{"id":22023,"date":"2014-04-29T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T13:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=22023"},"modified":"2014-04-23T12:38:48","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T17:38:48","slug":"sitcom-a-history-in-24-episodes-by-saul-austerlitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/sitcom-a-history-in-24-episodes-by-saul-austerlitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitcom: a History in 24 Episodes by Saul Austerlitz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rivershare.polarislibrary.com\/search\/title.aspx?cn=1051134\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-22024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sitcom.jpg?resize=266%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"sitcom\" width=\"266\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sitcom.jpg?w=266&amp;ssl=1 266w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sitcom.jpg?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\" \/><\/a>The form is so elemental, so basic, that we have difficulty imagining a time before it existed: a single set, fixed cameras, canned laughter, zany sidekicks, quirky family antics. Obsessively watched and critically ignored, sitcoms were a distraction, a gentle lullaby of a kinder, gentler America&#8211;until suddenly the artificial boundary between the world and television entertainment collapsed.<\/p>\n<p>In<a href=\"http:\/\/rivershare.polarislibrary.com\/search\/title.aspx?cn=1051134\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong> Sitcom: a History in 24 Episodes<\/strong><\/em><\/a> we can watch the growth of the sitcom, following the path that leads from Lucy to The Phil Silvers Show; from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Mary Tyler Moore Show; from M*A*S*H to Taxi; from Cheers to Roseanne; from Seinfeld to Curb Your Enthusiasm; and from The Larry Sanders Show to 30 Rock.<\/p>\n<p>In twenty-four episodes,<a href=\"http:\/\/rivershare.polarislibrary.com\/search\/title.aspx?cn=1051134\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong> Sitcom<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>surveys the history of the form, and functions as both a TV mixtape of fondly remembered shows that will guide us to notable series and larger trends, and a carefully curated guided tour through the history of one of our most treasured art forms. <em>(description from publisher)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The form is so elemental, so basic, that we have difficulty imagining a time before it existed: a single set, fixed cameras, canned laughter, zany sidekicks, quirky family antics. Obsessively watched and critically ignored, sitcoms were a distraction, a gentle lullaby of a kinder, gentler America&#8211;until suddenly the artificial boundary<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/sitcom-a-history-in-24-episodes-by-saul-austerlitz\/\">[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[524,363,241],"class_list":["post-22023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-comedy","tag-entertainment","tag-television"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-5Jd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22023"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22026,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22023\/revisions\/22026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}