Thursday, January 27, 2011

American TV Shows

hree's Company

Come and knock on our door. We’ve been waiting for you.
Where the kisses are hers and hers and his, three's company too.

Come and dance on our floor. Take a step that is new.
We’ve a lovable space that needs your face, three’s company too.

You’ll see that life is a ball again and laughter is calling for you.
Down at our rendezvous, three is company, too.

Rings a bell? Remember Jack Janet and Chrissy who lived together in apartment 201? This TV show that ran from 1977 to 1984 was actually a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House and became very popular with TV audience in America. This sitcom can still be enjoyed on DVDs and re-runs. The sitcom featured several running gags like Chrissy slamming the door on someone, and the landlord Mr. Roper cracking a joke about Jack’s supposed homosexuality. Three's a Company still remains to be one of the most favorite sitcoms and brings a smile to your face when you hear Come and knock on our door…

Cheers

One of the most popular sitcoms in America that ran into 11 successful seasons and was known for its catchy jingle Where Everybody Knows Your Name. Almost all of the episodes happened in the front room of a bar and created some legendary characters like Sam, Carla, Rebecca, Norm, Dianne, and off course the most popular –Dr. Frasier. Cheers had several running gags, which included Norm arriving in the bar greeted by a loud Norm! Years of laughter and jokes that can still be enjoyed on re-runs and even DVDS, Well Cheers to that!

Frasier

Perhaps the longest running and most successful sitcom that ran into ten seasons from 1993 to 2004 that revolved around Dr. Frasier Crane, the character from the popular sitcom Cheers. Kelsey Grammer who played the lead role for twenty years straight won several awards. The sitcom Frasier won 37 Emmy awards during its 11 year run. In this sitcom, Dr. Frasier Crane returned his hometown of Seattle, Washington, after a broken marriage in Boston. The show portrayed Frasier’s struggle to live a bachelor’s life in presence of his father, an ex-police officer Martin Crane, A frequent visitor to the Frasier apartment is his younger brother Niles, who is also a psychiatrist.

Seinfeld

The epitome of Nothing-Well that is the only way to describe this hit sitcom which was one of the masterpieces. Seinfeld created a genre for it self. It was a comedy about absurdly routine situations faced by four central characters - Jerry Seinfeld(The Comedian), Elaine Benes (The intellectual yet eccentric ex-girlfriend), Cosmo Kramer( The wacky neighbor) and off course George Costanza( The self-loathing, bald friend). The comedy that was weaved into the normal situations, which anyone could identify with, was simply marvelous. Another USP of this sitcom was that its central characters did not portray the conventional ‘goody-goody’ archetypes, the characters had shades of gray. Seinfeld had the right blend of different styles of comedy - a dash of slapstick, a pinch of satire and loads of wisecracks.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Another masterpiece which although, labeled as a Seinfeld clone by many created a massive following for itself and gave us some of the most loved characters on Television. Six friends sitting at the Central Park café in New York captured the hearts of millions of TV audience. Be it the Rachael-Ross on and off romance, Monica’s obsession about cleanliness, Chandler’s twisted sense of humor, Phoebe’s weird habits or Joey’s silly yet cute antics, Friends was a rage! The title song of the show by the Rembrandts I'll be there for you.. was a major hit as well. Friends ran into ten seasons and left people craving for more.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons was the most popular animated American sitcom ever. It was a burlesque spoof on the conventional American family, which always conveyed some social message without sounding didactic. The Simpsons were portrayed as the classic American dysfunctional family complete with Homer (The irresponsible man of the family), Marge (The ultra-sensitive American wife) Lisa and Bart (The new age American school kids) and Maggie (The baby). The release of the Simpsons movie in 2007, speaks volumes about the popularity of this sitcom.

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