three-camera sitcom
English
Noun
three-camera sitcom (plural three-camera sitcoms)
- (television) A multicamera sitcom; uses multiple cameras simultaneously on a set, often with a live studio audience, capturing wide shots and close-ups in one take for efficiency; rely on stage-like performances and laughter for comedic timing, unlike single-camera shows.
- Three-camera sitcoms create a familiar, theatrical feel like classic shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, and The Big Bang Theory.
- Coordinate term: multicamera
- 2011 February 18, Lloyd, Robert, “CMT gets into comedy with average sitcom”, in The Oklahoman[1]:
- Once thought headed for extinction, the three-camera sitcom is holding on by its nails here and there, and making a small comeback on cable…
- 2012 September 11, Read, Min, “TV First Impression: “The New Normal””, in Pop Dose[2]:
- It was more a dramedy than a flat out comedy series. As is the trend, this is a single camera series, shot more like a movie, rather than your traditional ”filmed before a live studio audience” three camera sitcom.
- 2012 December 7, Fitzpatrick, Kevin, “‘Up All night’ Hires ‘Nurse Jackie’ Creator For Three-Camera Relaunch”, in B98.5 Central Maine’s Country[3]:
- More news on the evolution of NBC's 'Up All Night' today, which was recently announced to be shutting down production in order to re-tool itself into a three-camera laugh tracked sitcom in the vain of 'The Big Bang Theory,' or even 'Guys With Kids.'
- 2023 January 11, Adams, Sean, “On Seinfeld and the Mundane Fantasy World of the Three-Camera Sitcom”, in Literary Hub[4]:
- It’s about a certain fantasy of what adulthood might look like, one inspired by the series (and also the three-camera sitcom broadly) that I’ve harbored for a long time and one whose origins I didn’t realize until recently. […] Every television show is a closed universe in some way, but the three-camera sitcom shrinks the world even further.