Analysis Of My Favorite Husband: From 'Learning To Drive'

My Favourite Husband was an American radio program that was broadcasted from the year 1948 to 1951 on CBS Radio. This situational comedy centered around the lives of the Cooper family, and starred Lucille Ball as Liz Cooper and Richard Denning as George Cooper (My Favorite Husband). Through the close analysis of the My Favorite Husband episode titled “Learning to Drive”, one can see that the program relies on verbal communication to structure the diegesis and build a narrative that fulfills the three media functions of coordination, continuity, and entertainment found within Charles Wright’s media theory,
Throughout the program, music is utilized to indicate shifts in both space and time. The episode opens with instrumental music that is

Of these effects, the most prominent and frequent sound is the studio laugh track that is played consistently throughout each episode. Adhering to its typical usage, the laugh track is played after a set of lines that is meant to be received as a joke. Though the track does vary in length, volume, and intensity, these variances do not act as indicators that certain lines are more significant to the program than others. The frequent use of the laugh track throughout the episode serves as a constant reminder to the audience that they are listening to a comedic program. This reminder is especially useful in scenes in which a character’s voice makes it difficult to decipher whether their lines are meant to be taken seriously or in jest. For example, in the scene that starts at 00:10:18, Liz gets into a heated conversation with the police officer in charge of issuing driver’s licenses. The police officer is shouting angrily at Liz at a high volume and intensity. Without the addition of the laugh track after each of his lines, this scene would sound quite alarming to its audience, and it would be difficult to identity that his lines are supposed to be comic in nature. In addition, sound effects that are typically characteristic to cars, such as the starting and running of an engine, are utilized sporadically throughout the episode. However, these effects are simply responses to the characters’ verbal

For example, when Liz or George want to convey that they are annoyed, there tone is noticeably flattened and their words sound strained, whereas shock and exasperation are conveyed through a sudden increase of pitch and volume. Throughout the majority of this scene George’s tone towards Liz is either annoyed, authoritative, which is conveyed through the hard accenting of words, or exhausted. The manner in which he speaks combines with the content of his lines, to set his character up as the knowledgeable, capable man who is forced to help an incapable woman with her foolish whims. In contrast, Liz speaks in a much more even tone, with less variations in volume and pitch. However, when these variations do occur, it usually conveys that she is uncertain, through the wavering of her voice and the lowering of her volume. In the cases in which she is able to speak in the authoritative manner of George, she is usually making a statement that is incorrect. Therefore, this incoherency between her tone and the content of her lines, sets Liz up as a character that is foolish, stubborn and