Sitcom Haiku

“I'm amazed at how hard [doing situation comedy] is.
You have only 20 minutes to tell a story.
It's like a haiku." -- Joan Cusack

I.
Here’s to the sitcom –
real life’s never so crazy,
or resolved so fast.

II.
Lucy, Dick Van Dyke,
Archie, Sanford, Hawkeye, Cheers,
Seinfeld, Cosby, Friends.

III.
Wild situations –
mistaken identity –
closets used often.

IV.
Wiseass ten-year-old,
always with pithy remarks,
flustering grownups.

V.
Bumbling father –
no Ward Cleaver, no sweater,
useless buffoon.

VI.
Suffering mother,
puts it all back together,
in thirty minutes.

VII.
Single? No worries!
You’ll have a famous lover
by November sweeps.

10/09/2001

Posted on 10/09/2001
Copyright © 2024 Bruce W Niedt