Sitcoms Influence On American Culture

The group of friends encounter many difficulties when trying to be successful in the city, and go through numerous awkward situations too. The plot of the sitcom Friends is one of the main reasons that the sitcom lasted a long time. An article titled “5 Generic TV Sitcom Plots That Will Never Die” claimed that the five generic TV sitcom plots that will never die are working together, when friends and relatives become involved, pregnancy problems, annoying friends, and when “the one that got away” returns (“5 Generic TV” 1). Friends includes every single one of these situations. The friends Phoebe and Monica work together in a restaurant.

Millions of immigrants arrive in the land of the free and the home of the brave each year, but many are shocked when they witness the extreme culture differentiation and fallacies regarding our country. The shock that is forced upon arriving immigrants can range from the weather outside to the clothes on our bodies. These immigrants are not familiar with our language or ways of life. They arrive in the United States unaware of the changes that they must adapt to in order to fit in among our society. However, many immigrants don’t know where to turn for recourse. New immigrants can become familiar with American media, make a friend that can guide them, and/or attend a support group in order to adapt to the community and society of the United States of America.

Evolution of Family Sitcoms “Blood is thicker than water.” A saying commonly heralded by family members in order to reaffirm the importance of family unity. These words spoke loudly to the entertainment industry as they were trying to create new content for television. Situational comedies were quite popular, but there was a lack of relation to family audiences. The most logical step was to combine the two.

The Cosby show created a deliberately positive image of blacks thus the decision for Claire Huxtable to be shown as a lawyer and Cliff Huxtable being portrayed as a doctor. When The Cosby show made its debut in 1984 it was the first television show to show a successful upper-middle class black family. Until that point blacks in television were only portrayed as maids, servants, and janitors. The Cosby Show introduced Americans to a more realistic image of black Americans that dispelled old stereotypes that plagued America. The Cosby Show empowered black Americans and instilled a sense of pride throughout the community.

Jerry Seinfeld's television sitcom, "Seinfeld," which went off the air in 1999, is still one of the most culturally pertinent shows today. The show dealt with little nuances of American society. A puffy shirt, for example, could be the main subject for an entire show. This show, which was derived from Jerry Seinfeld's observational humor, was voted as the "Greatest Show of All Time" by TV Guide in 2002. According to the show's official website, the ratings for the syndicated version of Seinfeld are ahead of many of the current primetime comedies ("Seinfeld" 2/5).

Although ‘Men Behaving Badly’ is not that much older than ‘Friends’ the more recent episodes of Friends are quite different to the final episodes of M.B.B.

Family sitcoms have been the most popular and positively influenced television shows watched since the 1900s to today. Many of these shows have consisted of African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic families who all play a role that we as watchers look up to or perceive as the right way to run our household. Over time there has been an addition to biracial shows and family role changes throughout these sitcoms. For example, now observing single parent homes, homosexual guardians and even the changing of social interaction has both positively and negatively impacted real families who are watching.

     What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The

Although The Simpsons represented the average middle class American family, the dysfunction that the show was based came with some resistance. Both George and Barbara Bush publicly decried The Simpsons sighting it as influencing the parental permissiveness and youthful indiscipline the show represented (Glynn, 1996, pg.62). President George Bush condemned The Simpsons in his 1992 Presidential Election Campaign. President Bush said, “we are going to keep trying to strengthen the American family, to make them a lot more like the Walton’s and a lot less like the Simpsons” (Bush, 1992). However, Bush represented the old guard, trying to keep the concept of the conservative American culture alive.

Of course, when anime first came over to America, it had to be edited to go over well with the popular audience. Television stations would go through and remove excessively violent scenes, alter translations, and even change whole plots just to make the shows more suitable for American audiences, (Ladd & Deneroff, 2009). Of course, it didn’t help that Americans viewed anime in general as children’s cartoons when it wasn’t created to be that way.

Cliques were a big impact in friendships in school throughout America. Claire and Andy were part of the popular kids in school, Brian was the nerd, Allison was the weird one, and John was the criminal. They have different social groups, but they have the same things in common. They all have problems with their parents and they all have a good heart. Even if some of them do not show it.

Along with the economy, popular culture flourished. Movie-makers poured millions of dollars into making films that were filled with dramatic special effects. Jurassic Park (1993) and Titanic (1997) are two examples of such films. Network television produced a good number of worthwhile shows, including one of the most loved situation comedies (sitcoms) in TV history in Seinfeld and one of the most creative sitcoms in The Simpsons. Cable TV offered a growing number of Americans more variety than ever before in home entertainment. Musically, Americans also had many styles from which to choose, from a revived country music scene to alternative rock to rap. The United States faced several serious challenges as it entered the 1990s. On the one hand,

Back in the 1920s people had receive news and entertainment through the radio, which then in turn out-shined newspapers and magazines. Now day’s social media sites have become the most popular form to get the news and information. The biggest tool in the media that generates revenue by the millions every day, is advertising. The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions.

Sitcoms have been one of the most popular and influential television genres for years on end. From some of the oldies like I Love Lucy to some of the more recent ones like New Girl , this genre succeeds in appealing to all people through eye catching drama, witty comedy, and lighthearted romance. Almost all viewers are guilty of singing their favorite theme songs or throwing out some popular catchphrases from some of their beloved characters on the show. The television show Friends, which aired in 1994, is still one of the most watched sitcoms in history. Even though the show ended in 2004, reruns still play on T.V and Netflix has even added the show to its database because of its undying popularity. Even a bit older than Friends, Full House aired its first episode in 1987 and its last in 1995. This shows popularity and influence prompted a continuation of the show, Fuller House, that is currently in production more than twenty years later. Both sitcoms of Friends and Full House demonstrate how the sitcom genre, along with the sub-genres associated with it has had and continues to have a tremendous influence on pop culture.

Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language