Abstract
This chapter discusses how using a mockumentary style allows the sitcom format to experiment with creative audio-visual storytelling that challenges conventions while simultaneously bringing those conventions out into the open. It also discusses how using a mockumentary style allows the sitcom format to avoid certain uses of music that appear either cliche or manipulative, and recognise music as an important and often ambiguous aspect of contemporary society. The contemporary sitcom is characterised by an intermingling of the familiar languages of documentary and fiction, thereby overturning these traditional forms. The Comeback is a found footage show, which is a particular type of fake documentary pretending to present raw, unedited material, and normally without any particular post-production artifices, such as extradiegetic sounds or music. Some new sitcoms directly tackle the risks of a misdirected, manipulative usage of music. The sitcom has long been understood as fundamentally stable form stemming from theatre and vaudeville practices and developed within the commercial context of television.