The average American watches more than 150 hours of television every month, or about five hours a day (“Americans,” 2009). Of the 25 highest-rated programs of the week of February 8-14, 2010, six were sitcoms, averaging 5.84 million live viewers each (Seidman, 2010), not to mention the millions more who later watched on Internet or on their digital channel. Video recorders. The modern sitcom is an undeniable force in America, and its influence goes beyond giving viewers new jokes to repeat at the water cooler the next day: whether Americans realize it or not, the media continues to socialize them, even as adults. At first glance it may seem that sitcoms are a relatively benign force in entertainment. However, the modern sitcom is much more than just a collection of jokes and running gags. It is an agent of gender socialization, reinforcing age-old stereotypes and sending concrete messages about how and who to be. While in reality people of both genders have myriad personality traits that don't fall neatly along gender lines, the sitcom rejects this diversity in favor of portraying the same characters over and over again: sex-hungry, socially incompetent single men. domestic who enjoy life like savages. neurotic, lonely and insecure bachelors and single women who desperately want to settle down with Prince Charming and have children. Sitcoms reinforce our ideas about what it is “normal” to be, and perhaps more importantly, they feed us inaccurate ideas about the opposite sex: that women are marriage-crazy, high-maintenance, and obsessed with their ticking clock. biological, while men are unfortunate sex addicts whose motives cannot be trusted. The way singles are portrayed on sitcoms is detrimental to viewers' understanding of themselves... middle of paper... as a society, we are still allowing, indeed encouraging, the reproduction of patriarchy through our choice of entertainment. We are allowing ourselves to socialize into antiquated and obsolete roles. While sitcoms make us laugh and provide us with an escape from our problems, they may be creating problems of their own – problems that, as a society, we cannot easily escape. Of course, this is nothing to laugh about. Works QuoteAmericans watch more television than ever; also web and mobile videos. (May 20, 2009). Retrieved from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/americans-watching-more-tv-than-ever/Seidman, R. (2010, February 17). Top 25 TV ratings: Olympics and American Idol battle for weekly supremacy. Retrieved from http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/02/17/tv-ratings-top-25-olympics-and-american-idol-battle-for-weekly-supremacy/42196