Sitcom Comedy

Irene Bruce spends her days pulling pints in Millport, the only town on the Isle of Cumbrae, a few miles off the west coast of Scotland. Frustrated and going nowhere fast, she yearns to escape to the mainland for a better life - or at least a bit of fun. Just over the water, there are clubs, cinemas and discos, so why is she stuck at home with tea, Scrabble and her boring sister Moira?

This laugh-out-loud memoir takes listeners backstage and inside the writers’ room of one of America’s best-loved shows. With more than 17 million viewers and more than 70 Emmy nominations—including two wins for best comedy—Everybody Loves Raymond reigned supreme in television comedy for almost a decade.

In the Sixties there emerged a cycle towards rural situation comedies on American network television. These were comedies set in either small towns or the country, or featured characters from rural areas. Some of them would rank among the most successful television shows of all time. Country Comedies is a brief look at the many rural sitcoms that aired in the Sixties.

With the help of a freakishly wise janitor, a newly-hired membership director struggles to keep a fitness center afloat while being given ridiculous tasks from an ethically-questionable owner. Take an opinionated and all-around diverse group of fitness trainers, add a sketchy owner, a genius janitor, and throw in an endearing but largely incompetent general manager, and you have the perfect recipe for riotous, chaotic hilarity. You have Squat!