Britcoms: The Battle Of The Sitcom Industry

Great Essays
Battle of the Sitcoms

The sitcom industry has been dominated by the British since 1946, when their first sitcom aired. Since then the empire of sitcom writing has been dominated by the British. British sitcoms, or Britcoms, have developed through every era since then; each one bringing new hit sitcoms and catchy, illustrious moments. Some of the more famous Britcoms include: Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, The Good Life (Good Neighbors) and Are You Being Served? Because some Britcoms were becoming extremely popular in the United States, British producers took it upon themselves to remake a few of the classic Britcoms into Americanized versions. Known remakes include: Coupling, The Inbetweeners, The I.T. Crowd, Fawlty
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Due to the higher quality material, such as the way Britcoms are written, the strategical length of each series, and the array of themes produced, Britcoms demonstrate better entertainment than American sitcoms. When British writers sit down to write the script and humor for a sitcom, they tend to stay for the whole length of the series, so the writing style and humor stays the same throughout the show: “British writers are quick to point out that they most often write alone or in teams of two, and those who create a sitcom remain with it for the duration of its run” (Berman XVI). With American writers, the show is a business, so whoever writes the best material, and gets the best rating, gets to stay on the show. This means that the writers can change throughout the series, or even part way through a season: “They have to please advertisers who want to see good ratings on the programs on which they buy time for their commercials” (Berman …show more content…
The most distinctive trait exhibited by Britcoms are their vast array of themes. American sitcoms are known for using typical man-made sets. These sets are used for multiple series instead of the actual scenery around them, like the streets of New York or a park found outside of a building: “It makes perfect sense, and it allows for almost infinite storyline possibilities. American sitcoms for years rarely ventured outdoors, usually opting to simulate a location right on the indoor set” (Berman XVII). American sitcoms often tend to stick to the chronic themes of sitcoms and frequently leave their audience uninterested or seeing repeated storylines. Britcoms bring numerous ideas for sitcoms that Americans could hardly have thought of, such as elderly people waiting to die in a retirement home, a businessman running his own hotel, a period piece, and a bunch of clueless people trying to run a high-end department store. The array of sitcom subjects is what makes Britcoms so much more attractive than the typical American

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