The Sitcom

One aspect of a sitcom is whether it is episodic or serial.  Episodic sitcoms and serial sitcoms are on opposite ends of a spectrum from one another in terms of how a viewer watches the show.  Episodic sitcoms are usually thirty minutes in length.  They do not really require previous knowledge of the show to understand what is going on.  The characters don't age or change, they are predictable.  An example of an episodic television would be I Love Lucy or Family Guy.  Serial sitcoms on the other hand tend to be longer, a full hour.  They do require previous knowledge about past seasons in order for the viewer to know what's going on.  For this reason, characters tend to grow and learn through situations.  There is more of a character arc present in serial television. In serial television, the show has an expiration date because the characters are aging and moving on in their lives.  An example of serial television would be Friends or Curb Your Enthusiasm.  In Friends, you would have to watch previous episodes to know the relationship between characters.  In Curb Your Enthusiasm, situations tend to last over a number of episodes or a season.  For example, when Larry is starring in The Producers, you would have to watch previous episodes to understand why he was cast and why people are acting certain ways about his performance.
One of my favorite television shows, Sex and the City, happens to fall under the category of a serial sitcom. Sex and the City displays all the typical traits of a serial sitcom.  For example, in order to understand Carrie's anguish when Mr. Big marries another woman at the very end of season two, one would have had to see Carrie's relationship with Mr. Big in seasons one and two.  In the last episode of the series, Charlotte receives the news that she and her husband Harry are being given a baby from China.  However, one would not fully appreciate this scene if they did not already know about the reproductive and adoptive challenges Charlotte has had throughout all the seasons. The show constantly refers back to previous relationships and situations, so it is pertinent that people watch it chronologically in order to fully understand.  The characters grew throughout the series.  In the first season, the girls are younger and presented in almost a one dimensional light.  Samantha is the promiscuous one, Charlotte is the hopeless romantic, Carrie is the inquisitive one, and Miranda is the cynical one.  Although each of the characters do retain their respective traits over the series, they each grow and the viewer comes to know them as more than just a single character trait.  And although I love the fact that the characters grow, and with this growth become more real, it did limit the number of seasons the show was on air.  This is because the women were aging, and at one point, they had to move on with their lives as characters in serial sitcoms do.

Character Growth of Sex and the City

Sex and the City Pilot- One Dimensional Characters (watch from 0:00 to 2:09)

Sex and the City Series Finale- Character Growth

In order to display the character growth, it would take too many clips, but these last few minutes of the series show a lot.