History of the Sitcom

Every sitcom is, at its heart, a reflection of America's core social "situation" - the family. This episode explores how sitcoms evolve to reflect the changing face of this most fundamental social unit. From I Love Lucy to the blended Brady Bunch, from working class families in All in the Family, Good Times, One Day at a Time and Roseanne to the aspirational The Cosby Show, from the groundbreaking Black-ish to Fresh off the Boat, sitcom humor has helped broaden our horizons and open our minds to what a Modern Family can be. Featuring sitcoms such as Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, All in the Family, Good Times, One Day at a Time, Roseanne, The Cosby Show, Black-ish, Fresh off the Boat, and Modern Family.

Lucy and Desi couldn't sleep in the same bed but Fleabag sleeps with her priest. American's changing attitudes towards sex, women's rights, and gender identity - and the winding path from sex as taboo to sex as punchline - have been mapped out with remarkable clarity on the sitcom screen. From "closeted" gay characters like Uncle Arthur on Bewitched to Ellen's coming out to Mitch and Cam's marriage on Modern Family; from Edie, the first Black trans woman on The Jeffersons to Joey Soloway's groundbreaking Transparent; sitcom laughs have helped audiences understand that the world can be so much funnier when not seen solely through a white, cis-gendered, straight point of view. Featuring sitcoms such as Fleabag, Sex and the City, Bewitched, Modern Family, The Jefferson's, and Transparent.

Friends, Seinfeld, Living Single - so many of us know the characters in these shows better than most of our real friends. By the 90s, these "hanging out with friends" sitcoms become the vital force driving the genre - and in many ways, pop culture. But it's earlier shows like The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, What's Happening!!, The Facts of Life and Golden Girls that set the stage for peak friends sitcom, and it's iconic follow-ups like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Community, How I Met Your Mother and New Girl that bring that form into the new millennium. Featuring sitcoms such as Friends, Seinfeld, Living Simple, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, What's Happening!!, The Facts of Life, Golden Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Community, How I Met Your Mother, and New Girl.

The workplace is a rich source of comedy as it binds vastly different people together with laughter. From The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Murphy Brown, from WKRP to 30 Rock, from Barney Miller to Brooklyn 99, from Designing Women to Veep, as America's relationship with their jobs changes - and especially as women break through countless workplace barriers - sitcoms evolve in endlessly humorous ways. Featuring sitcoms such as The Marry Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown, WKRP, 30 Rock, Barney Miller, Brooklyn 99, Designing Women, and Veep.

With cutting-edge humor, pioneering creators and sitcom stars have helped open generations of American minds to the intractable problems of racial injustice and representation. Icons like Norman Lear, Diahann Carroll, Red Foxx and Freddie Prinze smash open doors with All in the Family, Julia, Sanford and Son and Chico and the Man. But with racist roots running as deep as Amos 'n' Andy, the sitcom has had a long, hard road to authentic, inclusive 21st century comedies like Black-ish and Fresh off the Boat. Featuring sitcoms such as All in the Family, Julia, Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, Amon 'n' Andy, Black-ish, and Fresh off the Boat.

No sitcom finds more endlessly inventive humor in implicit class tensions than Frasier, as a working-class father tries to get along with his sublimely high-brow sons. But though the American Dream of social mobility underpins America's social contract, that dream is so often beyond reach that it takes sitcom humor to help laugh at the struggles of getting ahead. The Honeymooners, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, Good Times, Alice and Roseanne all offer funny snapshots at class divisions in America, divisions that are even starker in Arrested Development and Schitt's Creek. But It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that asks the hardest, perhaps funniest question of all - is this aspirational game we're all playing really rigged against us? Featuring sitcoms such as The Honeymooners, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show, Good Time, Alice, Roseanne, Arrested Development, Schitt's Creek, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.