# Sitcom Nomenclature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087 "2004-05-07T22:49:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/1 "2004-05-07T22:49:49Z")
Is there a name for the style of sitcom, such as _Malcolm in the Middle_, _Scrubs_ and _Andy Richter Controls the Universe_ which are characterized by: 1. Absence of laugh tracks, 2. Real sets and cinematagraphy as opposed to the standard three-camera sitcom soundstage, 3. Frequent flashbacks, fantasy sequences, site gags, and general surrealism? If not, we need to come up with a name for this growing genre. I propose **zitcom** , for no particular reason, but I’m sure you folks can come up with something better. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/2 "2004-05-07T22:51:08Z")
“Good?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/3 "2004-05-07T22:57:09Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > 1. Frequent flashbacks, fantasy sequences, site gags, and general surrealism? Did this start in animated series, like _The Simpsons_, where it’s easy to do, and somehow find its way into live-action shows? No, wait a minute—_The Young Ones_ certainly predates _The Simpsons_. Who _did_ pioneer this approach? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/4 "2004-05-08T00:49:21Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Absence of laugh tracks, > 2. Real sets and cinematagraphy as opposed to the standard three-camera sitcom soundstage Well, the first two describe what is sometimes called ‘film style’ or ‘movie style’ as opposed to the 3-camera ‘TV style’ (generally credited to Desi Arnez). In that its shot like a movie, with one camera, on sets not a sound stage, without a studio audience. And nobody uses laugh tracks anymore (thank Christ). Malcolm is unique in that it is very unusual for a sitcom to be done ‘movie style’. Primarily because:[ul] [li]Its too expensive[/li][li]Network execs think the audience won’t know _when_ to laugh w/o a studio audience or laugh track[/ul][/li]I don’t watch much network TV so I can’t say if there are any other sitcoms shot ‘movie-style’. > [@](#): > > 1. Frequent flashbacks, fantasy sequences, site gags, and general surrealism? This doesn’t have to follow the first two, but the first two are usually prerequisites for the third. IOW you can’t really do flashbacks or fantasy sequences on a soundstage in front of a studio audience. ‘The Young Ones’ was shot TV-style (and on videotape) but it used a lot of post-production editing and recombining for all its fantasy elements. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/5 "2004-05-08T03:36:34Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > 1. Frequent flashbacks, fantasy sequences, site gags, and general surrealism? _The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis_ (1959-63) fits this perfectly. It was also done without a studio audience, AFAIK, but I don’t think they were all that common back in the 1950s. Most shows just had laugh tracks attached. And shows that used lots of “outdoors” scenes along with basic sets were hybrids. _Gilligan’s Island_, _McHale’s Navy_, and _The Monkees_ for a few. But really it all starts with _M_A_S_H\*, the king of the filmed sitcoms. It had a laugh track to begin with, but lost it over the course of the series. That’s the one everybody’s been copying from since its success. There have been dozens of filmed sitcoms (and dramadys - half dramas, half comedies), although not many that have had more than one season. And British television had union rules that required film crews for outdoor shots, which is which the visual look and feel of _Monty Python_ varies so greatly between skits. > [@Hail Ants](#): > > This doesn’t have to follow the first two, but the first two are usually prerequisites for the third. IOW you can’t really do flashbacks or fantasy sequences on a soundstage in front of a studio audience. Sure you can. It just makes the taping that much longer. Nobody cares how long the audience has to sit while they change clothing and sets in front of them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-nomenclature/244087/6 "2004-05-08T04:01:46Z")
Oh, I just remembered two of the strangest examples of all. _The Adventures of Superman_ was filmed on an extremely low budget. All the scripts for the year were written ahead of time and the scenes bunched together. For example, all the scenes in the Daily Planet offices were filmed in one session at the beginning of the season while sets were built around them for other scenes. That’s why the staff always wore exactly the same outfits in every show. (They had several identical costumes, and rotated them while the others got washed.) Fred McMurray, who was a huge star way back when, had the same deal when he did _My Three Sons_. His contract said that he would work no more that 65 days a year. So all the shows were written ahead of time again, and all the upstairs hallways sequences were filmed one afternoon, all the kitchen scenes for the season another day. His sweater never changed. You couldn’t get away with that on American network tv these days, but in Britain, the shorter sitcoms seasons - 6 episodes, often - mean that they also are written in advance and I imagine they could be shot that way. I don’t know if they ever are, though. A few shows are the brainchildren of one writer, which means that today’s normal big-group-sitting-around-a=table-making changes didn’t happen. Carl Reiner had at least 13 episodes of _The Dick van Dyck Show_ written before casting started. Larry Gelbart talks about his dramady _United States_ in his book _Laughing Matters_. He and his collaborator Gary Markowitz wrote the whole season, jettisoned the laugh track and the peppy intro music, and used mobile taping equipment rather than either film or a three-camera studio setup. Didn’t work. Canceled after eight weeks. So basically, the hundreds (thousands) of sitcoms that have appeared over the past 50 years have tried just about every conceivable variation. They come and go, one style running until people get sick of it, then the pendulum swinging back for something fresh - until that goes stale.