If you were making a sitcom, what would you do?

[DTF955]

Sorry if this topic has been discussed beffore, it's hard to know what to search for for this one. We're not all professional writers on here (probably none of us are, though I did a couple books via Print On Demand that a few people bought that's not much). But, we all have different tastes and ideas of what we think would be cool.

So, wihle I'm really going to be busy with masters degree stuff and other things, and may not be back, I wanted to throw some ideas out for you all, and get your minds thinking.

Anyway, first I wanted to run this idea past you. I would have a gimmick - a calendar in every episode showing when the episode is supposed to take place. It would give fans something to talk about, eliminate some complaints from fans who can't comprehend passage of time between episodes (though some who refuse to think will alwys be there), and give something to remember the show by as far as trivia. In some episodes the date might be spoken, others a day planner might show it, etc.

Anyway, what - if any - other gimmicks would your use? Do you have an idea what your plot would be?

Here's what I'd do. I'm a family sitcom guy, though I've enjoyed other shows, too. I can't stand the violence, sex, and foul language of the present, and I'd probably have characters actually making negative comments about it. (Though I'd probably have to keep them from critizing actual shows :-)

I would have a few elements of my favorite shows. There would be a Laurel and Hardy style team akin to Boss Hogg and Rosco on the Dukes of Hazzard; a couple of schoolyard bullies that try to antagonize the main character kids but get nowhere. One of the "bullies" would be pretty dumb like Rosco, one actually pretty mean like Boss Hogg but in doing mean stuff, not trying to frame the kids or anything. (Well, maybe 1-2 times.) The dumb one would be easily tricked by the next door neighbor kid, who would be into abbott and Costello. I'd probably find it hard not to ovreuse the "Who's On First type jokes, but "neighbor kid" would use jokes like that to help sometimes; but also to drive the kids a little batty.

(Main family kid, first ep., first day of Middle School: What's your name?
Neighbor kid: Yeah, how'd you know?
MFK: How'd I know what?
NK: Yeah, Watt, my name.
MFK: Yeah, your...(gets weird look): Ooookay....)
NK: We just moved here from Paris.
MFK: Wow, you lived in France?!
NK: No, Ohio. It's such a cool state - I can tell people I've been to Paris, Lima, Warsaw...)

(Maybe they'd be brothers - I guess I'd have to have a reason why the mean kid put up with the dumb one. That could always be for the audience to figure out, though. That might be best saved for later seasons, so I would give the audience reason to watch and then tune in when it's shown)

Now, the main characters, it would be a touch like "Full House," but a bit more realistic. The dad, a widower, would have it implied that he suffered from depression. (Okay, this is true of "FUll House" as it is, but more clearly implied rather than just instiable cleaning for no apparent reason.) The oldest daughter would be in her early to middle teens and the first episode would show her dedicating herself in a church to being the mother figure - and at times the parent - that her younger siblings need.

There would be a few slow character arcs with the family. One where the dad recovers and learns to have faith. Another where either an aunt and uncle, or just some kindly neighbors, help the oldest daughter realize that dedication doesn't just mean going forward in a service - it involves actively *becoming* the mother figure. In other words, showing that actions speak louder than words.

There could be some very special episodes - the oldest daughter getting a Mother's Day card, for instance, perhaps also a gift that the bullies try to mess up. It would be light hearted, and quite funny along the way, but along the way there would be some real emotion to it, and it would try to teach important life lesosns, too.

There could be other friends, such as perhaps the bullies over time (though a real change in them would be for the finale), who the kids wind up helping, learning to help others resist peer pressure.

I have no idea what it'd be called or how it would work. But, thta's just something I'd like to watch, combining some of the comedy of Dukes, Hogan's Heroes, etc., with the great families like the Huxtables and Tanners.

I don't know what other gimmicks I'd use, but I do think the idea of dating things would be interesting. oh, I'd also refer to the unseen wall that should be there but for cameras a few times, that's where all the family pictures would be, etc.

Oh, one other thought. Being handicapped myself, it would be nice to see at least a semiregular child who was either partly blind or deaf. And, i'd hire people to do it realistically, without being too PC yet still making him or her sympathetic so poeple understand some of the real struggles.

How would you write a sitcom?

[mrs.gingerhinkley]

Reeally cool thread!


I'm not really sure of all the details,
but I'd want to create a tv show that was appropriate for the whole family.
the tv networks today don't believe you can have a show be both entertaining, and free of sexual, vulgar, and dirty content.
this ain't true....

The characters would have to be really colorful, and very interesting. They'd need to be funny and charming in their own ways, and would have to represent a wide wrange of people, so the show appealed to many.


The plots would be imaginative and diverse. And at the end of the show, you would have learned a good lesson.

Oh, and there would be TONS of old TV show references.


of course, that is very general... but wutever.

[waichingliu81]

firstly, you'd have to consider the types of sitcoms which have been made and shown on tv in the past, secondly, go on a website called fanfiction.net and on there, there are plenty of examples of sitcoms, dramas, films where people have written fan fiction on. have a look at those and read them as well. obviously don't plagarise or steal the author's ideas but rather that it gives you an idea of how a story is generated. also in regards to the casting and characters, decide what types of characters you want for you show and be as diverse in terms of personalities and characteristic traits that they might have

[comedyfreak]

I'd create a sitcom for the whole family with colorful characters and some physical comedy. I'd make sure there was chemistry between the cast and I'd also have a catchy theme song. I would also do without the sex jokes and innuendo it's been done to death. I would also end each episode without a continuing storyline, which I think is how a sitcom should be.

[Dynomite]

How about this, a family-oriented sitcom with moral values(in the vein of Happy Days and The Cosby Show) with catch phrases, inside gags, sound effects(pardon me if I'm being a little cartoonish), mind-easing music score(for examples, Vaughn Johnson or the late Joe Raposo) and great storylines. I'd be the creator and director.

[Race's Girl]

I'd make it look like either Everybody Hates Chris which is set a few decades ago with a narrator or Happy Days which is set a few decades ago without a narrator.