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Sitcom writing

Hello guys.

So to learn more about sitcom writing, i bought a book called "The little book of Sitcom" by John Vorhaus. I haven't finished the reading yet but it's very interesting and easy to read, but there is one thing that is intriguing me.

At some point of the read it comes the topic about Theme. He mentioned the theme as being the instruction, what the writer wants the audience to learn about how to live their lives and what he wants to "teach".

John Vorhaus says that a serie should have a general theme and each episode should have a sub-theme that connects with the general one. Does this line of thinking make sense to you in a sitcom?

I remember reading an interview about Louie CK and at some point the interviewer asks him "What if someone asks you to tell about what's "Louie" show really about, what would be you answer?" and he replied something like "Honestly, i really dont know what to answer to that question!".

I'd like to know your opinions about it!

Thanks!
 
Hello guys.

So to learn more about sitcom writing, i bought a book called "The little book of Sitcom" by John Vorhaus. I haven't finished the reading yet but it's very interesting and easy to read, but there is one thing that is intriguing me.

At some point of the read it comes the topic about Theme. He mentioned the theme as being the instruction, what the writer wants the audience to learn about how to live their lives and what he wants to "teach".

John Vorhaus says that a serie should have a general theme and each episode should have a sub-theme that connects with the general one. Does this line of thinking make sense to you in a sitcom?

I remember reading an interview about Louie CK and at some point the interviewer asks him "What if someone asks you to tell about what's "Louie" show really about, what would be you answer?" and he replied something like "Honestly, i really dont know what to answer to that question!".

I'd like to know your opinions about it!

Thanks!

Yes, that makes a lot of sense to me, although I'm not so sure about lessons and teaching - that would seem to be a blueprint for the blandest of US network sitcoms. I would define it more as overarching 'identity' though,
with individual episodes riffing on an aspect of that identity. When sitcoms lose that identity, they either go off the rails or (rarely) mutate into something better.
 
Hello guys.

So to learn more about sitcom writing, i bought a book called "The little book of Sitcom" by John Vorhaus. I haven't finished the reading yet but it's very interesting and easy to read, but there is one thing that is intriguing me.

At some point of the read it comes the topic about Theme. He mentioned the theme as being the instruction, what the writer wants the audience to learn about how to live their lives and what he wants to "teach".

John Vorhaus says that a serie should have a general theme and each episode should have a sub-theme that connects with the general one. Does this line of thinking make sense to you in a sitcom?

I remember reading an interview about Louie CK and at some point the interviewer asks him "What if someone asks you to tell about what's "Louie" show really about, what would be you answer?" and he replied something like "Honestly, i really dont know what to answer to that question!".

I'd like to know your opinions about it!

Thanks!

by theme do you mean plots???
 
John Vorhaus says that a serie should have a general theme and each episode should have a sub-theme that connects with the general one.
This is good advice. Makes a lot of sense to me.

He mentioned the theme as being the instruction, what the writer wants the audience to learn about how to live their lives and what he wants to "teach".
This is nonsense. I would say that very few sitcoms are teaching
people how to live their lives. If any. Off the top of my head I
can't think of even one. I don't watch sitcoms to learn what the
writer feels about how to live my life. Or what the writer wants
to teach.

Did Vorhaus give any examples of sitcoms that successfully did
this?

How about you? What sitcoms have you watched that show you
what the writer wants you (the audience) to learn about how to
live your life?
 
derek smith, by theme i mean the underlying message.

directorik, thanks for your reply. He doesn't give specific examples and i also dont see examples of that, but i've mailed him about what he think it is the theme for series like The Office and Friends and he replied:

"In answer to your question, theme = instruction: It's what YOU want the AUDIENCE to learn about how to live their lives. The theme of FRIENDS is "have friends" and value them above all. Each character's story is a reflection of that theme. The theme of THE OFFICE is "cope with this craziness," and each week, in each character, we see such efforts to cope"


Thanks!
 
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I guess it's not nonsense. Those are good ways to live ones life. And both
sitcoms were very, very successful. Perhaps the audience can learn how
to live their lives from sitcom writers. Perhaps that is the goal of sitcom
writers.

I wonder what the writers of "Seinfeld" were teaching us on how to live
our lives.
 
directorik i agree with you, it doesn't make much sense.

I also think that about the theme, it is a "should" and not a "must". For example in Seinfeld, i dont find a specific theme about the show. Louie it's another example and like i've posted, he even said in an interview that he doesn't know exactly what is the show about, and it's his own show.
 
I guess it's not nonsense. Those are good ways to live ones life. And both
sitcoms were very, very successful. Perhaps the audience can learn how
to live their lives from sitcom writers. Perhaps that is the goal of sitcom
writers.

I wonder what the writers of "Seinfeld" were teaching us on how to live
our lives.

Seinfeld is famously a show about nothing (although I never really bought that conceit). A modern incarnation of that is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

But a number of network (not generally cable) sitcoms are extremely preachy in this way. One of my favourite current sitcoms, Modern Family, typically ends most episodes with a saccharine voiceover outlining the lesson the characters (and audience) have learned in the previous 23 minutes. The same thing was often true of Parks and Recreation. It's definitely not uncommon.

And I wouldn't say sitcom writers are trying to teach people how to live their lives - they're just telling stories with morals, such as have been told since humans first developed language. Some of them are more skilled and subtle than others, but the morals are there all the same.
 
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