"Sitcom" is the abbreviated name for the half-hour television situation comedy. It is a form of television programming, generally 30 minutes in length, and consisting, in writer's jargon, of an opening teaser, two acts, and a closing tag; in all about 22 minutes of program sandwiched between spots (advertisements), PSAs (public service announcements), and station IDs. The situation comedy derives its name from the fact that, at least initially, each episode involved the antics of a regular character who found him/herself in a particular "situation."

Like other forms of popular entertainment, commercial television has sometimes suffered from bad press. TV has been derided as a "boob tube"—a place where delinquents and couch potatoes frittered away the bulk of their sorry lives; in 1961, it was described by the Chairman of the FCC as a "vast wasteland." And what better example of all that was distasteful, moronic, and potentially culturally...