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The Bill Cosby Show
''The Bill Cosby Show'' is an American sitcom television series, that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with Robert Culp in ''I Spy''. The series also marked the first time an African American starred in their own eponymous comedy series. Synopsis Cosby played the role of Chet Kincaid, a physical education teacher at a Los Angeles high school, a bachelor, and an average cool guy trying to earn a living and help people out along the way. The show ran for two seasons, 52 episodes in all. While only a modest critical success, the series was nominated for two Primetime Emmys. ''The Bill Cosby Show'' was a ratings hit, finishing eleventh in its first season. With the high school as the setting of most episodes, storylines comprise: life lessons, students and fellow teachers, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary algebra deals with the manipulation of variables (commonly represented by Roman letters) as if they were numbers and is therefore essential in all applications of mathematics. Abstract algebra is the name given, mostly in education, to the study of algebraic structures such as groups, rings, and fields (the term is no more in common use outside educational context). Linear algebra, which deals with linear equations and linear mappings, is used for modern presentations of geometry, and has many practical applications (in weather forecasting, for example). There are many areas of mathematics that belong to algebra, some having "algebra" in their name, such as commutative algebra, and some not, such as Galois theory. The word ''alge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Wayne
Paul Wayne (born Paul Weinberg; 17 January 1932) is a Canadian writer. He wrote sketches of television variety shows, like ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' that he won an Emmy Award for, and episodes of other television shows, like ''Three's Company''. He also served as producer of only two short-lived sitcoms, '' Doc'' and ''Excuse My French''. Career All together with his writing partner George Burditt and other writing crew, they earned Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Series: ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' in 1972 and 1974, and ''Van Dyke and Company'' in 1977, a variety show starring Dick Van Dyke. Wayne and Burditt co-wrote mainly the first three seasons (1977–79) of the television series ''Three's Company'', Both together co-wrote one episode of ''All in the Family'', "Archie Eats and Runs" (1974), and another episode of ''Sanford and Son'' (alongside Aaron Ruben), "The Way to Lamont's Heart" (1974). Individually or with ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Series Premiere
A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or late winter. As distinguished from a pilot A television series' first episode often originates as a pilot, a standalone episode that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its creation, the pilot is meant to be the testing ground to gauge whether a series will be successful. As such, "Pilot" is overwhelmingly the most common title used for a series premiere. Sometimes a series' pilot may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. For the Canadian supernatural drama ''Lost Girl'', the pilot that sold the series to Showcase, "Vexed", was used as the eighth episode of the first series. In the case of '' Firefly'', the original pilot ("Serenity") was intended to serve as the series premiere but was rejecte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vic Tayback
Victor E. Tayback (January 6, 1930 – May 25, 1990) was an American actor. He is known for his role as Mel Sharples in the film ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1974) and the television series ''Alice'' (1976–1985). The latter earned him two consecutive Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Life and career Tayback was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Helen (née Hanood) and Najeeb James Tayback. His parents were immigrants from Aleppo, Syria. He moved with his family to Burbank, California during his teenage years and attended Burbank High School, from which he graduated in 1947. He also attended Glendale Community College and the Frederick A. Speare School of Radio and TV Broadcasting. Tayback served in the United States Navy before beginning his acting career at the age of 25. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio, he was a familiar face on television in the 1960s and 1970s, appearing on numerous series, including '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'', ''St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beulah Show
''Beulah'' is an American situation-comedy series that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1953. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American actress, for being ABC TV's first hit situation comedy, and the first hit TV sitcom without a laugh track. The show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans. Radio Originally portrayed by a white male actor, Marlin Hurt, Beulah Brown first appeared in 1939 when Hurt introduced and played the character on the ''Hometown Incorporated'' radio series and in 1940 on NBC radio's ''Show Boat'' series. In 1943, Beulah moved over to ''That's Life'' and then became a supporting character on the popular ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' radio series in March 1944. In 1945, Beulah was spun off into her own radio show, ''The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show'', with Hurt still in the role. Beulah was employed as a housekeeper and cook for the Henderson family: father Harry, moth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Trouble With Father
''The Stu Erwin Show'' (also known as ''Trouble with Father'') is an American sitcom which aired on ABC from 1950 to 1955. Only four of the series’ five seasons on the network included new episodes; the 1953–54 season consisted entirely of reruns. Synopsis The series' star, Stuart Erwin, played a bumbling high school principal named Stu Erwin. His wife, film ingenue from the late silent and early sound period, June Collyer, played the principal's wife, June Erwin. Although Erwin and Collyer, who were married in 1931, had a son and a daughter, the series presented them as parents of two adolescent daughters played by Sheila James and Ann Todd who was replaced by Merry Anders in the series' final season. One notable aspect of the show was that it featured black actor Willie Best in a regular supporting role. Predating modern single-camera sitcoms, ''The Stu Erwin Show'' originally aired without a laugh track (one was added in its final season), and each episode was around 26 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical hour-long legal or medical drama, but exhibit far fewer jokes-per-minute as in a typical half-hour sitcom. In the United States Examples from United States television include: ''M*A*S*H'', ''Moonlighting'', '' The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'', '' Northern Exposure'', '' Ally McBeal'', '' Sex and the City'', '' Desperate Housewives'' and '' Scrubs''. The term "dramedy" was coined to describe the late 1980s wave of shows, including '' The Wonder Years'', ''Hooperman'', '' Doogie Howser, M.D.'' and '' Frank's Place''. See also * List of comedy drama television series *Black comedy * Dramatic structure * Melodrama * Seriousness * Tragicomedy * Psychological drama References Comedy drama Drama Drama is the specific mode of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laugh Track
A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most commonly used, the term usually implies artificial laughter (canned laughter or fake laughter) made to be inserted into the show. This was invented by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass. The Douglass laugh track became a standard in mainstream television in the U.S., dominating most prime-time sitcoms and sketch comedies from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. Usage of the Douglass laughter decreased by the 1980s when stereophonic laughter was provided by rival sound companies as well as the overall practice of single-camera sitcoms eliminating audiences altogether. History in the United States Radio Before radio and television, audiences experienced live comedy performances in the presence of other audience members. Radio and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid-20th century. It de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths. Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moms Mabley
Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975), known by her stage name Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was an American stand-up comedian and actress. Mabley began her career on the theater stage in the 1920s and became a veteran entertainer of the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American vaudeville. Mabley later recorded comedy albums and appeared in films and on television programs including ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. Early life Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina, US, on March 19, 1894. She was one of 16 children born to James Aiken and Mary Smith, who had married in 1891. Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, while her mother kept house and took in boarders. Her teenage years were tumultuous. Aiken had given birth to two children that had resulted from her being raped at age 11, by an elderly black man, and at age 13, by a white sheriff. Both children were given up for adoption. Career Early career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actress in several films. Early years He was born in Monroe, Louisiana, to Frank, an old-time Dixieland bandleader, and Marcella. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, but his daughter told Moreland's biographer she doubts this date is correct. She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen. Career After "nearly ten years of working the small, small time", Moreland gained an opportunity in 1927 when he was hired as a comedian in ''Connie's Inn Frolics'' in Harlem. He next worked in the musical revue ''Blackbirds of 1928'', which ran for 518 performances. By the late 1920s, Moreland had made his way through vaudeville, working with various sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
