WEBVTT - Sitcoms Part I 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.119 heart radio. Stuff you should know is recorded in front 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:19.120 of a live studio audience. Hey, and welcome to the PODCAST. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.960 I'm Josh and there's chuck and this is stuff you 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:29.200 should know. The WHAMOBAMO double episode about Sitcoms, probably the 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.680 most important thing in any of our lives. Uh. Yeah, 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.400 this is sort of our homage to the, more specifically 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.599 the American Multi Camera Studio Audience Sitcom, even though we're 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.920 gonna talk a little bit about other forms of the genre. Yeah, 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.640 the Brits come up here, there maybe a Keywi appearance 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.600 and uh, and what we're gonna try to do, everybody, 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.560 is do this Sitcom Style and record to thirty minute episodes. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.800 I don't know if they're gonna be twenty two minutes 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.360 including the ads, but that would be that would be 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.720 a stroke of genius. But we're gonna do our best, 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:06.600 which means we're probably not gonna do a listener mail. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.920 Then let's get right to it, right. Yeah, let's we're 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.000 talking sitcoms and just right out of the gate we 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.600 should explain what a Sitcom is. Everybody knows what a 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.080 Sitcom is, but if you stop and think about the word. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:22.760 It's actually a Portmanteau of situation and comedy. A Sitcom, 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.360 that's right, uh, and it's a very you know ed 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.120 helped us put this together. It. It is definitely Portmanteau 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.280 that some studio executive no doubt came up with, because 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.120 it's kind of dumb, sounding like it's a comedy about 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.520 a situation. You know what I'm saying? I do know 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:41.200 what you're saying, but at the same time I think 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:46.600 it actually does aptly described sitcoms, because every Sitcom, the 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.480 basis of it is you have your main characters in 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.360 some sort of dilemma situation and then by the end 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.640 of the episode that dilemma situation is resolved. The situation 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.800 is resolved. A Sitcom generally yeah, uh, and it looks 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:05.080 like that people in the industry. We're using this term, 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.480 maybe even back in the radio days of the nineteen fifties, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.880 because it comes up in print kind of for the 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.240 public's eyeballs in early nineteen sixty four. Uh, for the 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.600 best we can tell, in life magazine and the Chicago Tribune, 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.359 where they talk about what a Sitcom is and kind 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.960 of have to explain it to the two people, but 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.440 they do indicate that it's it's sort of been used 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:33.000 as industry uh slang for a little while. Right, exactly. So, Um, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.720 there are certain things that do like make a Sitcom 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.560 a Sitcom, and you know, they started out as very 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.519 basic and then kind of built along the way and then, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.880 as you know, writers UH started to come of age 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.480 having grown up on Sitcoms, they learned to kind of 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.480 play with the format more and more and create all 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.160 sorts of different takes on sitcoms. But there are some 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:58.960 basic structures to basically every sitcom that's ever existed. Yeah, 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.360 and this is kind of fun because, like Ed nailed 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.440 a lot of this and some stuff. As a Sitcom Guy, 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.760 I was like, not quite right, I'm so nervous. Now 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:10.959 I know he did a great job, though. Well, first 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:12.600 of all, he points out that it's a comedy. Of 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.840 course it's Um sort of the obvious one. They are 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.520 a half hour long, which is why these episodes will 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.000 be a half hour long. Yeah, I chuck. I looked 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.880 for one hour Sitcom and it just does not exist. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.360 The closest I saw was love boat, and I don't 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.120 know if you could really call love boat to Sitcom. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.200 I think love boat defied genre. It's something it definitely did. 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.480 For sure, from what I saw, was the only one 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.200 hour show that had a laugh track. Okay, well, yeah, 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.080 the laugh track. I think you can look forward to 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.720 the shorty on Wednesday, right. Yeah, definitely all about the 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.760 laugh track. Uh. So, the situation, and again these are generalizations. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.720 The form has been tweaked and subverted over the years, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:59.640 but it is almost always about a smallish group of people. Um, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.040 not always a family, but many, many times it's a family. 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.400 Sometimes it's a group of friends. Obviously that the UH 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.720 workplace comedy is going to be colleagues, but many, many sitcoms, 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:16.000 especially in the Hadaia Sitcoms, were about families. Yeah, and Um, 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.680 the basic structure, from what I saw, the minimum essentially 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.760 is four you you want to have four characters and 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.760 there's actually a set of types for those four characters. 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.599 There's the hero, the Anti Hero, the love interest in 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.520 the buddy, and this pops up everywhere, from married with 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.359 children to Seinfeld. But then obviously, of course people have 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.920 toyed with that because there were six friends. I think 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.080 there were six characters. On how I met your mother. