TV comedies addressing the audience before MITM

TV comedies talking to the audience before MITM

No, MITMs approach of breaking the fourth wall in mid-action to address the audience is not new at all!

(for first-person narration and voice-over mixing with action used in 'The Wonder Years', see a separate thread).

Two very similar 1990s (pre)teen comedies (I mean similar to each other) were very creative in that respect.

Clarissa Explains It All (1991-94), a Nickelodeon show starring Melissa Joan Hart of later 'Sabrina'-fame. She always commented on her own plans and other people's behaviour.

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v12979434NrTpr9n

Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. (1996). A CBS show, also shown on the BBC and Nickelodeon UK, starring Michael Galeota. A boy spying on his own family with dozens of webcams, and commenting on everything.



Both must have been favourite playgrounds for post-production art and sound departments! They really went wild with Paintbox Pro graphics. Bailey Kipper was the first ever to be completely edited on a Mackintosh computer. Perhaps, MITM showed the first cohesive, integrated approach?

But it's clear they borrowed some ideas right and left.

Rich

I was watching the pilot of Clarissa Explains It All yesterday from 1991, called Revenge, and I was struck by the opening sequence, where Clarissa says she's a .... They Might Be Giants fan!

You know how I watch all these Nickelodeon shows for kids all the time. Not!

As was the habit in this series, cartoon images of the band appeared as overlays in the image.

She said she just liked the 'John without the glasses' in the band though - John Linnell.

Rich