Hyacinth and her 'Predicaments'
Generally, there does appear to be a certain formula which most British sitcoms do follow through with. Each sitcom has a central character that is eccentric or very flamboyant in some way that makes us hardly believe what we are witnessing. The shocking behavior, from Basil Fawtly’s hot temper to Hyacinth Bucket’s extravagance, is appealing to us though. Audiences are lured in by these unusual characters and can easily laugh when mishaps occur for the main characters. However, we love these types of characters because they are interesting. I think the reason why we can relate to these eccentric main characters is well put by Patricia Routledge. She states, "Perhaps it's because there is someone like Hyacinth in every family” (Routlege). In reality, we all have at least one person we know that is like one of these major figures. They have their ways, but we still sympathize with them. The supporting characters are characters that are readily relatable to people. Many series feature normal everyday people that are very ordinary. They all have their good points and bad points like all of us. The sitcoms also focus on points that are relevant to society. They try to portray an image of society that is realistic, yet fabricated to a certain degree. The reason for fabrication is that we would otherwise get bored. When watching a sitcom, we do want to be entertained.
I thought you did a tremendous job presenting and I liked how you kind of went out of your topic of interests and research something you didn't have as much exposure to before. I think you got the formula dead on and I really liked the similarities and differences between the British version of The Office and the American version. I found that quite entertaining.
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