Friends is an American television sitcom, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, the show revolves around six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The original executive producers were Kevin S. Bright, Kauffman, and Crane.
Monty Python were a British surreal comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and influence, including touring stage shows, films, albums, books and musicals. The Pythons' influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Regarded as an enduring icon of 1970s pop culture, their sketch show has been referred to as being "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy".
Seinfeld is an American sitcom television series created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. The show stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself who is the main protagonist and focuses on his personal life with three of his friends – George Costanza, former girlfriend Elaine Benes, and neighbor across the hall Cosmo Kramer. Seinfeld is set mostly in an apartment building in Manhattan's Upper West Side in New York City. It has been described as "a show about nothing," often focusing on the minutiae of daily life.
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture and society, television, and the human condition.
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand is an American singer, actress, and filmmaker. With a career spanning seven decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT).
Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane and developed by MacFarlane and David Zuckerman for the Fox Broadcasting Company that premiered on January 31, 1999. The series is produced by Fuzzy Door Productions.
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that originally aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in fictional Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979.
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014 and the CBS talk program The Late Show with Stephen Colbert beginning in September 2015.
Betty Marion White Ludden, known professionally as Betty White, is an American actress, comedian, author, and animal rights advocate. White is known for her roles as Sue Ann Nivens on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1977), Rose Nylund on the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–1992), and Elka Ostrovsky on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland (2010–2015). Now widely regarded as a pioneer of television, with a career lasting over 80 years, she was also one of the first women to exert control in front of and behind the camera.
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American television journalist. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°. In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes on CBS News.
Saturday Night Live is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show.
House is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on the Fox network for eight seasons, from November 16, 2004 to May 21, 2012. The series's main character is Dr. Gregory House, an unconventional, misanthropic medical genius who, despite his dependence on pain medication, leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) in New Jersey. The series's premise originated with Paul Attanasio, while David Shore, who is credited as creator, was primarily responsible for the conception of the title character.
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as a mid-season replacement. The fictional series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into seasoned doctors while balancing personal and professional relationships. The title is an allusion to Gray's Anatomy, a classic human anatomy textbook first published in 1858 in London and written by Henry Gray. Shonda Rhimes developed the pilot and continued to write for the series until 2017. Krista Vernoff, who previously worked with Rhimes, is now the showrunner. Rhimes was also one of the executive producers alongside Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Krista Vernoff, Rob Corn, Mark Wilding, and Allan Heinberg, and recently, Ellen Pompeo. Although the series is set in Seattle, it is filmed primarily in Los Angeles, California.
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which ran from 2005 to 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a framing device, Ted, in the year 2030, recounts to his son, Luke, and daughter, Penny, the events from 2005 to 2013 that led him to meet their mother. How I Met Your Mother is a joint production by Bays & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox Television and syndicated by 20th Television.
The Office is an American mockumentary sitcom television series that depicts the everyday work lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It aired on NBC from March 24, 2005, to May 16, 2013, lasting a total of nine seasons. Based on the 2001–2003 BBC series of the same name, it was adapted for American television by Greg Daniels, a veteran writer for Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. It was co-produced by Daniels's Deedle-Dee Productions, and Reveille Productions, in association with Universal Television. The original executive producers were Daniels, Howard Klein, Ben Silverman, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons.
Kristen Mary Jenner is an American media personality, socialite, producer, entertainment manager, and businesswoman. She rose to fame starring in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007–present).
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted her syndicated television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003.
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media,” she was the richest African American of the 20th century and North America's first black multi-billionaire, and she has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
A sitcom, clipping for situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who (mostly) carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms.
Modern Family is an American mockumentary family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for eleven seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of three diverse family set-ups in suburban Los Angeles, linked by patriarch Jay Pritchett.