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.680 There's a bunch of them on Big Bang theory. The 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.640 Simpsons are far and away one of the best sitcoms 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.040 ever and they have myriad characters who can have their 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.800 own episodes based on them. So, for in the family, though, 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.760 that's true. So so that seems to be kind of 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.159 the nucleus that everything else grows from. As far as 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.760 the number of CA yeah, I was looking back at 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.480 the fourth thing and it is interesting because you look 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:08.480 at Seinfeld and all in the family. I Love Lucy 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.400 had the two couples. The honeymooners had the two couples. 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.360 I think Dick Van Dyke had two couples as well. Well, 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:20.200 he had himself and Laura Petrie's wife, Mary Tyler Moore, 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.440 and then he had Rosemarie, I can't remember what her 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.760 character's name was, and then I can't remember what. So 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.680 he worked with a woman and a man and they 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.040 formed the other two characters. Right, right, right. They weren't 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.560 a couple, though, right, no, they weren't. They were just buddies. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.120 All right, it's been a while since I've seen that, 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.840 but they all had sex with each other. Right. Well, yeah, 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.240 in every episode they would end. It got really graphic, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.240 especially for the fifth you think got very weird. Uh. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:48.040 As far as the format goes, there is UH, like 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.599 if you're a screenwriter or you're reading a script of 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.040 a of a Sitcom. I mean scripts are formulaic no 0:05:55.080 --> 0:06:00.000 matter what, but Sitcom scripts are really, really formulaic, uh, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.760 in that they are twenty two minutes long. The there's 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.760 an a storyline, which is, you know, sort of the 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.720 main plot of that episode. Uh, and then you have 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.599 at least a B storyline, Um, and sometimes that's it, 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.240 but sometimes you'll have c storylines, maybe even a D storyline. 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.719 But kind of traditionally you've got an a and a 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.000 B and Ed points out that, and he's kind of 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.080 right in some ways, that generally the storylines are resolved 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:32.599 in each episode. But over the years that really sort 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.279 of fluctuated as far as you had running plot lines 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.120 that would last kind of a season, whether it's are 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.160 this character and that character going to get together or 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.359 one might get pregnant and so that season sort of 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.520 has a recurring storyline about them having a baby. But 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.440 generally what you wanted in a Sitcom was to be 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.400 able to watch them in any order and still enjoy 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.640 the show. Yeah, like if you if you watch any 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.479 episode of Gilligan's island or Mr ed or even the 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.840 Adams family. Like there's you can watch them in any 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:10.520 order and there every episode is going to make sense 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.320 because they were generally designed to stand alone, featuring the 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.600 same characters and the way that they do that. I 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.480 saw there's two TV tropes associated with this chuck. One 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.240 is the reset button, which is where that dilemma or 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.720 situation that characters are put in becomes fully resolved by 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.440 the end of the episode and things go back to normal. 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.520 That's the reset button. Then there's a snap back where 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.720 things aren't necessarily resolved, but in the next, next episode 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.920 everything's back to normal regardless, as if nothing happened previously. Yeah, 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.000 I mean occasionally he might hear a reference, but sitcoms 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.040 are famous, like you never heard Arnold and Willis in 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:49.080 subsequent seasons saying Hey, remember that time we were almost molested? 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.800 That was crazy. Yeah, they don't reference that stuff. No, 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:55.960 and then we'll get a little more into like those 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.880 kind of serious episodes of Sitcoms, because those were landmark 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:01.280 episodes for a reason. But the reset is is a 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.760 pretty funny trope, I think, totally Um and then there's 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.880 really a big distinction in how they're shot. There's really 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.720 two ways that they're shot and they're they're kind of 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.320 wrapped up, or there named, I should say, by the 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.960 original ways that these sitcoms were shot, and they're called, Um, 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.760 one camera or three camera, and you would think that 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.640 three camera would seem like the more innovative, expansive kind 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.240 of sitcomment. Is Actually the opposite. The three camera one 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.800 is what the traditional Sitcom is, is filmed, is right. Yeah, 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.560 and they kind of say multi camera these days. But 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.960 if you're talking about the old school live in front 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.440 of a studio audience, uh, what you have is this, 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.720 and I have to bring up the fact that I 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.040 was on one. I was on dear John, I was 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.680 on one too. Were you really well? So if you 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:52.160 should know, yeah, alr, I guess I was on two then. UH, yeah, well, 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.880 ours was. We'll talk about ours in a minute. But Um, 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.120 if you're talking the live in front of a studio 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:03.439 audience thing, what you have is very long, wide stage 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.920 with bleachers where people sit, and then in front of 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:12.800 that you have usually two or three permanent sets, uh, 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:14.920 and what's called a swing set, which they would bring 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.280 in each week. So what's the swing set. Well, on 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.840 like let's say cheers, would have always, of course, the 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.240 bar and then like Sam's office, were probably permanent sets 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.360 and a swing set might be like if that episode 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.640 they dined out at a restaurant or something like that. