The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been keenly aware of its roots. That includes not only seminal stories and plot lines from the original Marvel Comics -- which the MCU routinely mines for its content -- but in a sly way it acknowledges other pop-culture treads that it emulates. The closing credits from most of their movies reveal that a given hero "will return," for instance -- an open homage to the James Bond films -- while She-Hulk: Attorney at Law slyly riffs on the durable TV franchise of legal dramas. Both Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special play with vaunted television specials of the past, complete with a "Marvel Studios Special Presentation" intro.

But when it comes to honoring the past, none of them quite hold a candle to WandaVision. Phase 4's lead-off boldly announces that the rules have changed by embracing a weird -- and yet utterly fitting -- homage to television sitcoms as an actively grieving Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch transforms the town of Westview into a "perfect" home for her and Vision. Each new episode covers a different decade of the genre's history, starting with the 1950s and proceeding more or less to the present day. In the process, the show delivers a surprisingly detailed homage to one of television's most durable formats.

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'Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience' Takes its Cues from I Love Lucy

Wandavision pilot

WandaVision's opening episode emulates sitcoms from the 1950s, notably the groundbreaking I Love Lucy which established many of the genre's basic tropes. It opens in black-and-white, using the 4:3 screen aspect ratio matching television sets of the time and an era-specific theme song composed by Kristen-Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez (who repeated the trick for the show's other homage episodes). True to its title, it was filmed in front of a live audience to provide laughter and similar responses. It also utilizes a multi-camera shooting format that became a staple of the genre.

From a narrative standpoint, it embraces the fresh-faced optimism of the era, with plot complications that are far zanier than threatening. That includes such narrative chestnuts as the boss coming over for dinner, and the "nosy neighbor" -- in this case, WandaVision's antagonist Agatha Harkness -- popping in unexpectedly. It also involves Wanda and Vision's attempts to hide their superhuman natures and "blend in," which aptly matches countless plots from sitcoms of every era. Out of all the episodes in the first season, its world is the most self-contained, with only a few brief moments of Lynchian disconnect to suggest that something is very wrong with it all.

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'Don't Touch That Dial' Finds Wanda Emulating Another Sitcom Witch

Season 1, Episode 2, "Don't Touch That Dial" moves the calendar forward to the 1960s, with accompanying changes in style and approach. Anderson-Lopez and Lopez deliver a new theme song, this time accompanied by an animated title sequence reminiscent of era-specific sitcoms like I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. Both of those shows embrace the premise of a magical woman attempting to live in a suburban setting, which touch directly on Wanda's background and motives. The episode itself relies on editing tricks common to the era (such as rewinds and wipes) to portray the couple's superpowers. It also ends with a visible shift from black-and-white to color, reflecting the rise of color television in the 1960s.

Both Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie began their runs in black-and-white, only to shift to color after the first few seasons. The plot follows standard sitcom fare, which remained largely in place as the genre evolved into the new decade. It includes Vision's efforts to fit in at work and a disastrous "talent show" appearance which almost reveals the pair's superpowers. It also reveals more frays in Wanda's sitcom reality, as Vision begins to question his surroundings and a strange beekeeper -- later revealed to be an agent of SWORD -- emerges from the sewers.

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'Now in Color' Embraces Family-Friendly 70s Sitcoms Like The Brady Bunch

WandaVision Episode 3

The move forward into the 1970s brings another shift in WandaVision's aesthetic, this time to the good vibrations of The Brady Bunch and its ilk. Besides the updated fashions -- where big hair and wide collars prevail -- Season 1, Episode 3, "Now in Color" addresses Wanda's sudden pregnancy, and the birth of her boys Billy and Tommy. As with the rest of the series, it adopts period-specific shooting and editing techniques, including a single-camera set-up common at the time, and the use of a canned laugh track on the soundtrack in the place of a live audience.

The family-centric story of "Now in Color" matches the premise of The Brady Bunch, as Wanda and Vision attempt to navigate things like choosing the babies' names and Wanda's inexplicably accelerated pregnancy causes "wacky" complications. The increasing chaos matches SWORD's efforts to penetrate Wanda's reality, topped by Monica Rambeau's unmasking and ejection from Westview.

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'On a Very Special Episode…' Matches 80s Fare Such as Family Ties

Wanda and Vision in WandaVision Episode 5

After skipping the sitcom format in Season 1, Episode 4, "We Interrupt This Program" -- which reveals that Westview is engulfed in a separate reality of Wanda's making -- Season 1, Episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode…" picks up the thread in the 1980s. That means emulating an updated batch of family-centric shows such as Family Ties and Growing Pains, which serve as the combined inspiration for the episode's title sequence (along with another updated song from Anderson-Lopez and Lopez). The aspect ratio extends, reflecting the increasing prevalence of wide-screen TVs in the era, and the image reflects the vibrant colors of 1980s-specific video transfers.

The narrative finds Wanda's children suddenly going from infants to five-year-olds, and true to era series of the Family Ties variety, tends to focus on all four of the family members interacting together. The title refers to an 80 tendency of tackling "tough" issues such as drug abuse and divorce by adding "a very special episode" to the promotional material, which WandaVision matches when the boys adopt a stray dog who later dies. It also reflects Wanda's increasing loss of control over the situation, as fissures in her sitcom reality become harder to deny.

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'All-New Halloween Spooktacular' Sends Wanda into the Dysfunctional 90s

Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch on Halloween in Wandavision

The 1990s saw a big change in sitcom formats, driven by earlier shows like The Simpsons and Married… With Children which used family dysfunction for their humor. Shows like Malcolm in the Middle played into the perceived anarchy, with its overwhelmed parents viewed from the perspective of their rambunctious children. The opening sequence for "All-New Halloween Spooktacular" uses a hand-held camera and jump-cuts to perfectly match Malcolm's titles, while the rest of the episode abandons the laugh track in favor of judicious editing to underscore its punchlines.

"Spooktacular" also riffs on holiday-centric episodes -- a staple of sitcoms from their earliest days -- which gives it a chance to put Wanda and Vision in comics-accurate versions of their classic costumes. That, in turn, feeds the larger narrative of Wanda's increasingly desperate efforts to retain control over her reality, topped by expanding it to engulf many of the outsiders trying to work their way in.

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'Breaking the Fourth Wall' Concludes WandaVision's Sitcom Riffs in the Early 00s

Wanda Maximoff at her Westview home In WandaVision.

Though WandaVIsion still had two more episodes to go, Season 1, Episode 7, "Breaking the Fourth Wall" was the last to openly riff on sitcom history. After that, the show reverted to a more or less traditional format as Wanda Maximoff deals with Agatha Harkness and the damage she herself causes to Westview. "Breaking the Fourth Wall" echoes that by adopting the mockumentary style of the 2000s shows like The Office, in which a fictional camera crew follows the characters around and captures the comedy as faux spontaneity.

The title sequence uses a montage of thematic images, with a jaunty lyric-free theme, and the episode itself is periodically punctuated by Wanda and other characters being "interviewed" by the crew. The episode ends with a throwback nod to 1960s-era sitcoms, particularly "spooky" ones like The Munsters and The Addams Family as the song "Agatha All Along" reveals Agatha Harkness's machinations in Westview.