With sitcoms, it’s always spin the block season
Whether it’s because you can’t connect with the characters, or you’ve just seen this plotline one too many times, Watchers’ block is something we have all suffered through; and there are few things worse. And, fortunately, I think we’ve all found the cure for it: The Sitcom. This isn’t just any old sitcom. It’s your sitcom. The one you keep returning to. The one you’ve watched over and over; enough times that you’ve convinced yourself that you were in the writers’ room with them. Why is that? The Sitcom unlocked a secret to television that not many others have been able to.
There are 3 reasons we’ll always spin the block for a good sitcom: first, it’s the characters. A group of central characters makes for the perfect show. From Girlfriends to Modern Family, Brooklyn 99 to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, from The Office to Sex Lives of College Girls. It gives us two things: range and intimacy. A group of main characters feels like it should be a confusing concept, too many people doing too many things, it should be overwhelming but somehow it is just the opposite, it’s quite the comfort. We get to watch each individual character grow as a person, a coworker, a friend, a roommate, a relative, or a partner. Real-life roles that each of us have taken on, or will take on, at one point or another.
We also get to watch the group grow; we see them continuously learning about each other and adapting as needed. Honestly? We are privileged to see all this. Anywhere else in our lives, we would be intruding on private moments. But on the screen, our nosiness is welcomed, and we get to live out dreams of being a fly on the wall. Whether we have them in abundance or not at all, range and intimacy are two things we will always crave. It’s why we can debate if Joan is a better friend than Toni and why we can agree that Haley should never have picked Andy.
Intimacy is part of the second reason we love sitcoms. It’s not just a closeness to the characters, it’s the relationship we build with the set. We’re watching these people we love so much create community in a space where they feel comfortable. It’s not so much that I’ve grown attached to the throw blanket on the orange couch, moreso that all my favourite characters are at ease in these spaces. Their comfort is relaxing. On the other side of the same coin, the novelty of new spaces on the show will make even the most mundane episode special.
Lastly, and perhaps most obviously, the length of a sitcom episode is the finishing touch of its perfection. Want to know what fits perfectly into “just a quick break?” A 25-to-30-minute show. As students, sitcoms make for the best study break activity. Unless, of course, you use the pomodoro technique. We can let our brains slow down, or shut off completely, while being entertained. It’s not as much commitment as a movie or a longer show, but it is more consistent entertainment than short-form media. And the single-story episodes can still be binge worthy without leaving you on a cliff-hanger. At least when you say, “just one episode and I’ll get back to it,” it’s not an unreasonably impossible task.
My Sitcom is Living Single – the blueprint to the blueprint. Queen Latifah is an artist that objectively can do no wrong, and Living Single is proof enough. It follows 3 roommates – Khadijah, Regine and Synclaire – and 3 of their neighbours – Kyle, Overton, and Maxine. In five seasons, we watch the lives of these 20-somethings play out on our screens: from living single to not-quite-single. It’s a plot so good, Friends did it too.
The magic of The Sitcom is that it has found the perfect balance between familiarity and freshness. It allows us to escape from one familiar world to another – where we feel the same comfort as the first time we watched. Whether it’s the characters, the cozy sets, or the bite-sized episodes, there is something irresistible about The Sitcom. These stories become part of our lives, like dependable old friends. And, honestly? That’s something I’ll always make time for.