Word: sitcomming
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Every Sunday evening some 11 million U.S. households watch the Fox network's raunchy hit, Married . . . With Children. But a letter-writing campaign by just one shocked viewer in suburban Detroit has prompted several national advertisers to yank their commercials from the blue-collar sitcom...
Describing Robin Williams as a "comedian of superior talent and boundless energy," Dwyang noted that his comic talents have spanned several different media, including a television sitcom, a series of comedy albums, feature-length films, and live stand-up comedy routines...
...movies are autobiographical," says Almodovar, "but only in the essentials, not in individual anecdotes." In the subversive sitcom What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1985), "I wanted to talk about my family, and about the horrendous family life of the barrios." Mom (Maura) sniffs glue, pops pills and burns the chicken. Dad sings German songs -- reason enough for her to kill the dull brute with a ham bone. By this time the viewer may feel like put-upon Mom or bashed-in Dad, so assiduously has Almodovar cataloged his atrocities. But the filmmaker had more cunning indiscretions in store...
Most pervasive, however, has been the use of "kinder, gentler." Since August, journalists have conjured up the images of a kinder, gentler Congress, Soviet Union, FCC, sitcom and leveraged buyout. The Washington Post even reported that the IRS was preparing a "kinder, gentler 1040." New York Times columnist William Safire feels that the epidemic (to which TIME itself has not been immune) has taken hold because journalists need such pithy lines to play on. Says Safire: "It's catnip, and we're all cats...
More original programming is on the way. This week Nick at Nite offers Tattertown, a cartoon pilot from raffish animator Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat) about a world where discarded objects come to life. Nickelodeon, meanwhile, is developing a sitcom about kids at a dude ranch, as well as a new show for preschoolers, Eureka's Castle, that will use animation, puppets and live action to explore problems like being afraid of the dark...