I've been watching sitcoms for as long as I can remember. I watched Disney Channel classics such as Suite Life and Wizards very early on, before discovering the likes of The Big Bang Theory and Brooklyn Nine-Nine much later on.
As I've known them, sitcoms include: ~20 minute episodes, an ensemble cast (each with unique personality traits), and relatively lighthearted subject matter with minimal continuity. Interestingly, the 'sit' in sitcom stands for 'situational', with the plotlines often revolving around the recurring settings.
I'm almost always watching one sitcom or the other–oftentimes rewatching one as I wait for another to be released. The interesting thing about watching (or rewatching) sitcoms from multiple generations has been noticing the evolution of the sitcom as a genre itself. More than anything else, I believe the evolution of sitcoms may actualise Oscar Wilde's assertion that "life imitates art far more than art imitates life."
The evolution over the last three decades can be explained in part by Baudrillard's "simulacra," which represents a hyperreality where the distinction between real and artificial has collapsed. In the first stage, a sign or image reflects a basic reality accurately. In the second, the image begins to distort or mask that reality. The third stage creates an image that pretends to be a faithful copy but is entirely detached from any real reference. Finally, in the fourth stage, the simulacrum becomes pure simulation–it no longer refers to any real thing and exists entirely on its own, creating a version of reality that feels real, even when it isn't. The simulacra/simulation framework doesn't completely capture the sitcom's progression, but it provides a good basis to work from. The four stages, as originally conceived by Baudrillard, may better align with ongoing discourse on media & journalism and politics.
Nonetheless, early sitcoms in the late-90s to early-00s like Friends and That '70s Show align well with Baudrillard's first stage. The shows are evidently constructed, with artificially engineered interior design and live-studio laugh tracks which amplified their fictionality. The artifice was overt, but viewers willingly accepted it as a reflection of reality. The characters felt like people you might know, and the social dynamics mirrored the norms of the time.
Shows like HIMYM and Two and a Half Men followed shortly after in the mid-00s to mid-10s, actualising a hybrid between the first and second stages. These shows were slightly more layered, and attempted to blur the boundary between fiction and reality through emotional depth and storytelling complexity. Yet, they still relied heavily on sitcom conventions—especially the laugh track—to maintain the required illusory aspects. The situational comedy masked a constructed narrative which maintained its artificiality but still aimed to feel grounded.
However, this era also marked a transitional period which aligns with Baudrillard's third stage. The Office and Parks and Recreation emerged, and challenged the notion of sitcoms revolving around friends and/or family through the 'mockumentary' style. By using the aforementioned sitcom-esque elements, these shows offered a lens into a reality that, whilst previously not attached to the genre, is one all too familiar – the workplace. The absence of the laugh track, combined with the shift in settings and the documentary style, certainly heightened the sense of reality. The comedy was still there, but so was the awkwardness, the silence, and the mundane. Hence, the shows and their characters are deemed more 'relatable' and the distinction between real and simulated faded even further. The mid-2010s marked another revolutionary period for sitcoms, and what I would class a 'golden age' for the genre were one to ever exist.
These days, contemporary shows are still classed as sitcoms although without many of the core characteristics that previously defined the genre. One of the most crucial elements now missing is the 'filler episode' which provides greater context, character depth, through extended situational storytelling. Now, most sitcoms are rather 'flat' and straightforward in a way void of a once lighthearted genre–Only Murders in the Building comes to mind here.
Sitcoms aren't defined merely by recurring settings or comedic writing alone, but a combination of multiple interwoven elements. Although not the case with all shows, we're witnessing a blurring of genres where shows like Hacks and Shrinking adopt the length and emotional depth and satirism of hyperrealistic dramas like Severance. These newer shows don't necessarily reflect or distort reality in the way earlier sitcoms did, but aren't necessarily grounded in any particular social reality either.
I agree that certain comedic tropes which were once popular in the 1990s–2000s are misaligned with contemporary subject matter, conceptions of reality and consumption patterns. However, I worry the age of the sitcom, which once served as a much-needed lighthearted form of escapism, is slowly losing the qualities that made it distinct in the first place.