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Introduction

Comedy is one of the most integral parts of Greek television. Since the emergence of private TV in 1989, comedy had a central role in the programming of the newly created stations. The narrative of a TV comedy series is usually transmitted under the scope of a sitcom structure and has some basic elements that have been developed and reproduced over time. As with every audiovisual genre, Greek television took the conventions of the sitcom and adapted them to the needs of the national audiovisual industry. This article will methodically examine the narratives of Greek sitcoms and, based on their structures, it will analyze its two types: the episodic sitcoms and the serial sitcoms. In order to strengthen the argument, I will analyze two case studies, one from each type: Konstantinou kai Elenis/Konstantinos and Eleni (ANT1, 1998-2000) and Egklimata/Crimes (ANT1, 1998-2000).

The scope of this article is limited by two important aspects. Firstly, the research will mainly be a screenwriting study centered around the narrative structures of these TV series. The analysis will not include other factors, such as the mise-en-scène, acting or the shots of the episodes. Secondly, the research will be about a specific timeframe; from the emergence of private TV stations until the 2000s. During this period, television governed the Greek media industry and the production of different genres flourished with comedies dominating both in terms of quantity and in terms of ratings, while more audiences were attracted by the medium for their entertaining needs (Aitaki 2005a). After that, economic crisis vividly affected TV fiction and all genres, including sitcom, dramatically declined.

Sitcom: Definition and Characteristics

Before I go any further, I have to define what sitcom is and which are its characteristics. Sitcom derives from two words, situation and comedy. Larry Mintz (1985: 114) defines the genre as a half-hour series focused on episodes involving recurrent characters within the same premise. This definition is very broad and apart from the duration of the episodes can describe almost every TV series. Encyclopædia Britannica has a very clear and informative definition of this genre, which states that sitcom is a television comedy series

that involves a continuing cast of characters in a succession of episodes. Often the characters are markedly different types thrown together by circumstance and occupying a shared environment such as an apartment building or workplace. Sitcoms are typically half an hour in length (…) and they are marked by verbal sparring and rapidly resolved conflicts.

Having this definition as a guideline, some data can be extracted in order to define the basic characteristics of sitcom’s narratives. First and foremost, this genre is about comedy. Every sitcom has humorous content and audiences see it with the expectation of laughter (Rubin 1981: 159). As Brett Mills (2009: 5) points out, “a sitcom with no jokes is not a sitcom and instead becomes something else.” Comedy is at the center of these narratives and the absence of comedic elements can alter the identity of the series.

The second characteristic that derives from sitcom’s definition is that its narratives are built around a circumstance that brings the characters together. In Friends (NBC, 1994-2004), The Golden Girls (NBC, 1985-1992), and The Big Bang Theory(CBS, 2007-Present) it was the shared apartments and friendships, while in The Office (NBC, 2005-2013), Parks and Recreation (NBC, 2009-2015), and 30 Rock (NBC, 2006-2013) it was the shared workplace. The personal life and the working place are two of the most common circumstances at a sitcom that brings its different characters together. The incorporation of both circumstances in the genre’s narratives is stereotypical, something that is very common for a lot of sitcom’s characteristics. In sitcoms around the workspace, the characters spend a lot of hours at work and they never get the job done, while in sitcoms structured around family or friends the characters seem jobless and are spending most of their times with their beloved ones (Petridis 2018: 26).

This brings me to the third characteristic of sitcoms, the stereotypical characters. The characters are not represented with realistic details of their lives and therefore they are not three-dimensional. Every character has an archetypical form (the scholar, the imbecile, the humorous etc.) that are not easily compatible with the other characters of the main cast. The bigger the number of characters in the narrative, the more likely conflicts, due to different types of people. This avoids repeating situations in episodes of the same series, while there are possibilities for developing many plots and sub-plots (Savorelli 2010: 26-28). Unlike other audiovisual works and TV series, in sitcoms it is vital that the character does not substantially change during the course of the season’s narrative and from episode to episode. (Petridis 2018: 26). In every episode, the audience must have the feeling that knows too well the character and that nothing has changed.

This feeling does not stop on characters but is expanding in the locations too. The fourth characteristic of sitcoms is the familiarity and repetition of the locations that the events occur. There is a set of recurring places and the audience have a strong sense of orientation in them. Usually, the fourth wall of every location is not shown at all, because it simply does not exist since the cameras are there. According to Antonio Savorelli (2010: 23-24), one of the most common space-defining elements is the couch (or in workplace sitcoms, the desk), usually placed centrally in the room and having the ability to accommodate more than one character. Every action of the narrative must take place in these recurring places and usually there are not any external locations.

