In class, we talked about our feelings about multicam and single cam sitcoms. I, like it seemed most of us, have grown accustomed to single camera comedies. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the multicam sitcoms, but I just feel like they are becoming a thing of the past. Most contemporary sitcoms shot in multicam are on CBS like the “Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” which are generally popular amongst the older demographics of 35+. The younger audiences, like us, seem to favor things on NBC like “The Office”, “Parks and Rec”, and “Community” which are all single camera. When we watched “Miranda” I was immediately reminded of the sitcoms I used to watch growing up as a kid and a teenager, but I was disinterested because it was no the style of shows that I presently watch. My favorite sitcoms are the shows which are shot in the single camera format, where I see the multicams as the old way of doing things. I grew up watching “Friends”, “Seinfeld” and “Everybody Loves Raymond”, but my tastes seem to have evolved with the modern sitcom to favor the single cam.<\/p>\n
One of the thing I did notice about “Miranda” was the writing. Writing a sitcom is incredibly difficult because I thought they are essentially going from one punch line to another. We talked about the subtle humor that we saw in “Twenty Twelve” with the snarky, under the breath comments or quick phrase right before a cut that you can easily miss. But a sitcom requires\u00a0intricate\u00a0phrasing and timing in order to get the audience to laugh at all the right places and find the show funny. At first I was critical about the\u00a0episode\u00a0of “Miranda” we watched because it felt like it had a few very big jokes and the rest of the show as just filler. So I looked up an article from The Guardian which commented on “How to Write Comedy: Writing Sitcom”(http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/books\/2008\/sep\/22\/comedy5) and it gave me a much greater insight into the art of sitcom writing. It stated that “Sitcoms are not about ‘gags’. It’s bad sitcoms that are full of jokes.” and they finish up by saying “character and situation make it hilarious.” By this explanation I can appreciate what “Miranda” was trying to do with its comedy. It wasn’t just trying to be a laugh factory by producing joke after joke.<\/p>\n
The character of Miranda herself was pretty entertaining in herself, but the humor that was happening wasn’t always laugh out loud funny. There was something almost charming about the way she acted. Although I personally still prefer the single camera, I still have a great appreciate for the multi camera sitcom. They both require a special, specific style of writing which fits the format they are writing in. I feel like “Miranda” is a great example of a multicam sitcom which emphasizes the character and\u00a0situations\u00a0to make it funny, rather than just fire off joke after joke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In class, we talked about our feelings about multicam and single cam sitcoms. I, like it seemed most of us, have grown accustomed to single camera comedies. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the multicam sitcoms, but I just … Continue reading