny enough, sports on TV fits all these same things
5. Sporting Events (again, some of the first shows) – same as game shows
- these aren’t cheap – first shows to use a large number of cameras
6. Variety show (or a talk show)
- these are also cheap to make, also the same only different – the structure is the same, but the elements of that structure change – ie guests, conversation, “acts”, etc
- modern talk shows and “one name” shows – eg Oprah, Tyra, Ellen, Conan, etc fill this kind of gap now
- even American Idol and SYTYCD are kind of like this – we watch old school entertainment, music, dancing, etc
- CLASSIC TV
7. For years, one type of show was the dominant, most lucrative (makes the most money) and highest rated kind of TV show –
- SITCOMS
- nowadays they are in decline
- a sitcom gets its own note:
SITCOMS
- the sitcom means situation comedy and is a 22 minute/ half hour time slot show
- eg – the highest rated one right now is Two and a Half Men (which sucks, everyone agrees, but some population must watch it – we call that population Middle America – “normal people”
- a sitcom is a show based upon a simple concept, usually a place that is like a family center – office, bar, apartment, diner, etc
- there is a core group that “stars” and uses that center place
- they have problems that get solved in 22 minutes, and are usually exaggerations of normal human problems
- the first sitcoms were live on a stage, and many are still shot live on a stage with a live studio audience (Two and a Half Men is done this way
- in the old days, these began with The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy, for example
- these shows started the family side of sitcoms – a goofy center character who gets into problems with a sidekick and then a family crisis each episode
- Lucy was the original goofy character – the physical comedy she did and the crazy situations were the pattern being set for sitcoms for years – we still see the kinds of things she did
- However, in the early 60s, sitcoms started to change – people were getting tired of the same family pattern, and producers started going into a new pattern
- HIGH CONCEPT
- These are sitcoms based on one crazy concept that makes the whole show work – every story, ever character, every set all fits into the concept
- Examples – Bewitched (a normal guy marries a witch), Gilligan’s Island (different people forced into companionship, stuck on an island), My Mother, The Car (a guy’s mother is reincarnated as his car), Mr. Ed (a guy has a talking horse), My Favourite Martian (a guy finds a Martian/alien), The Beverly Hillbillies
- These kinds of shows lasted for EVER
- 80s – Alf, AirWolf, Knight Rider, etc
- deal in the most ridiculous concepts and are essentially completely stupid
- over the years new patterns keep emerging that try to reinvigorate sitcoms and keep audiences coming back, but sitcoms are kind of dead now, thanks to cheap, easy to produce, ridiculous and stupid reality shows
Sitcom Structure
- 22 mins
- 8 mins of ads
- 3 ACTS – First Act is called setup – second act is called Complications and third act is called Resolution
- you have a problem, then it gets worse, then it gets sloved
- you have a problem that comes from the main character’s stupidity
- in sitcoms, you have a number of other patterns”
- - goofy neighbour or friend
- mistaken identities
- lies that get out of control
- the seven deadly sins out of control (gluttony – greedy. Eat too much, drink too much, wrath – anger, rage, lust – sex. Love hunger, avarice – want something you shouldn’t have, pride = , envy, sloth
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