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.920 So it's something that you could like. It's kind of generic. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.959 You could strip down and repurpose it in many different ways. Yeah, 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.280 and they bring in these set walls and redress them, 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.800 but like let's say Seinfeld, obviously would be Jerry's apartment 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.840 and the diner would be the permanent sets and if, 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.840 like the season where George worked for the Yankees, his 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.000 his office set would be a swing set. That would 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.720 be just sort of stored and wheeled off and preserved, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:55.960 because you want to you don't want to have to 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.800 Redo all that stuff every time. But sometimes it was 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.160 just like one week only it would be like an 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.960 antique shop or something. Or in my case on dear John, 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.920 it was a restaurant, uh that I played a bus 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.240 boy in, and I was texting with my brother, actually, 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.160 Scott has a you know, he worked on dear John 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.640 and had a lot of experience on some of these shows, 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.640 and he said there were always at least two permanent sets. 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.360 He said some shows had as many as four. I 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.600 think he thought UH was one with Charlie Sheen that 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.640 I never watched. UH, two and a half men? Yeah, 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.400 I think he said two and a half men had 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.240 what he thought was four permanent sets, and it all 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.400 kind of depended on how big these the stages were, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.040 where they shot it, Um, and also how how well 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.720 funded the the show was too. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Uh. 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.439 And then like something like Seinfeld, they all the street 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.559 scenes and stuff like that. They shot those on the 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.920 adjacent backlots and in when they shot the real shows, uh, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.120 in front of an audience, they would they would show 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.400 those bits on the TV screen while they're like changing over, 0:10:58.480 --> 0:10:59.880 just so the audience would sort of be able to 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.000 all along. Oh, Gotcha. Okay, so we'll talk a little 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.120 more about the different camera setups. Right. That just that 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:10.360 distinguished the two basically the two types of sitcoms. A 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.120 little more in a minute. But do you want to 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.719 talk about the origins of Sitcoms? Yeah, should we take 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:20.400 a break, like Sitcom style? Okay, let's do it. We'll 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:24.800 be right back after this word from Ben Gay. I 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.920 want to learn about a terrestortic college for it Actyl, 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:28.800 how to take the perfect but with all about fractals, 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.439 think it's gone. That's a hun the Lizzie border murders, 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.480 and again I've all runs on the plane. Everything we 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:53.000 should know. Word up, Jerry George. Okay, we're back and 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.240 we're talking sitcoms and everybody thinks TV when you think 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.880 of Sitcoms, but it turns out that sitcoms have their 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.520 origin further back in that uh on, in radio, and 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.240 actually it goes even further back than that to Vaudeville. 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:10.040 But the first even contours of a Sitcom is found 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.880 in a radio show called Sam and Henry, which became 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.920 much more famous after it changed its name to Amos 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.440 and Andy, and a lot of people say that was 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.719 probably the first Sitcom because it had recurring characters. There 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.880 were situations that the characters were put in catch phrases. 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:30.280 That's another big, you know, kind of trademark of of sitcoms. 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.760 If you can get America saying like one of your 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.600 characters saying to one another like you've got a hit 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.439 show on your hands. You know, get a load of him. 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.040 It was always something dumb like that, I guess. Oh Yeah, definitely, 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:47.160 uh like Sanford and son had to be Elizabeth. I'm 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:51.319 coming to join you, are you big dummy, you big dummy. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.880 Oh Man, I love that Joe so much. Yeah, it's 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.880 a good show, I believe some I mean there's you 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.000 talked to different people about sort of what the first 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.760 sitcoms were and you're gonna get some different answers. Uh. 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.000 One is certainly going to be one called fiber, McGee 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.400 and molly, and it had again, all the ingredients that 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.240 you might think of as like typically Sitcom, although that 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.160 was a radio show that only had a brief appearance 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.640 on television. Uh, and he had shows like the honeymooners, 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.760 of course, one called Mary Kay and Johnny H that 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:24.959 a lot of people say was the first Sitcom. That's 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.600 where I put my money. Yeah, but when you ask 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.240 a lot of people what really broke it open as 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.280 far as the genre goes, I think most people will 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.120 say I love Lucy for sure, which I think debutede 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.640 and it changed everything. Is We'll talk about in a second. