The nature of the humour and comedic styles of television situational comedies (sitcoms) has evolved from the start of TV to today largely due to censorship. Yet a consistent feature includes sitcoms reflecting how their writers and producers viewed their society at the time. Comparing and contrasting I Love Lucy (1951) with Seinfeld (1989) demonstrates that even as sitcoms evolve, they share the concepts of reflecting on the world around them, and the need for shows to make a profit. Both this evolution and consistency can be seen especially when considering the history of societal roles in the United States, commercialization of broadcasting, and censorship’s influence on writing.
A scheming, American homemaker named Lucy, and a hot-tempered, …show more content…
This makes it the second most profitable 30-minute television show of all time (following The Simpsons) (Zara). Streaming services are another more-recent factor that are generating revenue for Seinfeld. In 2015, Hulu purchased the rights to all 180 episodes of the show for an estimated $700,000-1 million per episode from Sony Pictures TV (Villareal). CraveTV (provided by Bell) is also streaming the series on their service. This trend of on-demand streaming suggests that this sitcom from the 90’s will continue to generate strong numbers in the near …show more content…
I Love Lucy is ‘safer’ than Seinfeld. The writing found in I Love Lucy leans on the conservative side, conservative as defined by Marriam-Webster’s definitions of “believing in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society” and “not liking or accepting changes or new ideas” (Marriam-Webster). Lucy and Ricky actually sleep in separate twin beds for a majority of the series. And when Lucy find out she is pregnant in Lucy is Enceinte, CBS thought the word ‘pregnant’ was too vulgar so the show had to use the words ‘expecting’ and ‘enceinte’ instead (Adams et.al). Censorship like this heavily influenced the writing of older sitcoms like I Love Lucy (Nadler module 11 slides 56-57). I Love Lucy gets around the challenge of censorship by heavily relying on physical gags to get laughs; humour scarcely found in Seinfeld. The only shtick that comes close to this physical humour in Seinfeld is Kramer’s general clumsiness which feels largely inspired from physical performers such as Lucille
A scheming, American homemaker named Lucy, and a hot-tempered, …show more content…
This makes it the second most profitable 30-minute television show of all time (following The Simpsons) (Zara). Streaming services are another more-recent factor that are generating revenue for Seinfeld. In 2015, Hulu purchased the rights to all 180 episodes of the show for an estimated $700,000-1 million per episode from Sony Pictures TV (Villareal). CraveTV (provided by Bell) is also streaming the series on their service. This trend of on-demand streaming suggests that this sitcom from the 90’s will continue to generate strong numbers in the near …show more content…
I Love Lucy is ‘safer’ than Seinfeld. The writing found in I Love Lucy leans on the conservative side, conservative as defined by Marriam-Webster’s definitions of “believing in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society” and “not liking or accepting changes or new ideas” (Marriam-Webster). Lucy and Ricky actually sleep in separate twin beds for a majority of the series. And when Lucy find out she is pregnant in Lucy is Enceinte, CBS thought the word ‘pregnant’ was too vulgar so the show had to use the words ‘expecting’ and ‘enceinte’ instead (Adams et.al). Censorship like this heavily influenced the writing of older sitcoms like I Love Lucy (Nadler module 11 slides 56-57). I Love Lucy gets around the challenge of censorship by heavily relying on physical gags to get laughs; humour scarcely found in Seinfeld. The only shtick that comes close to this physical humour in Seinfeld is Kramer’s general clumsiness which feels largely inspired from physical performers such as Lucille