Why are Sitcoms so Popular?

It is not always about the quality, though it once was; rather, it is about familiarity and trust. Like few other art forms, the sitcom’s relational model insists on an intimacy between artist, medium and audience. A blog by Woosik Chung.

Nowadays it isn’t rare to gather around the television on the weekends and watch sitcoms with family members or with friends. I remember in my youth watching a Korean sitcom called “Non-Stop.” It was a non-stopping series of comedies. It was like a customary thing to do each weekend. In the following week, I would talk about sitcoms with my friends at school. Why have sitcoms become so popular? I believe the sitcoms are popular due to the vicarious pleasure it delivers and the availability of sitcoms to the mass.

Back in the days when watching videos online weren’t so easy, people gathered around the television at a certain time of the day, at a certain day of the week. For instance, I remember watching sitcoms at 6pm every Saturday night. Sitcoms were made of comically exaggerated everyday life events, which gave people a vicarious satisfaction from watching and laughing about it. People are able relieve their stress by watching sitcoms because the humor experienced as through the sitcoms as mocking ourselves allows us to be less defensive and to be more open about our own imperfections.

It is important to note that even through generations sitcoms have maintained their popularity. The way we view sitcoms have changed as technology advanced. Contrary to those days when we had to abide by the sitcom schedule, now sitcoms are available online and easily accessible. Now with Netflix, Hulu, and other online entertainment sources readily available at our will, sitcoms have become part of our lives. You could finish series of episodes in one day if you wanted to. With social networking sites, we already have more access to people’s live more than ever which have allowed us to be more accustomed to sitcoms in a sense that both deliver vicarious experience.

Sitcoms portray everyday lives are most of the time realistic and relatable. It depicts our daily encounters and experiences with a bit of exaggeration for humor. I believe such reality creates our interest and hence the popularity in sitcoms. We have pleasure in experiencing other person’s daily life vicariously. It also let us realize our flaws and allows us to view our live from a third perspective. Things that if happened in real life are simply funnier when seen through sitcoms such as a person slipping on a wet floor. If back in the days people took pleasure in cheering for fights in the colosseum, now people do so watching sitcoms. It delivers the audience a way to relieve stress after a long day and take off any mental or physical burden by laughing it off.