GENRE THEORY

As Carolyn Miller suggests, 'the number of genres in any society...depends on the complexity and diversity of society' (Miller 1984, in Freedman & Medway 1994a, 36).

By looking at programming today as compared with say 20 years ago, we can see how this is more and more true. Today we address more issues (homosexuality, race) and many genres overlap and categorising them is not an exact science.

According to Horace Newcomb, the basic premis behind the sitcom is a simple Problem-Solution formula that makes it comfortable and not too complicated for the audience to watch [Feuer, p.?]. Additionally, there is no moral re-evaluation or story to remember from the previous week, as each episode has its own narrative or storyline.
The storyline in 'Frasier' revolves around the family of 2 semi-neurotic psychiatrist brothers living in a middle-upper class North American city. While the older brother is divorced and lives with his retired Police Father along with his attractive live-in nurse, the younger brother visits frequently. Each week they encounter a new situation which unfolds and is wrapped up within its half-hour time slot. We can identify immediately that the TV program 'Frasier' fits loosely into the broad category or 'genre' of a situation comedy, a.k.a. a sitcom.

We say loosely because the definition of genre itself has changed over the years from something that is very family and value oriented (Leave it to Beaver) to something more satirical and sensational (Married with children). [Feuer, p.?] In the past, situation comedies were mainly based on families and usually involved a different plot each episode, but there was no order to the stories or any real development. However as television evolves, writers try to come up with more diverse plot lines ("My two Dads", "Facts of Life") that subconciously mimic real life and put a spin on the old framework but still conforms to the basic formula of the past.

The Frasier storyline displays the conventional characteristics of sitcoms, such as goofy characters and some ridiculous situations that are always resolved happily in the end and which are intended to entertain the audience. The show has been constructed into half hour segments which are typical of sitcoms, but it also touches on different elements from different 'classes'. For example, the program 'Frasier' has a 'romantic' underlying theme with Daphne and Niles that culmiates at the end of the season, and it can be sad and serious (as in the plot line of Roz's pregnancy) and even has some mystery as in the episode where Martin Crane tries to solve a murder. This overlap or blend is called 'intertextuality.' [Feuer, p.?].
Frasier is a sitcom because it is Episodic, it comes on at a specific time each week, it is always one half hour in length, and also partly because it doesn't fit into other categories, (ie.) westerns or soap operas. We know it is a sitcom because it narrarates a story that is typical to our everyday life. These characters are contemporary and the situations in which they find themselves are supposed to be ones to which we, the audience, can relate to or identify with. The program uses current language, dress style and even talks about real current events. It does not try to argue anything or explain facts in a scientific manner.

We have certain expectations of a sitcom when we turn it on: we expect to laugh and not put much thought into the subject and we hope it distracts (takes us) away from everyday boredom. We take its meaning at face value, we usually don't read deeply into the values or statements it is making since this genre is not supposed to be making social commentary or even be all that realistic. We take a certain meaning from this genre, as with all fiction, that sometimes there is some truth or lesson behind the story, one that makes us hopeful and subconciously happy but nothing really thought provoking. Since the audience knows the show is a sitcom they approach it as such and this lends to a certain amount of 'passiveness' on the part of the viewer. Guided by the conventions of Sitcoms and the Problem-Solution Formula, the audience knows that the problem will be solved by the end of the show, so there is no surprise or uncertainty.
According to Hermann, television strives to imitate real life, so that we the viewer can relate to it, and then it throws a little fantasy into the mix to keep our attention and make our thoughts/desires and dreams come to life. Hermann also says that we interpret the symbols we see as a society similarily, whereas somebody outside of our culture would take longer in understanding what was portrayed, or may not understand it at all. Television programs are a construction, just as a literary work. Pains are taken to set the lighting and create believable characters to portray a certain image. All the words, scenes and visuals are set up to connote certain meanings. Television viewing cannot be seen as a purely passive exercise; everybody gets a slightly different meaning depending on their knowledge and the meaning of the symbols.

On the spectrum of sitcoms, the intensity of the attention paid or 'reading' done by the viewer varies with the show. In my opinion, even the most mindless shows (3rd Rock from the Sun) comment on society and human nature and with all the genre overlapping, the audience generally has to make a conscious effort to listen to what the show is saying and 'read' its meaning, both intended and uninitended.

1. Feuer, Jane. "Melodrama, Serial Form, and Televison Today." Televison: The Critical View, Fifth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

2. Grossberg, Lawrence. "The Interpretation of Meaning." Modes of Communication Course Kit, Pg. 29 - 44.

3. Herrmann, Stefan. "Do we learn to 'read' television like a kind of 'language'?"
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sfh9901.html

4. That hyperlink where I got my first quote, which I can't locate on FC anywhere!!

Burcu A.