Katy

This is one of the best shows on TV and I hate that it gets so much love from critics and yet so little from awards shows! The acting is insanely good (no pun intended) as is the writing. It’s going to be really interesting to see how they finish it next year.

Really excellent and detailed analysis. The show was really interesting in the fact that it borrowed so heavily from Seinfeld and Friends and other sitcoms and yet was so, so trailblazing. Your analysis makes me miss the genius of the show and reminds me how much they totally killed it with that horrid, horrid finale. Barney and Robin forever!

Great article! I’d also be interested to hear your take on modern sitcoms. I’m a huge fan of several, but I know that some fall into this category of reinforcing gender roles. I feel like shows like “New Girl” and “Modern Family” push boundaries, while others, like HIMYM and “The Big Bang Theory” stay within the typical confines you discuss. I always think “Big Bang Theory” is a particularly interesting case–people write it off as being very basic and traditional, but I think especially this season they’ve really started doing the women justice and making modern points.