Lastly, the fifth characteristic of sitcoms is the quick resolution of the narrative’s main conflict. A vital trait of sitcoms is their episodic nature, meaning that each conflict is solved until the end of the episode. The episodic nature combined with the stereotypical representation of characters that do not evolve during the season allows the audience to skip some episodes and still be able to follow the series without catching up. The script of an episode is usually around 25 pages, while if there is plenty of dialogue can go up to 45 (Miyamoto 2016). Since every episode is around 30 minutes, the time is not enough like in TV drama. So, simplification and quick conflict resolution are key elements to their structure. Of course, this comes as a result of the stereotypical representation of both the basic circumstance and the main characters.

These five characteristics are vital and present in every narrative. At this point, I have to call attention to the laugh track matter. A lot of US sitcoms are incorporating to their narratives laugh track at various humorous moments during the episode. Mills (2005: 50) comments about this matter that “it underlines the artificial, theatrical nature of the genre, and the fact that sitcom requires an audience for its existence to be at all meaningful”. But laugh track is not a prerequisite characteristic of sitcoms. As a matter of fact, plenty of contemporary US sitcoms, like 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, abandoned this element from their narratives.

Three Act vs. Two Act Structure

Apart from the characteristics of the narrative, another important element of the identity of an audiovisual genre is the way its plot is structured. The majority of audiovisual works are belonging to the classical narrative model and follow the three act structure. Every classical narrative has a begging (first act), a middle (second act), and an end (third act) (see Kallas-Kalogeropoulou 2006 and Trottier 1998). In the first act, which is about ¼ of the narrative, there is the setup of the action, the second act that is almost half the narrative is meant for confrontation, while in the third act, which is the ¼ of the narrative, there is resolution (see picture 1).

At the beginning of the narrative, we can spot the inciting incident, an event that aims to attract the attention of the audience and create the central dramatic question, the answer of which the audience will seek out at the end of the narrative (Kallas-Kalogeropoulou 2006: 136-138). Between the three acts, there are two plot points that carry the narrative from one act to the next one. Both plot points have the same features, since they change the narrative's course in a new direction and repeat the central question that has been established in the inciting incident (Ibid: 151-154, 249-250). Lastly, just before the end, there is the climax. There, the audience feels that the story has ended, since they get all the answers they needed (Ibid: 275-277).

Three act structure is a general rule that can be adjusted into several forms of narrative. Even though most of the TV series are linear and follow the classical model of narration, they tend to adapt in different structures depending on the specific needs of the medium. TV national networks rely on commercial breaks and therefore every program is designed around them. TV fiction has a plethora of narrative structures depending on the duration of each episode. Every time an act changes through a plot point, the TV network has a potential slot for a commercial break. So, the longer the episode the more act breaks are needed.

For this reason, sitcoms have been connected with the two-act structure, because they are typically 30 minutes long and there is a need for only one commercial break. However, apart from the two acts, they usually have a teaser at the beginning and a tag at the end of each episode. The teaser is a humorous pre-title scene that is indented to arouse the interest and keep the audience, while the tag is a post-credit scene that works as an episode’s epilogue, showing that after the resolution of the conflict the fictional world is finally in peace.

In the two-act structure, the acts are almost the same in length, placing the plot point at the middle of the narrative (see picture 2). The first act is the consolidation of the story and the conflict, and the placement of the main characters in the problem, while the second act is the resolution with the characters solving the central problem (Petridis 2018: 27-28). Between these two acts is the plot point, in which usually there is a crucial cliffhanger that can make the audience stay put during the commercial break.

The five characteristics and the two act narrative structure of an episode constitute the identity of sitcoms. Of course, like any other TV genre, sitcoms are adapted into different sociocultural environments and change depending the needs.

Greek Sitcoms

In 1989 a new era is starting for Greek television, because MEGA, the first private TV station is on the air. With the emergence of private TV, fictional series begin to cover multiple time-slots during the everyday schedule. A characteristic of the private TV development model was the high absorbency of international trends in the programming (Varoutas 1996). From the very beginning, sitcoms were one of the most popular series on Greek private TV because of their budgets. During the 1990s, the cost of sitcoms was very low, a factor that made it suitable for easy profit. More specifically, for the period 1991-1992 the cost was approximately 3-4 million drachmas (9,000-12,000 euros) per episode and for 1996-1997 it was 6-8 million (18,000-23,000 euros) (Aitaki 2015b). As Angeliki Koukoutsaki-Monnier (2003: 7) comments:

[the expansion of sitcoms] was one of the major features of this period. Popular productions of low cost, shot indoors with three or four cameras and a regular casting in two or three days, sitcoms constituted the ideal program for the prime-time, complying with the mercantile spirit of the private television which wishes to attract the maximal audience by investing the minimum amount of money.

