The Shortest Comedy Series Ever Is a Real Blink-and-You’ll-Miss It Experience

What Is ‘The Gaveltons’?

In 1998, TV Land produced multiple situation comedies of which the episodes were only 60 seconds long. The first of these series to air was The Gaveltons, which is about a family who sues everyone. They will do so for ridiculous reasons. For instance, one episode features the family's son getting cut from his baseball team and complaining to his father. His father's solution? Sue the coach, of course. The son ends up winning MVP — Most Valuable Plaintiff. It's completely absurd, but considering they only have 60 seconds, it's surprisingly well done, and you get the whole story, or at least as much as you need to get the point.

The Gaveltons, as brief as it was, did have a relatively interesting premise. And really, the idea of 60-second shorts making up a series was a unique idea that could’ve proven well if it had been given the time. The Galveltons is a situation comedy, and each episode focuses on unique family dynamics, romance, and general slapstick humor elements. All this in 60 seconds, is meant to showcase a blip in the lives of these characters. It was a unique and fresh idea among the rest of the television lineup at the time, but ultimately it couldn’t stand the test of time.

Why Was ‘The Gaveltons’ So Short-Lived?

It should come as no surprise that the reason The Gaveltons didn’t last long was due to how unconventional its structure was. It was 1998, and sitcoms like Friends and Frasier were at their peak. Viewers simply weren’t tuning into The Gaveltons, and when they would, they were understandably confused by its brevity.

Of course, the series had its fans, but due to the quick pace of the show, it was hard for the casual viewer to keep up and ratings dropped lower and lower. It’s possible that The Gaveltons would work better in today’s day and age, where experimental works are much more celebrated and accepted by audiences. But in 1998 it was simply confusing.

‘The Gaveltons’ Left a Mark on Pop Culture

Nowadays, it’s also applauded when a show knows when to call it quits rather than dragging out a story, so The Gaveltons would appeal to those who love a short and sweet binge. The Gaveltons proves that you can create a well-executed and interesting series without overstaying your welcome. It doesn’t have to be as extremely short as The Gaveltons, but it is refreshing to see such a quick palate cleanser in a series. Especially considering there’s been nothing like it since unless you consider the skits and shorts of Saturday Night Live, but even those exceed The Gaveltons runtime. It’s as if The Gaveltons live in their very own strange pocket of time.

While we haven’t seen anything quite as short as The Gaveltons on television, the show did open a lot of doors when it comes to experimental storytelling. It didn’t follow any specific guidelines or try and appeal to anyone but itself. It made every moment count because it had to, and because of that, produced a surprisingly focused storytelling approach, while still providing gut-busting laughs. The Gaveltons will likely always be remembered purely for its perplexingly brief runtime, but it should also be remembered for just how much it impacted the comedy genre in the late '90s, and how it has since impacted society now, when binge-watching and shorter TV seasons are so common. The Gaveltons left their mark, despite its brief presence.

The Gaveltons can be watched above.