Desperate Housewives as a Serial Sitcom

Colin Tain's lecture discussed the differences between episodic and serial sitcoms. Serial sitcoms consist of continual advancement of plot lines as well as characters that change and grow with each new situation that they encounter. This category is not very predictable nor lesson based, instead it is very complex and complicated. Many dramas such as Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl, and One Tree Hill are serial sitcoms that have and ever advancing plot and continue through the different seasons always taking off where the last episode left off. Episodic sitcoms however usually have a central theme or problem that the episode revolves around. The episode generally ends where it started and each episode has little in common and shows little progression between each other. Cartoons are primary examples of this category, for example, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill . Each portrays characters that remain the same age, and do not develop any new changes. Episodes are predictable and familiar and there are lessons to be learned. 

Desperate Housewives is an example of a serial sitcom. Drama-based, this show begins on Wisteria Lane and advances on the lives of five women. Through the seasons, different situations have caused many changes as well as the growing ages of all the children and family members. This progression allows for new people and gossip to emerge, tying all of the episodes back together. The plot builds continually and the audience follows along as they get swept into the lives of these desperate housewives.