Sitcoms

Sitcoms or situational television episodes are never near as much about the jokes as they are about the story. They are television episodes which portray people in everyday circumstances and how they live out those circumstances. Sitcoms are usually laid out in a three-act setting, beginning with a problem and ending (hopefully) with a solution to the problem. The first act includes putting the protagonist in a dilemma. The second act shows how the protagonist with the help of the other actors around him tries to find a way to solve the problem. The final act concludes the problem with the protagonist finding a way to ease or solve it and is sometimes known as “the lesson”. The three-act setting for sitcoms also functions within the sitcom genre. Regardless of the genre, there is always a problem, whether serious or benign, that the protagonist faces. With that problem comes an attempt to solve it and eventually a solution. The genre of the sitcom only affects the seriousness or goofiness of the problem rather and does not change the way these acts are laid out.

 In the sitcom Two and a Half Men, one of the three actors usually induces a problem that the episode helps to solve. For instance, in one episode Charlie’s ex-wife tries to get back with him, even though he knows it is not something he wants, laying out “the problem” in the first act. During the second act, the other actors try to convince him to break it off with her, although Charlie’s sexual and emotional ties with his ex-wife keep him coming back. In the end of the episode during the final act, Charlie realizes that the confusion of emotions is indeed too overwhelming and as a result he finally severs all ties with his ex-wife.

This shows how in all sitcoms a problem naturally arises which throughout the episode the protagonist struggles to find a solution which is found in the final act.