Analysis of a Sitcom

Plot Development Context:

Deconstructing Media. One way to learn about the role of plot development in film and television is by deconstructing a TV sitcom programme's storyline.

Objectives:

1.    Understand how many entertainment programmes are constructed using a systematic organisation of mini-plots within a given time frame.

2.    Understand that by deconstructing a TV programme you realise that it is a constructed reality unlike life which happens in a much more chaotic manner and that finding solutions are often much more complex that presented on television.

Discussion:

Most television programs use a standardised storytelling format. Each programme has at least three "mini-stories" which are interwoven back and forth usually with some type of visual and audio transition in between. One usually sees such "transitions" as a shot of a city street, or the camera pans up the side of a building where an event is about to occur.

Each of the three mini-stories is usually based around a principle character or group of characters in the show. This is especially true for programs such as Friends, Seinfeld, Beverly Hills, 90210, and others.

Example: Friends - The One Where Eddie Won't Go

This episode has three themes.

1.    The women have discovered a feminist book with which they can relate and explore a new set of attitudes the book professes.

2.    Joey, recently fired from his role in a medical soap opera, discovers he can no longer support his lavish life style. He finds the offer of a short movie role as a taxi driver demeaning, and refuses the work. He finally has to move out of his apartment and back in with Chandler.

3.    Chandler has discovered that his new roommate Eddie is a psychopath and decides he must get Eddie to move out. He eventually evicts Eddie and Joey moves back in with Chandler.

Each of these three themes can be separated one from the other and viewed as individual stories. For example, Chandler's story can be told in a sequence of six scenes for a total on-air time of 7 minutes and 23 seconds.

Dramatic Element: Set-Up - establishes the problem.

Scene one is 80 seconds in length. Chandler wakes up to discover Eddie sitting next to the bed watching him sleep. It is revealed that Eddie does this quite often and Chandler demands that Eddie move out. Eddie says he will be out by the next evening

Dramatic Element: Conflict - the problem is developed.

Scene two is 65 seconds in length. Chandler returns to the apartment that evening believing that Eddie has moved out. Chandler is surprised to find Eddie dehydrating vegetables. Again, Chandler demands that Eddie moves out.

Scene three is 15 seconds in length. Chandler has decided to sleep on the couch at the apartment across the hall. One of the girls enters the living room and watches Chandler asleep. He senses he is being watched and wakes up and asks why everyone has to watch him sleep.

Scene four is 70 seconds in length. Chandler returns to his apartment the next morning and again encounters Eddie who still hasn't moved out. Eddie seems to have forgotten he said he will move.

Scene five is 60 seconds in length. Chandler rushes into the bar in the lower level of the apartment house where all the "friends" live. He announces that Eddie has finally moved out - only to see Eddie coming into the bar with the head of a mannequin. Eddie thinks the head would make a great party dip bowl. Chandler is overwhelmed that he can't get Eddie to move.

Dramatic Element: Resolution - a solution for the conflict is developed.

Scene six is 120 seconds in length. Eddie is seen returning to the apartment he and Chandler share. Eddie discovers that all of his belongings have been left on the stoop. His key no longer works in the apartment door. He knocks. Chandler answers and pretends not to recognize Eddie. Chandler convinces Eddie that he never did live there and that Joey (who has moved back in) has always been his roommate. Eddie leaves and Chandler and Joey celebrate their becoming roommates once again.

Assignment:

Choose another US sitcom episode. Then analyse and deconstruct the basic plot for one of the "mini-stories" presented in the programme.

Process:

Describe the "Set-Up" in which the basic problem is established and detail the action with the scene, or scenes, which establishes this element.

Describe the evolution of the "Conflict" and detail the action with the scene, or scenes, which establishes this element of the mini-story.

Describe the "Resolution" of the conflict and detail the scene or scenes which are used to bring the story to an end.

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The One Where Eddie Won't Go

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This is taken  from an assignment developed by Gary Ferrington  for his course at the University of Oregon called Children, Youth, TV and Media. Bookmark the University of Oregon's Media Literacy Online Project for excellent research links.