Their low cost combined with the high acceptance and demand from the audience made sitcoms one of the most popular national TV genres. As it was expected, the genre was adapted into the Greek reality and changed some of its norms. The first thing that differentiated Greek sitcoms is the use of laugh track. Even if this is not a stable characteristic of the genre, this norm is very popular in the US. In Greece though laugh track was never accepted and was incorporated only into one Greek sitcom, Kalinixta Mama/Goodnight Mom (ANT1, 1996-1997). The absence of laugh track made Greek sitcoms distancing themselves from their US counterparts and helping them find their own identity.

Following this pattern, Greek sitcoms adapted the majority of the five characteristics of the genre and transformed them in order for their narratives to better fit into the Greek television landscape. The comedy characteristic was fully incorporated, because a sitcom without comedic elements cannot exist. Moreover, their narratives are built around a circumstance that brings stereotypical characters together usually on stable and repeating locations. The main distinction of Greek sitcoms is regarding the fifth characteristic.

Greek TV stations have bigger slots to cover and their need was expressed by searching and creating longer formats than abroad. Even if US sitcoms are usually 30 minutes including commercial breaks, Greek sitcoms have almost double duration, with the majority of the episodes to be around 1 hour. As it was natural, the quick resolution of the narrative’s main conflict was not any longer necessary and Greek sitcoms were free to structure their episodes differently.

The increase of episode’s duration and the absence of quick resolution are the two main reasons that Greek sitcoms chose a different approach than the two act structure. Greek TV stations used sitcoms in order to fill one-hour length slots and consequently wanted to incorporate more commercial breaks than one. Having in mind that almost all of these series have linear narratives, the three act structure was considered as a more suitable basis for Greek sitcoms. Changing the episode’s format pushed the genre into new territories and gave a kind of artistic freedom to Greek creators to experimental with the form, since it was no longer necessary to have a closure to every episode’s storyline. This is the reason we have two different types of Greek sitcoms: the episodic sitcoms and the serial sitcoms.

The Episodic Structure

The episodic structure is the norm of the genre. This story-of-the-week structure tries to tell one single story with the main cast of the series on each episode. Conventionally episodic sitcoms often have overarching storylines that go beyond one episode (flirtations, love triangles, friendships and relationships, broad quests, myths, etc.), but they are usually pretty easy to figure them out, so that the audience can skip possible episodes and still can manage to follow the plot (Carlson 2013).

From the early years of the genre in Greek private TV, several sitcoms followed this norm and had an episodic structure. One of the first sitcoms on Greek private TV that followed that norm was Treis Xarites/Τ hree Graces (MEGA, 1990-1992). This series had caustic and clever dialogues and showed to the Greek audience that a situation comedy may not necessarily be silly and naïve (Rigopoulos 2009). Another early popular example of episodic sitcom of that time is Aparadektoi/Unacceptable (MEGA, 1991-1993), a TV series that was partially based on the conversations that Dimitra Papadopoulou, the creator, and Spyros Papadopoulos, one of the main actors, did on their radio show, Kuriaki Mitir Pasis Kakias/Sunday, Mother of all Evil (Konstantaras 2018).

Episodic sitcoms kept all the characteristics of the genre and adapted them to a longer format. For this reason, they followed all the steps of the three act structure. A characteristic example of a Greek sitcom with episodic structure that can help to better understand their functionality is the series Konstantinou kai Elenis. Konstantinou kai Elenis is a Greek sitcom that first aired during the seasons 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 on the private TV station, ANT1. During its two seasons, the series aired 68 episodes with episodic structure and a making-of episode.

