Situation comedy (also known as sitcom) is a genre of comedy that has a cast of recurring characters and environment. It has been around for a long time and has seen the best of the decades since the genre was introduced to television. Some examples were “All in the Family” of the 1970s and “Full House” from the 1980s and 1990s. Even though almost a decade sets these two shows apart, they have similar qualities and yet are very different.
“All in the Family” and “Full House” share similar structures. Both are based on a family, primarily in the family’s home. Both have father figures, mother figures, a younger and older generation, and all problems in between. Both shows portray their time period and they mind sets of a range of characters.
However, these two shows greatly vary, primarily because of their different time periods. Take for example, the father figures. Archie Bunker, the father in “All in the Family” is a middle-aged, middle-class male of the 70s, who is cynical bigot. He speaks his mind about homosexuality in a blunt way, using language in what modern day would be considered too offensive. In contrast, take the father of “Full House,” Danny Tanner. He has an extremely different mindset in that he was conservative. In the 1990s, the type of language Archie demonstrated was no longer used on a family show. Instead of using Archie brutality to portray a controversial social issue, the 90s use Danny’s overprotective personality to breach the subjects in a conservative manner.
In “All in the Family” audiences experience all sorts of social issues like in the episode “Judging Books by Covers,” when Archie is irritated by Mike’s (Archie’s son-in-law) friend, who in Archie’s mind is homosexual. This is not a common subject since it is so controversial, but it is in fact seen in this show. However, the writers and actors made light of the situation by portraying Archie’s foolishness due to his mistaken accusations. In more modern shows like “Full House,” lighter subjects are typically used. In this show, the audience sees the struggles of raising a family and unique personalities such as the rock-n-roll Elvis-inspired Jesse, and the lovable comedian, Joey.
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