TV - Sitcom These are comedies that usually have one new episode each week. Each sitcom has a fixed group of actors and actresses, and a fixed background: a family, a group of friends, a company, some neighbors, etc. But the episodes don't have to relate to each other. You know it's a sitcom when you hear the laughing sound in the show. Famous sitcoms include "I Love Lucy" (so old that it's black-and-white), "Seinfeld," "Home Improvement," "Friends," "Frasier," etc. Sitcoms used to be called soap operas (肥皂剧), becuase there were often soap commercials (肥皂广告) during the show.

TV - Drama These shows usually have one new episode each week, with the same theme (emergency room, lawyers, etc.). Examples are "Early Edition," "E.R.", "Law & Order," and "Ally McBeal."

TV - Talk Show These shows have a host, some guests, and a live audience. Each show talks about a topic, usually about human relationship, and usually rather weird. For example, one topic might be "Husband having an affair with wife's sister." Then each group of guests will include the husband, the wide, and the sister. They will argue, answer questions from the host and the live audience, and possibly fight (verbally or physically) on the show.

TV - Animation Most animations are for children. However, some are actually for both children and adults. A typical example is "The Simpson's."

TV - Game Show This is where guests have a chance to win cash and other awards by answering questions etc. Examples are "Wheel of Fortune," "The Price is Right," "Jeopardy," and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

Radio - Music Stations Each metropolitan area has many many music stations. Each station has a specialty: jazz, country music, soft rock, etc. To attact audience, these stations often give out prizes (e.g. if you are the 10th called, you will get tickets to a concert). You have to listen and response within a certain period of time to get the prize.

Movies - New movies are shown in first-round theaters first. The regular tickets are $5 or more. There may be student discounts or cheaper tickets for undesirable times. Good movies can stay in first-round theaters for months, before they move to other theaters, where the tickets can be as cheaper as $1. After another couple of months, the movies will be available in video format (or DVD format) that you can buy or rent. It will be several years before a movie is shown on TV. Movies are rated into the following categories:

• G — even young children can watch by themselves.
• PG — children can watch under the guidance of adults.
• PG-13 — children under 13 need to have adult guidance in order to watch. (Parents are strongly cautioned)
• NC-17 — 17 years old or younger cannot watch.
• R — children under 17 need to be accompanies by adults to watch.
• X — Strong sexual content. Definitely not for children.