Re: On television, why do sitcoms look different than movies?

I have noticed this effect as well.  I believe the difference depends on a few factors.

First, the type of film/camera/view used to do the shoot.  TV Shows tend to be face oriented and
use film designed to pick up slower moving features in high contrast and detail.  Movies, will
usually use more color or motion sensitive film.  TV shows tend to have the camera physically closer to
the action/actors than do movies.  This might help make the images look sharper than a movie 
when viewed on your TV set because your TV set is really divided into pixels.  Pixels are the smallest area
of the TV scene that cannot be more than one color.  The more dense the pixels the sharper the image.  Movies for projection
viewing don't need to be concerned with the viewers' pixel limitation in a movie theatre.  
  
Second, the lighting used changes the sharpness.  Movies more frequently rely on muted lighting, where 
TV shows use bright artificial light.  The brighter the lighting the sharper the image up to a point
at which the images are washed out by too much light.  TV shows use more lighting directed toward the faces of the 
performers, while movies often try to go for a more natural lighting.

You might notice the effect within a single episode of a sit-com from time to time.  When the cast is really
outside doing a scene, the film quality seems worse.  The images are a little fuzzier.  This is a combination of
the two effects mentioned.  You may even notice how unbelievable it is when the outside setting is not really outside.
Besides things like bogus trees and grass, the lighting just seems too camera oriented to be believable.

Sincerely,
Tom Cull 
"Former TV Junkie"