Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1964
Sitcom
situation comedy
- Meaning
- A TV comedy built around a fixed cast in a recurring setting.
- Source words
- situation + comedy
- Coined by
- US broadcast industry
- Year
- 1964
Background
Early TV critics used "situation comedy" through the 1950s; "sitcom" is a 1960s industry contraction that displaced it by the 1970s.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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