The series takes place in Maroussi, Athens, where two completely opposed characters, Konstantinos Katakouzinos (Haris Romas) and Eleni Vlachaki (Eleni Rantou), are forced to live together in a neoclassical house. This cohabitation arose suddenly after a legal problem. The uncle of Konstantinos, to whom the house belonged, left two wills before his death, one of which bequeathed the house to Konstantinos and the other to Eleni. Because it was unknown which was the most recent (and thus the valid one, since it would invalidate the previous one), neither Konstantinos nor Eleni was in possession of the house. There are four other people in the lives of the two central characters: Mantos Foustanos (Vassilis Koukouras), Peggy Carra (Maria Lekaki), Matina Mandarinaki (Kallirroi Myriangou) and Nicolas Varthakoulias (Stergios Nenees).

From the description of the series we can see that its narrative fulfills every basic characteristic of the genre. First of all, it is a comedy. Every line and every action of the characters is intended to make the audience laugh. Secondly, the narrative is built around a circumstance that brings the characters together: the uncle’s two wills. We have two opposite characters that are forced to live together under a peculiar situation. And this brings me to the third characteristic, of stereotypical characters. Not only Konstantinos and Eleni, but also the other four characters are structured as two-dimensional and lack depth. Konstnatinos is the scholar, Eleni is the independent and crass woman, Matina is the spinster, Peggy is the aspiring/untalented actress, Manthos is the don juan, and Nikolas is the jock. The series also have repeating locations and almost all the episodes happen in them. The places where the events usually take place are the home of Konstantinos and Eleni, the house of Manthos and the bar where Eleni, Peggy and Nicolas work. Finally, since it has episodic structure, it also incorporates the resolution characteristic to its narrative, but since it is a one-hour series, the resolution does not have to be quick.

Even if Greek sitcoms with episodic structure have adjusted all the characteristics, they still do not follow the two-act form, but they adapt their narratives into a three act structure. For example, the pilot of Konstantinou kai Elenis follows faithfully the rules of the classical narrative form and it is not organized based on the standardized conventions of its genre.

The first episode of Konstantinou kai Elenis(Sigkatoikisi/Cohabitation – first aired on 12 October 1998) is the presentation to the fictional world of the series. The audience is introduced to the main characters and the circumstance that brought them together. The episode’s length is 43 minutes, almost double the duration of a conventional US sitcom. The inciting incident of the narrative is around the fifth minute, when the two main characters and the audience learn about the two wills. This point in not working only as the episode’s inciting incident, but as a general introduction to the premise of the whole series’ narrative. The first plot point when the narrative passes from the first to the second act is starting around the tenth minute, when the Konstantinos and Eleni confide in their best friends, Manthos and Peggy respectably, that they decided to move illegally to the neoclassical house. The one character does not know that the other one has decided the same thing, so they end up moving together without realizing it. The second act deals with the attempts of both characters to win the house from the other one. From Konstantinos’ tries to bribe Eleni to leave the house, to Eleni’s forced occupation of the building the narrative is led to the second plot point at around the thirty third minute, where Konstantinos, Eleni and their neighbor, Matina, end up in prison due to the involvement of the police because of their illegal actions. The third act of the episode presents the beginning of their cohabitation and the establishment of the promise of the whole series. At the end of the episode, the two characters realize that they both went to sleep in the same bedroom, a scene that works as a general climax of the pilot. The lack of a concrete climax is common in situations like this, since it is the first episode of a series and its main purpose is to establish the fictional world and the premise of the series’ narrative.

As it is observed in picture 3, the narrative of Konstantinou and Eleni’s pilot is an exact application of the three act structure. And as it is with every TV series, the structure of every episode is the same for continuity. This is not an exception, but a tangible example of how the narrative works in the first type of Greek sitcoms. Episodic sitcoms have incorporated and adjusted all five characteristics of the genre, but since the duration of each episode is longer, their narratives were adapted into a three act structure. This new for the genre structure was more appropriate for the needs of the landscape of Greek TV and helped sitcoms flourish.

The Serial Structure

The episodic series are almost identical with their counterparts abroad, but the majority of Greek sitcoms follow a different path, the one of seriality. Serial structure is based on multiple episodes that link together and forming a singular story. Each episode of a serial show starts from where the previous one ended, while each episode has an open ending in order for the story to continue. In other words, the serial structure gives television the same pace and rhythm as the everyday life of viewers (Hjarvard 1994: 303).

From the beginning of Greek private TV there were serial sitcoms that their popularity made them relevant until today. From Dolce Vita (MEGA, 1995-1997) and Duo Ksenoi/Two Strangers (MEGA, 1997-1999) to Oi Stavloi tis Erietas Zaimi/The Stables of Erieta Zaimi (ANT1, 2002-2004) and Eisai to Tairi Mou/You are my Soul Mate (MEGA, 2001-2002), these sitcoms wrote history and redefine the genre.

