Most sitcoms made tend to be categorized as episodic in nature. This is mainly because sitcoms, as a whole, tend to be only thirty minutes in length, and more geared toward providing laughs rather than dramatic complicated stories. While there may be a larger big picture story that travels throughout a show, for example: Jim and Pam's plot line in The Office, the development of that story may only advance a little over the course of an entire season. This means that shows tend to deal with small problems and then end with that problem being solved. Then in the next show, an new problem occurs and is solved. Plots don't build from one show to the next.
One of my favorite sitcoms is Arrested Development. It was primarily episodic, but what made it great was how little details carried over into other shows. The plot of one show may be totally different than that of the previous week, but it included references to earlier shows in the series that you didn't even realize were jokes at the time. I think that's why the show is so critically acclaimed. It was a different spin on the episodic format, that while not being to different was refreshing in its own way.
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