When I Love Lucy first aired in 1951, I believe it was originally classified as a sitcom. A sitcom, or situation comedy, is a genre that is defined as a comedy that is centered around a select number of characters and their day to day life, with the plot carrying over from episode to episode. I Love Lucy can easily fall into this category because the comedic series follows the life of Lucy Ricardo and her husband, Ricky Ricardo, along with their best friends and neighbors, Fred Mertz and Ethel Mertz. Jason Mittell argues in his article, “A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory,” that we should not only consider the text, or show itself, when classifying it into a genre, but also factor in the issues of advertisers, marketing, audience demographics and discourse, cultural influences, or power relationships between characters. As you can see on Netflix with the multitude of genres and subgenres to choose from, there are many other ways you can classify a show into a particular genre category other than the standard options. I Love Lucy could fall into one of Netflix’s categories of TV Show with a Strong Female Lead because of Lucille Ball’s strong willed and extroverted character, Lucy, that she plays on the show. It could also be classified as a show with an interracial couple, since I Love Lucy was one of the first shows to portray an interracial couple on television. Some could even classify I Love Lucy as a romance show or a romantic comedy. The lighthearted relationship between Lucy and Ricky on the show could give viewers a sense of something they aspire to have or admire. Reruns of I Love Lucy now air on the Hallmark Channel, which is a channel that is synonymous with sappy romantic comedies or romantic drama movies. 

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be classified as supernatural drama television series because it features witches, vampire slayers, and various monsters and demons. Dramas are more serious TV shows with realistic characters that face various trials and conflicts, showing the audience the best and worst sides of themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer could also be classified as a teen drama since the general audience demographic of the show are teenagers or young adults. There are elements of horror and dark fantasy when Buffy must slay the demons and monsters that come to her town and threaten her friends. There is also an element of paranormal romance between Buffy and vampires Spike and Angel. Buffy the Vampire Slayer could also fall into the category of action or adventure because of the various battle scenes and built up suspense. The episode, “Once More, with Feeling,” classifies the show into even more genres such as a comedy and a musical. Buffy the Vampire Slayer could now be classified as a vampire drama or soapy supernatural TV drama because of the soap opera aspect of a continuous series developing the personal relationships between several characters and the supernatural aspect where supernatural events and creatures normally occur in everyday life.