The big difference between episodic and serial sitcoms is the characteristic of the resolution of every episode’s main conflict. Since the total amount of episodes are structured in a different manner, a resolution in every episode is not necessary anymore and the general rule is that every episode hast to end with a potential cliffhanger in order for the audience to wait the next one. These series are not composed by autonomous episodes with a unique story and they rely on the bigger narrative from one episode to the other.

A very characteristic example of how these narratives work is the Greek sitcom Egklimata. This series has two seasons of a total number of 66 episodes. The story of the series unfolds around two families and focuses on the illicit relationship of Alekos Papadimas (Kostas Koklas) and Flora Mitropoulou (Iro Mane), as well as the efforts of Soso (Kaiti Konstantinou) to kill her husband, Alekos. The two families are increasingly connected by strange coincidences: the characters acquire common acquaintances or begin to meet without knowing each other. For example, Achilleas Mitropoulos (Christos Xatzipanagiotis), the husband of Flora, becomes a friend with Alekos, without knowing that he is the secret lover of his wife. The highpoint is at the end of the first cycle that takes place in Syros where almost all of the characters come together for the first time.

As every serial sitcom, Egklimata incorporates the first four characteristics of the genre. It has comedic elements that are based on black humor which is dealing with bold issues, a unique trait for its period. The series incorporated into its narrative topics like bisexuality, prostitution, and adultery, which are innovative and unusual subjects for a sitcom. The circumstance that brings the characters together and activates the narrative is the relationship between Alekos and Flora. The characters of the series are two-dimensional with stereotypical personalities; Achilleas is the naive, Flora is the adulterer, Alekos is the charmer, Korina (Maria Kavogianni) is the prostitute and so on. And finally, we have recurring locations during the episodes: the house of Alekos and Soso, the house of Achilleas and Flora, the apartment of Korina, and the apartment of Michalakis (Stauros Nikolaidis).

The fifth characteristic of the need for a quick resolution is completely absent, since there is no necessity of any resolution at the end of an episode. The events of one’s episode lead to the events of the next one, so the resolution has been replaced with a cliffhanger. This trait has essentially influenced the form of the narrative and the three act structure of serial sitcoms has been partially adjusted to the needs of this type.

Having the pilot of Egklimata as an example, we can see that even if the series is following the three act structure, there are two differentiations: the durations of each act and the absence of a climax. The first episode of Egklimata is 37 minutes. The inciting incident is on the third minute when Alekos calls Flora, but do not speak. Then, on the fourteenth minute there is the first plot point, where Alekos and Flora talk to Michalakis and Machi (Soula Athanasiadou) respectively about their past. The second plot point is on the twenty-seventh minute when during a montage sequence, we see that Soso is distant and Alekos keeps calling Flora. At the end of the episode there is no climax, but instead the audience learn that Korina is the lost sister of Achilleas.

Based on the picture 4, it is clear that the first act is longer than excepted, while the third act is undeniably shorter. This is a common thing for series that incorporate seriality. These narratives tend to have larger first parts and smaller third acts due to the fact that it takes more time to introduce the citations and conflicts of each episode, while in the last half of the narrative, in order to create interest and excitement for the next episode, events need to be accelerated (Petridis 2018: 18). The second differentiation is the logical transformation of the climax into a cliffhanger in order for the narrative to continue on the next episode.

The serial sitcoms follow most of the norms of the genre, while adapting other elements for their benefit. Nevertheless, they too reject the two act structure, an as it seems non-compatible format with Greek TV.

Conclusion

After the emergence of private TV in Greece, specific TV genres emerged and thrived. One of them is the Greek sitcom. Sitcoms are an integral genre of the medium and have specific norms and characteristics. Of course, these norms can be adapted on specific needs, depending on the national television landscape.

On this article, I analyzed the genre in Greek private TV and I spotted two different types of sitcoms: the episodic and the serial sitcoms. Even if they have an essential distinction between them, since the episodic sitcoms have autonomous episodes while serial sitcoms have multiple episodes that link together, they still have a lot in common. Both types are based on a circumstance that brings its two-dimensional characters together and the action usually takes place on the same recurring locations. Above all, both types of Greek sitcoms abandon a feature element of the genre, the two act structure. The norm of Greek sitcom’s construction is the three act structure. Since the Greek sitcoms have longer length and some of them incorporate seriality to their narratives, they don’t need quick resolutions that are structured around two acts.

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