Television sitcoms' format, a main staple for TV programming, was inspired by cinema's first comedy series, the "Alkali Ike" comedies. Essanay Studio's co-owner, Gilbert "Bronco Billy" Anderson wrote a series of comedies after earlier directing vaudeville actor Augustus Carney in a handful of shorts called "Hank and Lank." Carney had developed a character named Alkali Ike, a folksy, small guy who always gets the short end of the stick. Anderson, being a huge Western genre director working for Essanay's branch studio in California, loved Carney's Ike and placed the character in the rural West.
Anderson directed the eight-film series, the first real successful comedy series in cinema. The opening Alkali Ike short, May 1911's "Alkali Ike's Auto," was an instant success. Essanay was so pleased with the series that, in a first, it merchandised action toys depicting the Alkali Ike likeness.
In "Alkali Ike's Auto," one of the first instance where a cameraman speeds up a film by cranking his camera faster than normal, produced a hilarious segment where actress Maraget Joslin, playing the love interest between Alkali Ike and Mustang Pete (Harry Todd), is seen in an uncontrollable car racing down a mountainside.
During the Alkali Ike series, Carney had appeared in numerous "Bronco Billy" films as well as other Essanay movies. But for Carney nothing approached the success of the Alkali Ike character.
Carney's last Alkali Ike episode was released in January 1914: "The Awakening at Snakeville." The actor felt the studio would reward him with a higher salary. When Essanay refused to give him a raise, Carney went to Universal Film Manufacturing Company (Universal Pictures). Carney had to change his character to Universal Ike since Essanay owned the Alkali Ike name. His new studio produced 16 Ike films in 1914. But his movies never approached the popularity as the Essanay's. Carney's demands for a higher salary got him promptly fired at Universal. He was able to get roles in several shorts and four feature films at other studios. But by 1916, after appearing in a Raoul Walsh-directed film, Carney left the film industry for good. Four years later he died at the age of 50.
As an aside, when Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander first broke into the majors for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1911, his teammates gave him the nickname "Alkali Ike."