Introduction
Television has become popular culture’s primary story teller and definer of patterns through its providing of information and entertainment for an enormous and heterogeneous mass public.[1] Yet at the same time, television depends on society to determine what is justified to be put on air. The conventions that influence societal norms also dictate to us what is funny and what is acceptable.
Situation-comedies (or sitcoms) are popular due to the exaggerated portrayal of societal idiosyncrasies. The humour in the sitcoms arises when characters find themselves in pathetic situations which are funny only because the audience develops a sudden sense of superiority in seeing someone else squandering – there a very Hobessian assessment which sees sitcoms are a reflection of society, and the things that make us laugh as determining our level of sophistication.
When premiered in 1994, Singapore’s first English sitcom, Under One Roof recorded a 21% share of the primetime audiences, which was more than double the next top rated shows in English.[2] Its popularity continued all the way up to its ‘limited edition’ final season, which was produced to commemorate Mediacorp’s 40th anniversary in 2002. Unfortunately, subsequent sitcom productions have failed to achieve such ratings, with at least two being canceled just weeks into airing (Now Boarding got cancelled after 5 episodes, in 2001).[3]
The focus of this project, however, is not so much why local sitcoms fail to deliver. We do not wish to compare one sitcom with another to determine why one succeeds where another flops. We believe that regardless of the quality or success of the productions, the final end product will always be borne out of popular culture and remain a mirror reflecting social undercurrents. Instead, we choose to comment on the phenomenon of the situation comedy, as a means of reifying popular concepts such as family, race relations and gender.
One argument has always been that Mediacorp is merely pandering to the lowest common denominator of Singapore society with the slapstick humour. Surely most Singaporeans cannot be that crass or wanting intellectually![4] In our project, we discuss Channel 5 sitcoms in terms of their broader themes, and show how they portray society’s values and beliefs. These productions are a reflection of how society has progressed within the short span of 15 years.
This paper compares television family sitcoms of the past to the family sitcoms of the present and suggests that their changing nature is an indication that television is a reflecting the changes in society. We also argue that these poor quality productions, often lambasted for being unoriginal or suffering from bad acting surprisingly serve to increase the political engagement of an often parochial Singaporean citizenry by providing a non-political agenda, through which resentment breeds discourse, which develops a unique form of civic linkage among the masses that the government sees no need to censor … yet.
Situation-comedies (or sitcoms) are popular due to the exaggerated portrayal of societal idiosyncrasies. The humour in the sitcoms arises when characters find themselves in pathetic situations which are funny only because the audience develops a sudden sense of superiority in seeing someone else squandering – there a very Hobessian assessment which sees sitcoms are a reflection of society, and the things that make us laugh as determining our level of sophistication.
When premiered in 1994, Singapore’s first English sitcom, Under One Roof recorded a 21% share of the primetime audiences, which was more than double the next top rated shows in English.[2] Its popularity continued all the way up to its ‘limited edition’ final season, which was produced to commemorate Mediacorp’s 40th anniversary in 2002. Unfortunately, subsequent sitcom productions have failed to achieve such ratings, with at least two being canceled just weeks into airing (Now Boarding got cancelled after 5 episodes, in 2001).[3]
The focus of this project, however, is not so much why local sitcoms fail to deliver. We do not wish to compare one sitcom with another to determine why one succeeds where another flops. We believe that regardless of the quality or success of the productions, the final end product will always be borne out of popular culture and remain a mirror reflecting social undercurrents. Instead, we choose to comment on the phenomenon of the situation comedy, as a means of reifying popular concepts such as family, race relations and gender.
One argument has always been that Mediacorp is merely pandering to the lowest common denominator of Singapore society with the slapstick humour. Surely most Singaporeans cannot be that crass or wanting intellectually![4] In our project, we discuss Channel 5 sitcoms in terms of their broader themes, and show how they portray society’s values and beliefs. These productions are a reflection of how society has progressed within the short span of 15 years.
This paper compares television family sitcoms of the past to the family sitcoms of the present and suggests that their changing nature is an indication that television is a reflecting the changes in society. We also argue that these poor quality productions, often lambasted for being unoriginal or suffering from bad acting surprisingly serve to increase the political engagement of an often parochial Singaporean citizenry by providing a non-political agenda, through which resentment breeds discourse, which develops a unique form of civic linkage among the masses that the government sees no need to censor … yet.
[1] Mary M. Dalton and Laura R. Linder, The sitcom reader : America viewed and skewed (Albany : State University of New York Press, 2005), p. 28
[2] Andrea Teo, TV entertainment in Singapore (NTU, 1998) p.4
[4] “Getting an overdose of Reality TV” in The Onlie Citizen
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11:53 PM
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