What, would you say, is the difference between a comedy drama and a sitcom?

thanks for any suggestions
JW

Can you not use Google...?! http://www.screenplayproductions.ltd.uk/Sitcom%20vs%20Comedy%20Drama.htm

Yes, of course I can. But that article doesn't really say much does it? Other than one should be more comedy and the other more drama. Which is a bit blummin obvious.

When does something stop being sitcom and start being comedy drama?

Is Funland comedy drama? Is Nighty Night?

I was hoping the good people of BSG might be able to shed a little more light on it.

What do YOU understand the main difference to be?

Thanks for any help.

The definition of sitcom was once "Pre-1995, BBC2 at 9:00 pm". A comedy drama by contrast can be found on every bloody channel since then.

I know that's no help but will have a think of what it means to me. But in some ways comedy drama is a safer bet for broadcasters and therefore explains the sudden creation / profusion of this genre.

A rose by any other name!?

Just out of interest JDubya - why is it important to you? I ask because I was trying to write a sitcom and I think I've ended up wriitng a comedy drama...

The best example, that I've heard, of the difference between a comedy drama and a sitcom is that the characters in sitcom never change because they never learn from experience unlike those in a comedy drama.

Quote: Frankie Rage @ December 17, 2007, 1:38 PM

A rose by any other name!?

Just out of interest JDubya - why is it important to you? I ask because I was trying to write a sitcom and I think I've ended up wriitng a comedy drama...

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Similar sort of thing. I've got an idea for a sitcom that just won't work as a sitcom so I thought maybe it'll work as a comedy drama.

then I realised I didn't know what a comedy drama was and did a little reading about and wasn't really any the clearer. So I thought i'd ask on here.

I like Dave M's description.

Quote: jdubya @ December 17, 2007, 1:15 PM

Yes, of course I can. But that article doesn't really say much does it? Other than one should be more comedy and the other more drama. Which is a bit blummin obvious.

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Well, I didn't mean use just that one article. The distinction does seem a bit obvious to me, anyway. It also said that a comedy drama can deal with darker themes, which I would say is true; I would also say that, overall, there is more scope for the scenario to develop, including both characters, location, setting, etc., which encompasses what Dave said. Sitcoms are essentially static affairs. Basically, comedy dramas can unsettle the viewer more. Sitcoms cannot; the status quo has to be resolved in order that the audience not be unsettled or disturbed in any way. Generally, and broadly.

Quote: James Williams @ December 17, 2007, 2:42 PM

Sitcoms cannot; the status quo has to be resolved in order that the audience not be unsettled or disturbed in any way. Generally, and broadly.

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I was with you up until there.

I guess if the jokes are incidental to the plot, rather than integral, you have a comedy drama.

Sitcom is based around the laughs, drama isn't. If your story stands up without making anyone laugh, you've written a drama.

Dan

Quote: jdubya @ December 17, 2007, 2:55 PM

I was with you up until there.

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And yet you like Dave M's description, which says much the same...?

As I said, it's only broadly the case. But in sitcoms, either the status quo is firmly and categorically reset (as in The Simpsons, and many others) or the characters orbit each other in such a way that no meaningful change or development is made (e.g. Friends).

This is because when people sit down to watch a sitcom they don't want to be surprised; they don't want to be challenged; they want to laugh. However, the viewer expects a little more from a comedy-drama, and is more willing to forgo the fuzzy feeling of the sitcom for a more challenging watch.

As I say, there are some exceptions, I'm sure, but that what I'm saying is broadly true.

It is said that a sitcom should have six laughs per page.
Comedy drama doesn't need that, just a laughline here and there.

Quote: James Williams @ December 17, 2007, 3:05 PM

And yet you like Dave M's description, which says much the same...?

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Sorry James,

It's a problem with my understanding not your explaining.

thanks all. that's helped a lot.

sitcoms last for half an hour. comedy dramas last for an hour. that is the only difference.

Yo momma!