Comedy-drama

Comedy-drama, also called dramedy, is a style of television and movie in which there is an equal, or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content. Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy. A tragedy typically ended with the death or destruction of a fictional or historical hero, whereas a comedy focused on the lives of middle to lower class characters and ended with their success. The term "drama" was used to describe all the action of a play. In the early 1800s, as theatrical writing became more subtle and plays were less likely to end with multiple deaths, the term "drama" began to be used to describe plays that were more sober, with "comedy" meaning plays that were funny rather than plays which ended happily. Since then, the terms have remained relatively subjective. Authors such as Anton Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen blurred the line between comedy and drama. The advent of radio drama, cinema, and... full article at wikipedia