6/9/2020 Comedy-drama - Wikipedia

Comedy-drama
[1]Comedy-drama or dramedy (a portmanteau of drama and comedy), is a genre of dramatic works (including film, television and
theatre) in which plot elements are a combination of comedy and drama.[2][3] It is a subgenre of contemporary tragicomedy.[4][5] Comedy-
drama is especially found in television programs and is considered a "hybrid genre".[6][7]

Contents
History
In the UK
See also
References

History
The advent of radio drama, cinema and in particular, television created greater pressure in marketing to clearly define a product as either
comedy or drama. While in live theatre the difference became less and less significant, in mass media comedy and drama were clearly
divided. Comedies were expected to keep a consistently light tone and not challenge the viewer by introducing more serious content.

By the early 1960s, television companies commonly presented half-hour-long "comedy" series or hour-long "dramas". Half-hour series
were mostly restricted to situation comedy (sitcoms) or family comedy and were usually aired with either a live or overdubbed laugh track.
One-hour dramas included such shows as police and detective series, westerns, science fiction and serialized prime time soap operas.

Comedy-drama series are often associated with the single-camera production format.

In the UK

In the United Kingdom, the format first appeared successfully in 1979 with the long-running series Minder, along with other comedy-
dramas such as Jeeves and Wooster, Benidorm and After Life.

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One of the first American television shows to successfully blend elements of comedy and drama together was Jackie Cooper's military-
themed series, Hennesey. Although the show initially featured a laugh track, it also contains many elements of character drama that
occurred amongst the re-occurring characters and the guest stars. The laugh track was not extensively used in each episode; by the third
season, it was eliminated completely from the series.

While sitcoms would occasionally balance their humor with more dramatic and humanistic moments, these remained the exception to the
rule as the 1960s progressed. Beginning around 1969 in the US, there was a brief spate of half-hour shows that purposely alternated
between comedy and drama and aired without a laugh track, as well as some hour-long shows such as CHiPs in the late 1970s to early
1980s. These were known as "comedy-dramas".

An early (1969–1974) example of this genre was the award-winning Room 222, one of the first fully racially integrated television series.
The episodes blended comedy with weighty subjects such as race relations, integrity, student smoking and mortality as well as topical
issues such as the Vietnam War and the plight of returning war veterans.

The sitcom formula pioneered by Norman Lear in the 1970s in which a half-hour multi-camera situation comedy addressed serious issues
in a dramatic format on videotape before a live studio audience is considered another type of comedy-drama hybrid. Examples of this
genre include All in the Family and One Day at a Time.[8]

Another example was The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, which aired from 1987 to 1991.[9] The term "dramedy" was coined to describe
the late 1980s wave of shows, including Hooperman,[10] Doogie Howser, M.D., and Frank's Place.[11]

These early shows influenced how general TV comedies and series (especially family themed sitcoms) were developed. They often included
brief dramatic interludes and more serious subject matter. An example of a successful comedy-drama series that distinguished this genre
in television was the series Moonlighting. It generated critical acclaim and was a highly rated series worldwide. Another example of a
successful comedy-drama was the television series Eight Is Enough. The show was distinct, because it was not a comedy-drama in the
traditional sense. It was an hour-long series that used a laugh track, which was very unusual, but is considered a comedy-drama for the fact
that it alternated between drama and comedy.[12]

See also
List of comedy-drama television series
Black comedy
Dramatic structure
Melodrama
Seriousness
Tragicomedy
List of comedy-drama films

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References
1. "LAS VEGAS SANDS CORP., a Nevada corporation, Plaintiff, v.
UKNOWN REGISTRANTS OF www.wn0000.com,
www.wn1111.com, www.wn2222.com, www.wn3333.com,
www.wn4444.com, www.wn5555.com, www.wn6666.com,
www.wn7777.com, www.wn8888.com, www.wn9999.com,
www.112211.com, www.4456888.com, www.4489888.com,
www.001148.com, and www.2289888.com, Defendants" (https://
dx.doi.org/10.1089/glre.2016.201011). Gaming Law Review and
Economics. 20 (10): 859–868. December 2016.
doi:10.1089/glre.2016.201011 (https://doi.org/10.1089%2Fglre.2
016.201011). ISSN 1097-5349 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/10
97-5349).
2. "Dramedy" (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/englis
h/dramedy). Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press.
Retrieved 30 May 2018.
3. "Dramedy" (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/dramed
y). Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved
30 May 2018.
4. Joel D. Chaston (January 2001). "Baum, Bakhtin, and
Broadway: A Centennial Look at the Carnival of Oz" (http://mus
e.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/v025/25.1ch
aston01.html). The Lion and the Unicorn. 25 (1): 128–149.
doi:10.1353/uni.2001.0002 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Funi.200
1.0002).
5. J. L. Styan (1968). The Dark Comedy: The Development of
Modern Comic Tragedy (https://archive.org/details/darkcomedyd
evelo0000stya_u7t8). Cambridge University Press. p. 1 (https://
archive.org/details/darkcomedydevelo0000stya_u7t8/page/1).
ISBN 0-521-09529-8. Retrieved 2012-07-30. "seriousness
comedy."
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comedy-drama&oldid=961419396"
This page was last edited on 8 June 2020, at 10:41 (UTC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama - Wikipedia
6. O'Donnell, Victoria (2017). "5. Television Genres" (https://books.
google.com/books?id=gXtZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT137&lpg=PT137
#v=onepage&q=comedy-drama%20hybrid). Television Criticism
(3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-
1483377681. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
7. Kopcow, Chris (October 23, 2014). "Is the Future of Comedy the
Comedy/Drama Hybrid?" (http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/is-the
-future-of-comedy-the-comedydrama-hybrid.html). Vulture.
Retrieved 30 May 2018.
8. O'Dell, Cary (October 25, 2013). "One Day at a Time" (http://ww
w.museum.tv/eotv/onedayata.htm). Encyclopedia of Television.
Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved
December 10, 2017.
9. Brinkmoeller, Tom (September 3, 2010). "Classic "Molly Dodd"
Series Remains Locked Up, Awaiting 'Bail' " (http://www.tvworth
watching.com/post/Classic-Molly-Dodd-Series-Remains-Locked-
Up-Awaiting-Bail.aspx). TV Worth Watching. Retrieved
August 15, 2018.
10. Kelley, Bill (September 23, 1987). "The Best And The Brightest
Abc's Hooperman – The Hands-down Winner Of The Best New
Show Of The Year – Introduces A New Format, dramedy, While
Slap Maxwell Reintroduces Dabney Coleman" (http://articles.su
n-sentinel.com/1987-09-23/features/8703150300_1_hooperman
-lewis-erlicht-brandon-stoddard). Sun Sentinel. Retrieved
September 24, 2017.
11. Hill, Michael (August 6, 1989). "Bochco gives dramedy another
go with 'Doogie Howser, M.D.' " (http://articles.latimes.com/1989
-08-06/news/tv-7_1_doogie-howser). Los Angeles Times.
Retrieved August 15, 2018.
12. "Eight is Enough" (https://fiftiesweb.com/tv/eight-enough/).
Fifties Web. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
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