Why are sitcom dads so inept?

[TMC]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...115614052.html

Communications professor Erica Scharrer, who has been researching sitcom dads for two decades after being inspired by Home Improvement's Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor, decided to create a new study on how fathers are disparaged on sitcoms. "For our study, we identified 34 top-rated, family-centered sitcoms that aired from 1980 to 2017 and randomly selected two episodes from each," she explains. "Next, we isolated 578 scenes in which the fathers were involved in 'disparagement humor,' which meant the dads either made fun of another character or were made fun of themselves. Then we studied how often sitcom dads were shown together with their kids within these scenes in three key parenting interactions: giving advice, setting rules or positively or negatively reinforcing their kids’ behavior. We wanted to see whether the interaction made the father look “humorously foolish” – showing poor judgment, being incompetent or acting childishly. Interestingly, fathers were shown in fewer parenting situations in more recent sitcoms. And when fathers were parenting, it was depicted as humorously foolish in just over 50% of the relevant scenes in the 2000s and 2010s, compared with 18% in the 1980s and 31% in the 1990s sitcoms. At least within scenes featuring disparagement humor, sitcom audiences, more often than not, are still being encouraged to laugh at dads’ parenting missteps and mistakes."

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by TMC

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...115614052.html

Communications professor Erica Scharrer, who has been researching sitcom dads for two decades after being inspired by Home Improvement's Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor, decided to create a new study on how fathers are disparaged on sitcoms. "For our study, we identified 34 top-rated, family-centered sitcoms that aired from 1980 to 2017 and randomly selected two episodes from each," she explains. "Next, we isolated 578 scenes in which the fathers were involved in 'disparagement humor,' which meant the dads either made fun of another character or were made fun of themselves. Then we studied how often sitcom dads were shown together with their kids within these scenes in three key parenting interactions: giving advice, setting rules or positively or negatively reinforcing their kids’ behavior. We wanted to see whether the interaction made the father look “humorously foolish” – showing poor judgment, being incompetent or acting childishly. Interestingly, fathers were shown in fewer parenting situations in more recent sitcoms. And when fathers were parenting, it was depicted as humorously foolish in just over 50% of the relevant scenes in the 2000s and 2010s, compared with 18% in the 1980s and 31% in the 1990s sitcoms. At least within scenes featuring disparagement humor, sitcom audiences, more often than not, are still being encouraged to laugh at dads’ parenting missteps and mistakes."

I've got to tread carefully here, so let me qualify the following with "there are no absolutes, as soon as you recognize any trend, there assuredly will be outliers" etc etc.
But I think that most men are more willing to laugh at themselves, than women. Think "Peg and Al Bundy".

Now, to what degree they will readily admit this to other members of their species, is an entirely separate matter. Many are so vain that admitting as much to any other living human being, is unthinkable. But within ourselves, we know this frailty to be there.

And, where you have male writers creating material for sitcoms, I think this is expressed as a "behind the back wink of acknowledgement" between guilty parties.

[JO Sweet Heart]

I don't know, but to me, Tim was awesome. I love how he always messed up everything that he learned from Wilson.

God bless you always!!!

Holly