US Drama Genres: Procedurals, Sitcoms and Legal Dramas

A genre is a promise to the viewer

In American television, genre is less a label for subject matter than a promise about what each episode will deliver. A procedural promises the culprit will be found within the hour, a sitcom promises twenty-odd minutes of easy laughs, and a serialised drama promises a big story if you stay to the end. Knowing these promises makes you look at the genre before the blurb when choosing, and helps you judge quickly whether a show fits your situation. The genre that suits a weeknight wind-down is not the one that suits a weekend deep dive.

Procedurals: a case closed every episode

The procedural is the oldest and most plentiful American drama genre. A crime occurs, is investigated and is solved within a single episode, so starting midway causes little confusion. Many shows layer team relationships or a season-long case on top to reward watching in sequence. Even within the genre, the flavour varies a lot depending on how cases get solved.

• Police procedurals: detectives' legwork, pursuit and on-the-ground urgency
• Forensic procedurals: evidence analysis and lab scenes narrow down the truth
• Profiling dramas: the draw is reading the culprit's patterns of behaviour
• Detective or consultant shows: an unusual individual helps the police, so character carries the show

Legal dramas: battles fought with words

Legal dramas centre on lawyers and prosecutors sparring in court and in the office. Because juries often decide questions of fact in American trials, closing arguments aimed at the jury and cross-examinations that corner a witness become the dramatic peaks. Stories outside the courtroom, such as winning clients, settlements and power struggles within a firm, also take up a lot of time. Procedures are routinely compressed or exaggerated for drama, and systems differ between countries, so do not treat what you see as real legal knowledge. For an actual legal problem, consult a professional.

Medical dramas: the hospital as a stage

Medical dramas run on two tracks at once: a new patient's case each episode and the relationships among the staff. With life-or-death decisions in every episode the emotional swings are large, and many shows follow young doctors' growth across seasons. Jargon comes thick and fast, but it mostly serves to convey urgency, so not understanding every term does not stop you following along. Diagnoses and treatments on screen are simplified for drama, so do not take them as health information; if something is wrong with your health, see a medical professional.

Sitcoms: twenty minutes of laughs

A sitcom is a comedy of about twenty minutes an episode with a fixed cast and recurring locations. The texture of the humour changes a great deal with the way it is shot, so one show not landing is no reason to give up on the form. If audience laughter feels jarring, start with a single-camera show that has none. Short, largely self-contained episodes also make sitcoms a good fit for language practice or a mealtime watch.

• Multi-camera: shot on a stage set with several cameras, with real audience laughter
• Single-camera: filmed like a movie with one camera, faster and without a laugh track
• Mockumentary: staged as a documentary, with characters talking to the camera
• Dramedy: mixes laughs with serious stories, running a little longer at around thirty minutes

Serialised genres: politics, sci-fi, fantasy, crime sagas

These are dramas in which a season, sometimes a whole series, forms one large story. Political dramas, science fiction and fantasy, and crime sagas following an organisation or one person's downfall are typical, and many come from cable and streaming originals. Because they take time to build characters and worlds, the first few episodes often feel slow, but once past that hump they are deeply absorbing. You cannot follow them by joining midway, so always start from episode one and, if possible, watch within a short span. For shows with large casts, jotting down who is who helps.

Genre blends and franchises

Many current shows blend genres. The classic hybrid solves a case each episode while building a secret across the season; legal dramas pick up political intrigue and medical dramas pick up romance. Popular procedurals also often grow into franchises, with spin-offs that keep the format but change the city or the unit. Knowing where to start can be confusing, but the points below sort it out.

• Hybrids are better watched in order, even when episodes close their cases
• Franchise spin-offs are mostly standalone, so any one can be your starting point
• If there are crossover episodes, check the broadcast order once
• Early seasons of the original may feel dated, having been made long ago

Finding your genre, and common mistakes

When choosing a genre, thinking about how you actually watch beats going by reputation. Whether you watch a little each day or binge at weekends, alone or with family, changes which genre suits you. Sampling an episode or two from several different genres and picking whichever you keep reaching for is another approach. The mistakes beginners make usually come from a mismatch between a genre's promise and their viewing habits.

• Starting with a heavy serialised drama because it is called a classic, then burning out
• Dipping in and out of a serialised drama as if it were episodic and losing the thread
• Giving up on sitcoms after one show, even ones shot in a completely different way
• Believing legal or medical scenes as if they were real-world knowledge