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.520 But we have to shout out pin rights progress, which 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:46.160 was a BBC Sitcom that air did nineteen six so 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.840 it beat Mary Kay and Johnny by a year. But 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.640 no one knows what it's about because no one, no 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:55.320 one preserved any of the episodes. Yeah, it's funny. It 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:59.360 seems like the UK and the United States are far 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.880 and away the leaders in the genre, because I did 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.800 look at other countries. It's never been that big in Australia. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.960 I mean there are examples, of course, but the UK 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.240 and the US just ate it up for some reason. Yeah, 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:18.120 it's like dueling banjos. Yeah, who's the guitar player and 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.280 WHO's the Banjo player? I think it changes from time 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.760 to time depending on the quality of the shows put out. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:26.840 But I said something check that I think is really 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:31.280 important pin rights progress. I it's probably a falsity to 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.120 say that no one knows what it is about, but 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.160 I don't believe there's anyone alive, probably never heard of it, 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.680 who's seen it. I hadn't heard of it either. The 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.120 reason why no one's seen it is because in the 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.080 early days of television, we're talking like the late forties, 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.200 um even mid forties, they would just broadcast the thing 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.120 live and you sat down in front of your TV 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.160 and you watched that thing and it never existed again. 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.440 It's kind of thing that. Yeah, our friend Alex from 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.280 ephemeral has probably done an episode on this kind the thing. Yeah, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:03.200 great show, by the way. Everyone should check that out. 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.560 But that's how they that's how they made shows originally right. 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.720 And then finally they're like, okay, we've got two coasts here. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.280 Most TV shows were broadcast in New York, filmed in 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.720 New York live, but you know, they were at like 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.880 say eight pm on a Friday, and most Angelino's in 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:26.160 San Franciscan's didn't want to rush home from work to catch, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.760 you know, the latest Um Mary Kay and Johnny. So 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.760 they figured out that they needed to somehow preserve that 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.480 show so that they could send it off to the 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.200 West Coast and they came up with something called kinescope, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.400 the lowest hanging fruit they could have reached. Some some 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.240 executive said, why don't we just show it on a 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.360 TV and then film that television screen with a camera, 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.240 with a thirty five millimeter film camera, and the frame 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.120 rates are gonna be weird and it's gonna look terrible, 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.560 but at least we can broadcast it on the west coast. 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:59.480 And they did that for a while and that was 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.960 sort of the first Um, the first time that the 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.800 that they were both coasts were able to watch the 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.880 same show. Yeah, and Chuck, it sounds clugy. It gets 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.600 even clugier at like at first there was no way 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.280 to actually broadcast from the east coast of the West 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.119 Coast vice versa, for the first few years of television. 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.160 So they would film that, that show off of TV 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.480 onto film and then they would take that real and 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.040 mail it out west for them to show. And then 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.360 finally in n a t and t came up with 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.920 a coaxial cable that allowed for the first transcontinental broadcast. 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.240 But even still they were using kinescope and they used 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.320 sometimes what was called hot kinescope because the film had 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.320 just been developed within the three hours before they needed 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.720 to broadcast it to the West Coast. That's how fast 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.960 they were turning it around. Man, I bet there was 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.920 a lot of tension, yes, to turn that stuff around, 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.160 you know, and they didn't even have cocaine in the 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.200 industry yet. They were just taking it as a medicine 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.159 at the time. That's true. Yeah, uh. So when what 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.920 really broke things open and what, as a landmark show, both, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.920 you know, as a comedy and technically, was I love 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.600 Lucy and I looked a little bit more into this. Uh, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.680 while they developed this three camera set up. Um, it 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.560 was because of Philip Morris. They were the sponsor of 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.240 the show and they didn't want Um. They thought that 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.520 there were more smokers. Well, I think they had dated 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:36.080 that said that more people smoked east of Chicago. Apparently 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:38.720 out West it. I mean, obviously people smoked back then, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:40.800 but not like they did in the northeast and on 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.840 the East Coast. So they didn't want the show to 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:48.240 be shot and produced live in Hollywood. That's why they 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.800 really wanted it in New York City. Um, at the 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.080 same time, Desi Arnez and Lucy, I think lucy was pregnant. