Sitcom: A History in 24 Episodes from I Love Lucy to Community
Language: English
Published by Chicago Review Press, 2014
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
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Condition: Used - Good
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A carefully curated tour through TV comedy series, this mixtape of fondly remembered shows surveys the genealogy of the form, the larger trends in its history, the best of what the genre has accomplished, and the most standard of its works. From I LoveLucy, The Phil Silvers Show, and M*A*S*H to Taxi, The Larry Sanders Show, and 30 Rock, this guide presents the sitcom as a capsule version of the 20th-century arts--realism giving way to modernism and then to postmodernism, all between the hours of 8 and 10pm on weeknights. Each chapter springs from an individual representative entity, including The Simpsons' 22 Short Films About Springfield, The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Chuckles Bites the Dust, Seinfeld's The Pitch, and Freaks and Geeks' Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers, where Martin Starr's nerdy Bill takes comfort in--what else--the pleasures of laughing at TV.
Seller Inventory # CIN161374384XG
- Title
- Sitcom: A History in 24 Episodes from I Love Lucy to Community
- Author
- Saul Austerlitz
- Publisher
- Chicago Review Press
- Publication year
- 2014
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 161374384X
- ISBN 13
- 9781613743843
The form is so elemental, so basic, that we have difficulty imagining a time before it existed: a single set, fixed cameras, canned laughter, zany sidekicks, quirky family antics. Obsessively watched and critically ignored, sitcoms were a distraction, a gentle lullaby of a kinder, gentler America—until suddenly the artificial boundary between the world and television entertainment collapsed.
In this book we can watch the growth of the sitcom, following the path that leads from Lucy to The Phil Silvers Show; from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Mary Tyler Moore Show; from M*A*S*H to Taxi; from Cheers to Roseanne; from Seinfeld to Curb Your Enthusiasm; and from The Larry Sanders Show to 30 Rock.
In twenty-four episodes, Sitcom surveys the history of the form, and functions as both a TV mixtape of fondly remembered shows that will guide us to notable series and larger trends, and a carefully curated guided tour through the history of one of our most treasured art forms.
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