An important aspect of of the TV sitcom is its modified three act structure. The three act structure of conflict, escalation, and resolution has been an established format for entertainment and story telling even before the early days of Classical Hollywood. In TV sitcoms however, due to commercial breaks, the three act structure is an efficient and simple formula that helps to capture the attention span of an audience for half an hour or so.
A very popular, modern sitcom today is 30 Rock. Each episode of 30 Rock follows a very similar three act structure. In the first few minutes of the show a conflict is introduced. Liz Lemon usually has difficulty controlling one of her actors and Jack Donaghy faces some sort of business or relationship trouble. After the first commercial break the second act begins, and the original conflicts begin to escalade. Usually things have taken a turn for the worse as Liz prepares for the inevitable final confrontation with Tracy, an ex-boyfriend, or whatever it is that she is fighting against. Finally, in the third act, every plot line regarding Liz, Jack, Tracy, Kenneth, and Jenna comes together in some absurd way and together everyone solves their problems. Their problems for that episode are resolved, but these are only mini-resolutions. The story of 30 Rock as whole is pretty much the same at the end of each episode as it was at the beginning.
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