The Beauty of Sitcoms

One thing I really miss about high school or back when life was easier freshman year is the precious time I had to enjoy watching my favorite sitcoms. Not that I don't have the time anymore, but being all grown-up, I use my time a little bit differently. However, if I am ever feeling sick or down in the dumps and know I have some time to spare, my go-to cure is sitcoms, sitcoms, sitcoms. Whether its That 70s Show, Parks and Recreation or How I Met Your Mother, I know any one of these series is sure to lighten my mood right away.

What I love the most about sitcoms is the unique character personalities. On most shows of this genre, there are usually a group of 5 or more friends or characters within an environment that have very distinct traits. For example, in How I Met Your Mother, Barney is the player, Ted is the hopeless romantic, Marshall is the kind, sentimental one. On That 70s Show, Kelso is the airhead, Jackie is the "popular" girl, Donna is "one of the guys", Hyde is the rebel and Eric is the innocent, nerdy one. It is interesting when such different personalities are put together in these shows because it makes for interesting character interactions and is often the cause of conflict which makes for an entertaining storyline. A specific example that I can think of is in That 70s Show when Jackie and Hyde secretly date behind Kelso's back. Hyde hates Jackie throughout the whole show, but then is suddenly attracted to her one summer. They have conflicting personalities which causes problems at first, but ultimately leads to intimacy.

Another thing I love about sitcoms is the simplistic story lines and the length of the episodes and seasons. Because it is a light-hearted genre, story lines are often resolved within one episode rather than over the course of an entire season as in a drama. It is an easy genre to pick up and watch whenever you feel like, not really requiring much of a commitment. However, I guarantee you usually will get hooked. Sitcoms frequently last for more than 5 seasons (at least the really good ones). Netflix provides a lot of the best options including what I mentioned above and others such as Friends, 30 Rock and The Office. If you're looking for a good show to binge-watch, sitcoms are definitely your go to genre.