The Sitcom Study

Fran the Nanny risks life and limb for love, Nell Carter dishes out highly questionable romantic advice, and Mike and Molly's plans are derailed by baker-related jealousy... this week's trope is Valentine's Day Gone Awry! Here's what we're watching: Gimme a Break S3 E16 "Valentine" Wings S2 E17 "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places" The Nanny S3 E19 "Love is a Many Blundered Thing" Mike &...

Night Court gets brainy, Good Times tackles racial bias, and Seinfeld presents a testing "caper" for the ages... This week's trope is I.Q. Tests! Here's what we're watching: Good Times S2 E7 "IQ Test" Night Court S6 E10 "Mental Giant" Seinfeld S3 E7 "The Cafe" Keenan & Kel S3 E7 "IQ Can Do Better"

Bart Simpson takes the wheel, Grace heads for Memphis, and Joey takes his ill fated spin-off on the open road... this week's trope is Road Trips! Here's what we're watching: Grace Under Fire S2 E21 "Memphis Bound" The Simpsons S7 E20 "Bart on the Road" Joey S1 E11 "Joey and the Road Trip" Parks & Recreation S3 E14 "Road Trip"

Ricky Schroder and Arnold Drummond join forces for the scoop of the century, Urkel drops by the Tanner house, and Lucille Ball crosses paths with the man of steel himself... This week's trope is Crossover episodes! Here's what we're watching: I Love Lucy S6 E13 "Lucy and Superman" Silver Spoons S1 E7 "The Great Computer Caper" Full House S4 E16 "Stephanie Gets Framed" Abbott Elementary S4 E9 "Volu...

The Golden Girls are mistaken for sex workers, Mary Tyler Moore refuses to name names, and Ellen's antics fail to amuse the penitentiary crowd... This week's trope is Going to Jail! Here's what we're watching... The Mary Tyler Moore Show S5 E1 "Will Mary Hart Go to Jail?" Golden Girls S2 E2 "Ladies of the Evening" Ellen S2 E21 "Three Strikes" Everybody Loves Raymond S7 E21 "The Shower"

Sanford and Son bring Dickens to the junkyard, Sophia makes the perfect Tiny Tim, and Mr. Belvedere gets a lot of use out of the old-timey sleeping cap and night gown that he already owned... This week's trope is episodes that spoof "A Christmas Carol!" Here's what we're watching: The Odd Couple S1 E12 "Scrooge Gets an Oscar" Sandford & Son S5 E12 "Ebenezer Sanford" Mr Belvedere S6 E11 "A Happ...

Damon Wayans and Reba McEntire triumphantly(?) return to prime time, an Oregon hospital becomes the setting for the latest "Office"-style mockumentary, and we boldly attempt to watch a second-degree Big Bang Theory spinoff while skipping Young Sheldon entirely... This week we're casting nostalgia aside and talking about the new sitcoms of 2024! Here's what we're watching: Georgie & Mandy's Fir...

Grace gets kinky with Jeremy Piven, Ted rides the sweet tricycle of love, and the gals of Absolutely Fabulous relive the swinging sixties, all with smoldering guest stars galore! Plus, Party Down provides an unofficial sequel to Eyes Wide Shut... This week's trope is Threesomes and Orgies! Here's what we're watching" Absolutely Fabulous S3 E3 "Sex" Will & Grace S3 E6 "Love Plus One" How I Met...

The Facts of Life gals pull a classic department store caper, Danny Partridge helps himself to a corner store yoyo, and Tim the Toolman Taylor must ferret out the Swiss army thief among his children... This week's trope is Shoplifting! Here's what we're watching: The Partridge Family S3 E22 "The Partridge Connection" Facts of Life S2 E6 "Shoplifting" Small Wonder S2 E11 "The Shoplifter" Home Impro...

Bob Newhart vows to eat nothing but water, Old Christine breaks down the science of the protein shake, and my sister Sam takes on body-shaming in a mildly special episode... This week's trope is Going on a Diet! Here's what we're watching: The Bob Newhart Show S2 E11 "The Fit, the Fat and the Forty One" Gimme a Break S1 E5 "Do or Diet" My Sister Sam S1 E8 "Mirror Mirror on the Wall" New Adventures...

From bars and restaurants to attics and garages, we're celebrating all the places where the gangs congregate and the zany schemes are hatched... This episode is all about our favorite sitcom hangout spots!   Let us know what we missed at sitcomstudypodcast@gmail.com or instagram.com/sitcomstudypodcast   Next week's trope is Going on a Diet!

This week is all about the new boy in the neighborhood, who lives downstairs and it's understood... You know the rest- the hunky housekeeper and sage advice-giver has come up four times on the podcast so far, and we're revisiting all of our discussions about Charles, Buddy, the Powell Family, and to a lesser degree the Pembroke Family! Plus we'll face off in a brutally intense trivia challenge on...

Martin and Gina dive into debauchery, Lucy goes undercover at Ricky's "Daddy Shower," and Archie and Edith head upstate for a politically polarized wedding weekend (not to mention the back-door pilot for Maude)... This week's trope is Bachelor Parties! Here's what we're watching: I Love Lucy S2 E14 "Ricky Has Labor Pains" All in the Family S2 E24 "Maude" Martin S3 E25 "The Bachelor Party" Parks &a...

