On The Causes Of Sitcom Hit

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an American television serials called Growing Pains landed in Chinese telescreen, which arose widely attention. Based on the stories of an ordinary American middle-class family, it not only humorously shows us the pleasant daily life of this family, but also demonstrates a relatively superior family environment in America. However, most of us then felt odd even abnormal to the laughter from the broadcast.Until 1993, after the emerge of I Love My Family, this new type of teleplay called "situation comedy" was formally introduced into China. Based on the ordinary people who live in the bustling city as the principle characters and the places where they live and work as the main scenes, by humorous tactics, this sitcom faithfully shows us the normal life of common people during a certain period in China. Having experienced a low tide period at the beginning, Chinese sitcom bursts away. From the first one I Love My Family with a style of well-intentioned ridicule and sharp irony to nowadays My Own Swordman with the reference from buzz words and cyberculture, it may be said that sitcom always occupies the television during the prime time. While the upsurge of I Love My Family was going on the television, it began to gain a lot of prize, such as the winner of Children's TV on the 26th Flying TV Awards, Outstanding TV Prize on the national prize of "Five-One Project", Award for Best Children's TV on the 7th China TV Golden Eagle Festival.It is nearly twenty years since the birth of Chinese sitcom and the hit of it lasts almost more than ten years, more over, it frequently wins prize even form the government, so what's the reason for them? As one type of series study on Chinese teleplay, this thesis will focus on the study of ratings status of sitcom. Making an analysis from the viewpoint of development context, composing rules, production mechanism and acceptance psychology of audiences, I will sum up the successful experience and concealed rules with the case studies of successful works like Home with Kids and My Own Swordman, then will explore the internal and external factors of the Chinese sitcom hit.The article can be divided into the following parts:Part one analyses the development context of Chinese sitcom. In this part, I will explore the source of naissance, dialyse the fundamental model and cast back the history of transformation for localization.Part two is the body of this article. In this part, I will make profound study on the composing rules of city melter, dialects and spanning space. Meanwhile, to take Home with Kids for an example, I will apply the "usage and satisfaction" theory in communication to analyse and demonstrate the internal and external factors of the sitcom hit.Part three is the focus of the article. Basing on the background of commercial market mechanisms, I will start with learning the production, transmission and reception of sitcom, look out the causes of this hit, then use "destruction and construction" theory in postmodern theory to fully analyse the sitcom My Own Swordman.The ending is the conclusion. I will sum up the views and make the prospect of Chinese sitcom development.