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.600 They also wanted uh to stay in L A. So 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.199 there was a bit of a budding head situation of 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.320 sponsor versus is like a TV star, and they worked 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:07.320 it out with this three camera format. Yeah, so essentially 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.919 what they did. So movies were already around at the 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:11.840 time and there was a process for making a movie 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.760 where you would shoot a scene, taking a few takes 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.000 of it, then you would move your camera, relight the scene, 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:20.639 Um and then do the same scene from a different 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.760 angle and so on. And so forth, until you had 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.360 the scene and all those things could be edited together. 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.640 But Lucy and Dezi really wanted to have a live audience, 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:31.840 to have that energy and that kind of feedback, in 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.680 that laughter that you can only get from a live audience. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:39.040 So they combined that movie making, Um kind of format 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:43.600 with a live performance, and they did it by making 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.760 three static cameras, one wide, one medium and one for 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.879 close ups, that they had pointed at the set that 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.600 they would perform this episode on as if it were 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.600 like a live stage play. Yeah, and they got in 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.440 touch with a guy, an Oscar winning cinematographer and kind 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.960 of a genius, named Carl Freud, and he at first 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.119 was like this isn't possible, because he was an artist, 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.399 and he was like you, it's gonna look at least 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.679 one of the cameras is gonna look bad at all 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.760 times because you're not lighting for that camera. And they said, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.439 you gotta work with this buddy, like you can't be 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.479 so precious, like it's a movie. UH, we're not shooting 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.480 the Maltese Falcon here. Um, we need to figure out 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:24.960 a way to do this. So they came up with 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.600 this grid lighting system when you're shooting a movie or 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.560 when you're shooting single camera TV shows, even though these 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.640 days these multi cameras on basically everything, ever since digital 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.800 came out, but they still call it single camera. You would, 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.000 and we've been on these shows where you have lights 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.000 on stands kind of right around what you're shooting. They 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.359 came up with this grid style system where everything was 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.080 lit from this lighting grid above the stage and it 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.159 didn't look as good. It was sort of flat, but 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.199 it it was all lit well enough to where it 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.359 looked okay, and Carl Freud kind of gave in and said, 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.040 you know, this is what we're gonna do with TV. 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:05.119 Then it makes sense. We can cover everything all at once, 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.720 and basically the sort of basis of the genre was born. Yeah, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:14.840 so like everything from Seinfeld to friends to frazier to cheers, 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.679 they were all filmed as three camera and now, like 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.120 you said, they call it multi camera sitcoms Um. That 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.400 is like the traditional Sitcom, and you can ultimately thank 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:29.200 Lucy and desi for that, whereas the one cameras Sitcom 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.280 is the one that you think of as more it's 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.840 made more like a film. There's more real world, there's 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.080 more Um you know, uh, like on location shooting, it 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.879 just seems a little more movie like, like arrested development 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:46.000 is a good example of a single camera Sitcom. But, Chuck, 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.119 I want to give a little shout out here because 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.400 everybody thanks Lucy and Desi for everything, for basically creating 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.280 the format. But, Mary Kay and Johnny, we're doing this 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:01.280 before Lucy and desire camera. They had two cameras. They 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.000 were doing it live and they had some poor Schmo 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.800 who was switching between cameras depending on what was happening 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.520 in the scene live. Can you imagine the stress? That's 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.040 pretty cool that the you know, just having been on 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.960 dear John, that they have it down so well in Hollywood, 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:20.639 even though that kind of show is sort of out 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.640 of fashion now. During the heyday, you know, they those 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.120 cameras were on these huge circular dollies and the cameras 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:30.640 were very big and they would just so fluidly sort 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:33.320 of move around to where they you know, they block 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.720 it all lot ahead of time so they knew exactly 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.920 where each camera was supposed to be, and the result 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.439 is you shoot a twenty two minute episode in about 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.120 an hour. Or less. Uh, you shoot it in order 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.600 so the audience can follow along like a play. Yeah, 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.000 just like a play. Yeah, and you would, Um, you 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.760 would go back generally at the end of each scene. 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:57.479 They would do like all right, uh, they would. There 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.560 would be a few minutes of conferring, like and then 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:02.199 they come out and say, all right, we're gonna do 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.199 a retake of the second part of that scene because 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:09.160