Quote: Dave M @ December 17, 2007, 1:44 PM

The best example, that I've heard, of the difference between a comedy drama and a sitcom is that the characters in sitcom never change because they never learn from experience unlike those in a comedy drama.

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I wouldn't say that was the best example I've heard. Nighty Night, Gavin & Stacey, Extras and even the later parts of the Office show the characters changing as they learn more about each other and their experiences.

The generic definition is that a sitcom is half an hour and a comedy drama is anything more. Although Viv Vyle bucked that trend as that was as near to a 30 minute comedy drama as you can get. Basically a comedy drama usually has a balance between gags and drama (that's why its usually an hour) while a sitcom is gag-heavy with less drama (squeezed into 30 minutes).

Oh and a sitcom doesn't become a comedy drama if you don't think the gags are funny. That's just a bad sitcom.
 

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Quote: swerytd @ December 17, 2007, 3:03 PM

I guess if the jokes are incidental to the plot, rather than integral, you have a comedy drama.

Sitcom is based around the laughs, drama isn't. If your story stands up without making anyone laugh, you've written a drama.

Dan

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I was going to say something similar.

Sitcom is a comedy with a story whereas comedy drama is a story with amusing believable incidents rather than hilarious ones.


My definition ofcomedy drama is Auf Wiedersehn Pet, Minder etc.
 

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Some cynical bastards would say that a comedy drama is something that doesn't manage to excel at being either comedy or a drama

Quote: johnny roulette @ December 17, 2007, 5:52 PM

sitcoms last for half an hour. comedy dramas last for an hour. that is the only difference.

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Believe it or not, this is actually the official definition! It's as simple as that.

In real life of course it's actually far more complex... this year's My Family Xmas Special is an hour long - but it's definitely still a sitcom; the new series of Love Soup is going to be half-an-hour, yet it's still very much a comedy drama I'd say.

I guess the way I'd differentiate between the genres is whether the programme is all-out to make you laugh, or whether it's trying to pull at your heart-strings and bring a bit of realism to the table.

I think in 99% of cases it's very obvious what's what - Teachers is clearly a drama first, comedy second (but a fine one at that), whilst OFAH is a comedy first, drama second (i.e. a sitcom).
 

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Quote: Mark @ December 17, 2007, 8:56 PM

Some cynical bastards would say that a comedy drama is something that doesn't manage to excel at being either comedy or a drama

Believe it or not, this is actually the official definition! It's as simple as that.

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Really? That's what I said ages ago. You didn't get that from Wikepedia by any chance did you?
 

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Quote: David Chapman @ December 17, 2007, 9:32 PM

Really? That's what I said ages ago. You didn't get that from Wikepedia by any chance did you?

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He owns his own bloody encyclopedia of comedy, duh!
 

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Quote: jdubya @ December 17, 2007, 2:16 PM

I've got an idea for a sitcom that just won't work as a sitcom so I thought maybe it'll work as a comedy drama.

then I realised I didn't know what a comedy drama was and did a little reading about and wasn't really any the clearer. So I thought i'd ask on here.

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I'd say just write it, and whatever it comes out as is what it is.

I am a subscriber to the view that the longer form doesn't work for sitcom though (hence very few successful transitions from sitcom to big screen) - so I'd say if it ends up 40 mins or more you've got comedy drama by default. As a result I am very worried about the Xmas Extras (90 mins?) from a comedic point of view but I hope it will deliver on the dramatic side.