A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people (tweens, teenagers and, to a lesser extent, young adults). In general, these types of programs focus primarily on characters between 10 and 18 years of age and routinely feature characters involved in humorous situations (either realistic or fantasy in style, depending on the program's plotline), and often focus on the characters' family and social lives. The primary plot of each episode often involves the protagonist(s) the program centers on, while secondary plotlines often focus on the character(s') parents, siblings (those not among the leads, if any) or friends, although the secondary characters may sometimes also or instead be involved in the episode's main plot.
The most common episodic plot lines used in teen sitcoms involve the protagonist(s) dealing with family and friends, ending up in a complicated situation (such as the protagonist's parents not allowing them to try out for a school sports team because of their gender) that the characters must solve by episode's end, getting into moral conflicts with their parents, friends, relatives, or siblings, and coming-of-age situations (such as a first date or learning how to drive); however, more dramatic and shocking plot elements or ones which center on undesirable (such as bullying, anxiety, peer pressure, police brutality, excessive force, underage alcoholism, and possibly even substance abuse) may be featured as well, in what are sometimes called "very special episodes".
Although adolescents are the main audience focus for these programs, these programs are also popular with young adults as well as preteens. Older adults may enjoy them for nostalgic purposes. Like teen dramas, this genre was also generally non-existent during the first 30 years of television.
History 1940s–1980s When sitcoms reached their peak in the 1950s and 1960s, these programs were supposed to be family-oriented. Sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s such as Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Donna Reed Show were popular with teenagers, along with the entire family. The teen movie genre was popular during the 1960s and led the way towards the teen sitcom genre.
The earliest ancestor of the teen sitcom was Meet Corliss Archer, a TV adaptation of a popular radio show about a teenage girl which aired briefly in syndication in 1954. The first teen sitcom on a major network was The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a 1959–1963 CBS sitcom based on collegiate short stories by humorist Max Shulman. Dobie Gillis followed the adventures of a teenage boy and his friends through high school, the military, and college, and was the first American network television program to feature teenagers (played by Dwayne Hickman and Bob Denver, actors in their twenties at the time) as its lead characters.Hickman, Dwayne with Hickman, Joan Roberts (1994). Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman. Secaucus, New Jersey:, Carol Publishing Corporation. Pgs. 104-159
In the mid-1960s, the creation of sitcoms such as The Monkees and Gidget were primarily targeted towards teenage audiences. The 1969–1974 ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch was popular with younger audiences, especially pre-teens and younger teenagers, as was its competitor The Partridge Family, which premiered in 1970. These shows are similar to the "tween" orientated shows that have aired in more recent years such as Hannah Montana. The 1970s also featured teen sitcoms such as What's Happening!!, Happy Days and Welcome Back, Kotter.
During the 1980s, television series such as The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, Square Pegs, Family Ties, The Hogan Family, Who's the Boss?, Growing Pains, The New Leave It to Beaver, ALF, My Two Dads, and Good Morning, Miss Bliss (later known as Saved by the Bell) were extremely popular especially among the younger demographic.
1990s onward
Teen-oriented sitcoms have become more popular since the 1990s; during that decade, these types of programs gradually became fairly common on both broadcast and cable networks. Although pertinent social issues relating to the demographic were featured in earlier series, Blossom regularly focused on such issues, with episodes dealing with subject matter such as drug use, guns and teen sex.
ABC
Several sitcoms aired on ABC during the early and mid-1990s were aimed primarily at teenage audiences as well as families; most of them aired as part of TGIF, the network's popular Friday night comedy block that originally ran from 1989 to 2000. Such examples include Step by Step (which focused on a blended family and regularly focused on the exploits of the six younger characters), Boy Meets World (similar in format to The Wonder Years, which ended before Boy Meets World debuted in 1993, both of which focused on a boy dealing with the challenges that come with growing into adolescence) and Family Matters (which originated as a family sitcom spun off from the family-friendly though adult-centered Perfect Strangers, but soon shifted more of its focus towards its teenage characters due to the popularity of the character of nerdy high school (and later, college) student Steve Urkel).
Other short-lived series that featured teenage protagonists included Sister, Sister (which aired during the 1994–1995 season but was cancelled and promptly moved to The WB and Clueless (aired on ABC during the 1996–1997 season and later moved to UPN; based on the hit 1995 comedy film starring teen idol Alicia Silverstone).
