three-camera sitcom

plural three-camera sitcoms

1. broadcastingA 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.

   4 more examples

   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…

   2011 February 18, Lloyd, Robert, “CMT gets into comedy with average sitcom”, in The Oklahoman

   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 September 11, Read, Min, “TV First Impression: “The New Normal””, in Pop Dose

   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.'

   2012 December 7, Fitzpatrick, Kevin, “‘Up All night’ Hires ‘Nurse Jackie’ Creator For Three-Camera Relaunch”, in B98.5 Central Maine’s Country

   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.

   2023 January 11, Adams, Sean, “On Seinfeld and the Mundane Fantasy World of the Three-Camera Sitcom”, in Literary Hub