Battle of the Sitcoms

The Office. The Big Bang Theory. I'm sure you've heard these two names in your life. If not, well, these two are the epitome of Sitcoms in the 2000s. Having said that, these two Sitcoms don't have much in common apart from being, well, Sitcoms. And that is because they are completely different when it comes to how they're made and the flow of the plot etc. In this blog, I intend to shed some light on the technical and the directorial aspects of making a Sitcom and how The Office and The Big Bang Theory differ in them. I've waited so long to write this, let's begin.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take- Wayne Gretzky"

- Michael Scott

Acknowledgement of Camera :

This category explains whether the Sitcom acknowledges the presence of camera or not. On one hand, the characters of The Office do acknowledge the presence of the camera and the camera crew. For instance, there are multiple scenes where the characters of the show are talking specifically to the camera crew, responding to their questions and just acknowledging the fact that a camera is constantly pointing to them and taping whatever they're doing. They often look directly into the camera, give odd looks, which is one of the many ways that the show makes us laugh.

On the other hand, The Big Bang Theory doesn't include characters acknowledging the presence of a camera or a camera crew. The show is built around the personal lives of the characters like Penny, Sheldon, Leonard etc and the camera is simply a medium to digitize their lives and show it to the audience, nothing more than that. Hence, we don't see the characters talking specifically to the camera or even looking into the camera directly.

Presence of a live Audience :

A Sitcom flows VERY DIFFERENTLY when there's a live audience involved. Let's see why:

Each episode of The Big Bang Theory was shot in-front of a live audience. Hence, when we watch the show, we see a lot of Laugh Tracks in-between dialogues and scenes. Laugh Tracks often slow down the flow of the show since the actors have to wait for the majority of the audience to stop laughing so that their dialogues may be audible, all this while remaining in character. The Big Bang Theory featured many guest celebrities like Stephen Hawking, Professor Proton, Stan Lee etc. And as mentioned by Kaley Cuoco (Penny), in an interview with Elizabeth Olsen, these guests were uncomfortable acting in-front of an audience. Also, some scenes include unnecessary laugh tracks, still I ended up laughing as it's a natural instinct to laugh at something that the majority is laughing at.

Having said all this, I believe having a live audience isn't as bad as I may have made it look in the above lines. For instance, Friends, the most popular sitcom in the world, was shot in-front of a live audience as well! Having a live audience also gives the feeling of belongingness because when you laugh on a certain joke or punch line, you know that almost 100 people are laughing with you at the same time! (not literally but you get the point) It's nice to have this kind of feeling of watching a show together with a lot of people.

The Office however, wasn't shot in-front of a live audience and hence, you will notice that the flow of the show doesn't get affected by anything and the pauses that the characters take is just to amplify that awkward vibe of a scene and nothing else. But, if you've watched The Big Bang Theory or Friends first, and now you're planning to watch The Office, I bet you're gonna have a difficult time adjusting to the absence of laugh tracks coming after every punch line.

Movement Of Camera :

Let me tell you my personal experience before telling you about this category. To be honest, I did not notice the difference between the two shows from this perspective. And when I finally opened my eyes and noticed it, I was shocked to realize that the two shows are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT when it comes to this category, it had been like that all this while and I hadn't noticed it even once. Yes, this is about the movement of the camera!

In The Office, the camera is flexible. What I mean to say is that The Office features a camera that is held by a person and it is willing to move according to scene and the movement of the characters.

Whereas in The Big Bang Theory, the camera is fixed. The camera is fixed on a stand throughout the scene and the characters just act in-front of it and the scene ends like that.

So you may be wondering what difference does it make if the camera is fixed or moving. Well, it makes a lot of difference.

For instance, in The Office, when the camera is constantly moving from character to character, you get a feeling of being right in the scene, with the characters. because you can feel the tension in the scene! It feels like you yourself are recording the characters and you have to move the camera to every single character when he/she/they speak! Basically, the show feels more human when the camera is moving.

On the other hand, when the camera is fixed, as in The Big Bang Theory, it feels more like a play is being performed in-front of you and you get the vibes of being an audience. Now don't get me wrong, I am just stating what's true. And, not everyone likes The Office kind of direction. Many people like the feeling of a play or a musical being performed before them and that's completely fine.

Type of Plot :

If I were to generalize the kind of plots both the Sitcoms have, I'd say that The Office is a Sitcom which is entirely based on people's work life and work environment. We know very little about the personal lives of the characters and everything major that happens with the character is in the workplace itself. So, it's kind of a workplace comedy like Brooklyn 99.

And for The Big Bang Theory, well, it's a Sitcom that revolves around the personal lives of the characters and has more of a personal and informal approach to the plot, unlike workplace comedies which tend to follow a formal approach to the script. Sitcoms like Friends and Modern Family have these kind of plots. For example, we often see Sheldon telling tales from his childhood, Leonard complaining about his mom, Howard complaining about his father leaving him etc.

Conclusion:

At the end, I'd like to say that I absolutely love both of these Sitcoms and they are very special to me since they helped me go through the 2020 lockdown! They took me on a wild ride of emotions! Both of them have their extremely funny, iconic moments. These Sitcoms will make you laugh, make you cry and what not! Both of the Sitcoms have their own ways of making us laugh, and you've got to have an open attitude to accept and enjoy the forms of comedy that the shows exhibit. This blog was intended towards giving you a newer perspective to view a Sitcom and I hope you found it useful!

Thanks!

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