One of the TGIF's biggest hits was Sabrina, the Teenage Witch which debuted in 1996. It starred Melissa Joan Hart whom was previously known to young audiences in the hit Nickelodeon teen sitcom Clarissa Explains It All which aired from 1991 to 1994. Sabrina was based on a popular Archie Comics character that was featured in an animated series from the early 1970s and a 1996 TV movie of the same name that aired on Showtime. The franchise focused on the adventures of the eponymous main character who tries to live a normal life as a teenager and later young adult while dealing with being a half-witch/half-mortal; Sabrina ran for four seasons on ABC and an additional three on The WB).
Though TGIF was originally geared towards families, the success of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch and Boy Meets World which had its teenage cast become teen idols and the transfer of its more successful sitcoms like Step by Step and Family Matters (which by that point was more focused on the young adult cast) to CBS in 1997, led to the block's shift towards teen-oriented sitcoms that fall. In order to capitalize on the success of Sabrina, TGIF introduced two new fantasy comedies (albeit with male protagonists): Teen Angel (which heavily leaned towards a teenage demographic with its three male protagonists) and You Wish (which had more a family-oriented demographic). However, neither managed to find an audience and were cancelled after only a season.
Another attempt at a teenage demographic came with the 1999 sitcom Odd Man Out which heavily promoted its teenage lead star Erik Von Detten (nicknamed "EVD") who was already popular with the teenage female audience from his previous roles in Disney media such as So Weird and Brink! and the Universal film Leave It to Beaver. However like Teen Angel, it failed to reach its intended audience and was cancelled after one season. Detten would later star in another short-lived TGIF sitcom, Complete Savages (2004-2005) which consisted of a predominantly teenage male cast with a dysfunctional sibling dynamic a la Malcolm in the Middle.
Over time, the Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) began shifting away from family-oriented comedies toward comedy series focused on adults (although some family comedies have continued to return on those networks since then), teen sitcoms for the most part began to shift more towards broadcast networks intentionally aimed at younger audiences than the Big Three and cable television.
NBC In 1989, the sitcom Saved by the Bell (a retooling of the 1987–88 Disney Channel comedy Good Morning, Miss Bliss) premiered on NBC. The series quickly became a fan favorite and one of the most highly rated and popular teen shows of all time. Saved by the Bell had its main characters go through typical teen issues and the drama of high school, though the series was comical and the issues were often resolved before the end of the episode. Notably, Saved by the Bell featured teenage archetypes and stereotypes. Saved by the Bell kept its Saturday morning slot until 1993, when it ended after four seasons (by the final season, two main characters – Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen) and Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) – departed from the series and were replaced by a new character).
Saved by the Bell spawned a short-lived spin-off Saved by the Bell: The College Years, which aired in primetime and only lasted one season; another spin-off, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, lasted for seven years (although it was notable for reusing plotlines originating in episodes of the original Saved by the Bell series). The series was responsible for the creation of NBC's TNBC Saturday morning block, which was targeted towards teenagers. The block also featured comedies such as California Dreams (focusing on an aspiring band), Hang Time (centering on the players and cheerleaders of a high school basketball team), City Guys (centering on the developing friendship of two New York City high school students of different backgrounds and races) and One World (focusing on a family in which all six children are adopted from different backgrounds). The vast majority of the series on the TNBC block were executive produced by Peter Engel.
Fox, The WB and UPN Fox, The WB and UPN were each launched (respectively in 1986 and 1995) with target audiences aimed at teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34. Fox aired teen dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210 and Party of Five and sitcoms such as That '70s Show, Malcolm in the Middle, Married... with Children (in which its teen characters, who grew into adults over the 11-year run sometimes alternated between being part of the main plot and the secondary plot) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
That '70s Show was a hit with both teenage and adult audiences, and focused on the lives of six teenage friends living in Wisconsin between 1976 and 1979; despite the short time period it was set in, the sitcom aired for eight years on Fox due to the use of a floating timeline. While Malcolm in the Middle was targeted towards an adult demographic, it featured a predominantly adolescent-to-young adult male cast which led to its popularity with younger viewers and launched the career of teen idol Frankie Muniz.
The WB and UPN were popular destinations for teen sitcoms. The WB's earliest comedies with teens as the central characters included Sister, Sister (which originated on ABC from 1994 to 1999; about teenage twin sisters who accidentally reunite while at a clothing store with their respective adopted parents after being separated after they were born 15 years earlier, resulting in Tia Landry (Tia Mowry) and her mother Lisa (Jackée Harry) moving in the house belonging to Tamera Campbell (Tamera Mowry) and her father Ray (Tim Reid)) and Unhappily Ever After (originally centering on the divorcing parents of three children, but shifted its primary focus on the latter characters, specifically attractive but intelligent redhead Tiffany Malloy (Nikki Cox) and her less-than-bright brother Ryan (Kevin Connolly)).