The immortal Fonz takes on the immortal Bard, Gilligan and the gang turn Hamlet into an opera, and Frasier and Niles stage a must-miss production for the ages... This week's trope is Shakespeare in Sitcoms! Here's what we're watching: Gilligan's Island S3 E4 "The Producer" Happy Days S2 E10 "A Star is Bored" Head of the Class S1 E8 "Critical Choices" Frasier S8 E12 "The Show Must Go Off"

Cheers forms a rivalry that will last for generations, How I Met Your Mother gets slap-happy, and the Community campus engulfs itself in paintball apocalypse... for the first of many times! This week's all about storylines that became beloved every-season traditions! Here's what we're watching: Cheers S4 E9 "From Beer to Eternity" & S6 E23 "Bar Wars" Community S1 E23 "Modern Warfare" How I Met...

The Tanners return after three decades, Boy Meets World spawns a new generation, and the Fresh Prince is FINALLY reimagined as a gritty, melancholy drama... This week we're discussing 90s REBOOTS! Here's what we're watching: Girl Meets World S1 E1 "Girl Meets World" Fuller House S1 E1 "Our Very First Show Again" Bel-Air S1 E1 "Dreams and Nightmares"

From the Keatons to the Seavers to the rich tapestry of Modern Family, sitcoms have a habit of blithely skipping over the terrible twos and playing fast and loose with the ages of their youngest cast members... This week's trope is kids who age several years between seasons! Here's what we're watching: Family Ties S5 E1 "Be True to Your Preschool" Growing Pains S6 E13 "The World According to Chris...

Beaver packs the perfect pipe, Arnold Drummond hits tobacco road, and Hank Hill employs the age-old parenting technique of making your child smoke the whole carton... This week's trope is Getting Caught Smoking! Here's what we're watching: Leave it to Beaver S2 E9 "The Pipe" Diff'rent Strokes S6 E12 "Where There's Smoke" King of the Hill S1 E10 "Keeping Up With Our Joneses" Abbott Elementary S3 E4...

Blimey! This week we're skipping across the pond to check out two iconic British sitcoms and the American remakes/imitators they inspired! Here's what we're watching: Man About the House S1 E1 "Three's a Crowd" Three's Company S1 E1 "Man About the House" Absolutely Fabulous S1 E1 "Fashion" Cybill S1 E1 "Virgin, Mother, Crone"

Dick Van Dyke spots a flying saucer, Bob Newhart contemplates the likeliness of aliens, and Scott Baio solves the mysteries of the universe... This week's trope is UFO Sightings! Here's what we're watching: The Dick Van Dyke Show S5 E3 "Uhny Uftz" Newhart S1 E19 "Heaven Knows Mr. Utley" Charles in Charge S2 E19 "U.F. Oh No!" The Hogan Family S3 E21 "Close Encounters"

Tony Danza rides the waves, Mister Ed soaks up the sun, and Monica Geller has a fateful run-in with a jellyfish... this week's trope is Going to the Beach! Here's what we're watching: Mister Ed S2 E23 "Ed the Beachcomber" Who's the Boss S2 E6 "Custody Part 1" Married with Children S3 E21 "Life's a Beach" Friends S4 E1 "The One with the Jellyfish"

The doctors of MASH get whipped into shape, Dharma and Greg embark on equally inspirational quests, and the Goldbergs triumph in sports that don't exist... This week we're talking about the Olympics in sitcoms with sports professional David Smith ! Here's what we're watching: M*A*S*H S6 E11 "The MASH Olympics" Dharma & Greg S1 E17 "The Official Dharma & Greg Episode of the 1998 Winter Olym...

We've covered the gang from Bayside four times so far, so we've extracted all of our Saved by the Bell discussions and combined them into one scheming, class-cutting, Belding-defying sensation! From our past episodes, we're listening to: SBTB S2 E5 "House Party" from our Party When the Parents Are Away podcast SBTB S4 E3 "Screech's Spaghetti Sauce" from Let's Start a Business SBTB S2 E9 "Jesse's S...

Stephanie Tanner gets even, Jan Brady goes full American Psycho, and iCarly drags her brother back into the depths of prank addiction... This weeks trope is Pranks and Practical Jokes! Here's what we're watching: The Brady Bunch S2 E13 "The Impractical Joker" Coach S5 E20 "Dirty Tricks" Full House S7 E14 "Is It True About Stephanie?" iCarly S4 E3 "iGet Pranky"

Edith Bunker plays it safe, Mrs. Garret lays down the law, and Tim the Toolman Taylor ends up with a classic case of black eye and green hands... This week's trope is Chain Letters (and the misfortune they cause)! Here's what we're watching: All in the Family S6 E6 "Chain Letter" Facts of Life S5 E13 "The Chain Letter" Home Improvement S1 E19 "Unchained Malady" 3rd Rock From the Sun S4 E16 "Supers...