situation comedy

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A humorous radio or television series featuring the reactions of a regular cast of characters to unusual situations, such as misunderstandings or embarrassing coincidences.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An episodic comedy television program with a plot or storyline based around a particular humorous situation.
• noun An episode of such a program.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a humorous drama based on situations that might arise in day-to-day life
• noun a humorous television program based on situations that could arise in everyday life