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From the Simpsons, to Everybody Loves Raymond and on and on, sit-coms seem to adhere (for the most part) to a formula where the male head of the household is a childish fool, always getting into some kind of hare-brained scheme requiring his wife or children to pull him out of.
In another thread, some have speculated that this is the result of "librul media's" hostility to white men and support for feminism. However, the "foolish man" formula long predates feminism and liberalisms' supposed "control" of Hollywood. As far back as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Honeymooners the male head of household has been portrayed as a childish fool in sitcoms.
I have my own theory as to why this formula is so popular, but I will withold it until I hear what some of you think about it.
Because it's funny. (Supposedly - I really can't stand any of those shows per that type of humor). If the supposed head of the household is an idiot - it makes for a lot of silly, funny, quirky, and stupid situations.
Women are also portrayed as overly strict, harsh, rude, crude, and stern in many shows for comedic effect. . . Or docile and super shy. Ever watch Rawhide? Or sexually crazed like Jersey Shore, (something) Housewives, or Sex in the City.
But now - I'm not sure what they're portrayed as. I just don't watch those shows, I guess. I'm stuck in a limited viewing world of Frasier and Dexter and anything else are kids shows like Windle and Vinnie - where a father figure isn't even around (actually - a lot of kids shows don't have parents at all. If the parents are involved they're usually both complete idiots and the kids are always up to all sorts of stuff they shouldn't be doing.)
All in all - it comes to a streak in everyone to make fun of authority. Some make fun of mother-figures. Others make fun of father-figures. Yet more make fun of parents in general. Teachers take a lot of hackery. So on, so forth - bashing the authority concept is always fun, it seems.
Again 13-17 year olds are the most profitable demographic for a TV show to hit. Advertisers will pay tons more money for reaching that demographic than they will any other. The second most profitable are 18-twenty-somethings. Nielsen is in the process of changing its ratings gathering system to try to capture a better representation of the teens viewing habits. They have added a C-7 category to their ratings (people who watch a show withing 7 days of its original air date) and will this fall use things like twitter comments to determine what the kids are watching and when they are watching it. It is why a lot of TV shows have suddenly started putting hashtags on the screen--they want people to use those specific hashtags when talking about a show to make it easier for the ratings/marketing companies to track your social media discussion of the show as another way of measuring viewership since Nielsen runs a defective model to begin with, only hitting select markets and people with their spy boxes.
Are sitcoms based on families popular with the 13-17 yo demographic. It seems like most of them are geared to people who are older than that.
All shows I have never seen because well or the most part I hate sitcoms and also it does not reflects the reality of today.
I think the stay at home mom thing has dissipated as moms needed to work to make ends meet but the rest of the family values old sitcoms portrayed are still with most families. Hollywood has done its work well with you sadly.
I honestly believe it is all part of Hollywood assaulting traditional values, morals and beliefs. They mock everything that old shows like Leave It To Beaver, Dennis The Menace, Donna Reid, The Rifleman, Ozzie and Harriet etc etc etc represented. A moral and intelligent loving father, a doting stay at home mother, a good marriage and all the rest that Hollywood libs despise.
Why is it bad I expect my future wife to work and have a university education? I also believe you can have two loving moms and two loving dads. There is also the reality of step parents and siblings that really didn't exist back in the 50s or 60s.
I honestly believe it is all part of Hollywood assaulting traditional values, morals and beliefs. They mock everything that old shows like Leave It To Beaver, Dennis The Menace, Donna Reid, The Rifleman, Ozzie and Harriet etc etc etc represented. A moral and intelligent loving father, a doting stay at home mother, a good marriage and all the rest that Hollywood libs despise.
If people didn't want to watch the newer style, they wouldn't be making enough money to stay on the air. You really think that changing tastes constitutes an assault?
All that is just fine if that's what you want but most people want what they grew up with, a mom a dad and a dog named Spot.
True dat!!
What boy wouldn't want a dad like Lucas McCain or Andy Griffith?
Herbert Gillis? Good dad. Steve Douglas and Uncle Charley? Good guys.
We're not getting those moral stories out any more.
Well that has changed people grew up with working parents or maybe a single working parent because there was no one else. They also grew up with step-parents and step-siblings.
Maybe so but there is no need to mock traditional happy marriages with good moms and dads.
I'm more familiar with genres of literature as opposed to genres of shows.
Sitcoms are like The 50 Greatest Sitcoms of All Time
Very few of those actually fit your OP criteria. It seems that both you and I are just - perhaps - not frequent viewers. Most of those shows I haven't even heard of. I watched the popular ones from the 70's and 80's - nothing that's recent, and a lot aren't even family/marriage related. I'm surprised Scrubs and Night Court are on there - those are sitcoms?
Maybe so but there is no need to mock traditional happy marriages with good moms and dads.
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