Poll: Best Sitcom since 1970...

[BBrown]

I voted Seinfeld. 20+ years later and it is still funny when you watch it.

How can Friends even be on the list, that show was horrible after about the second year and only was popular because of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, etc..the show itself was not very good.

I just recently binge watched 30 Rock with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. Some of the best writing of a sitcom ever. Just really, really clever and multi-layered. Deserves to be on the list.

I agree that MASH wasn't really a comedy, great show, but not a comedy. It had some funny parts but also had many very serious episodes. Also crazy how they are doctors got drunk all the time, never get away with that today. One episode I recently watched and Colonel Potter and Hawkeye are driving back from an aid station completely drunk and swerving all over the rode and then get shot at, so they hop out and they start shooting a gun drunk. Crazy to think about driving and shooting a gun drunk in a 21st century show.

I can watch Friends but its not something I would point to as saying wow thats funny.
Phoebe is by far my favorite on the show than Joey then Chandler.

I feel the same way about MASH, really liked the program but I don't consider it a comedy.
I feel similar about All in The Family.
Modern Family is the "Cheers and Frasier" of today, INMO, but its losing some of its lustre now that the kids are getting older.
And I think Blackish is very funny and clever.

 

[WJL]

In honor of Cliffie's birthday today ..... what is your favorite sitcom of all time?

I didn't reach back as far as The Honeymooners, Dick Van Dyke or Gilligan's Island since I never watched those shows in real time. The first sitcom I ever remember watching "live" was The Mary Tyler Moore show. I also limited it to network TV and no animated shows.

My top ten in no order ..............

You're missing today's top comedy, "Big Bang Theory"!

 

[sigchip_a_yahoo.com]

I would add King of Queens to the list.

Yes, a top 5 for me also.

 

[MrDibbs]

I voted for Cheers but too many other entries that need to be seriously considered.

All in the Family, MASH, Modern Family, WKRP in Cincinnati

Not totally sure that I want to consider MASH a sitcom.

I just never got into Seinfeld - guess that I have no taste.

 

[Obliviax]

Yes, a top 5 for me also.

I like that show. Kevin Can Wait is just the exact same show, without Leah Remini.

 

[MrDibbs]

My favorite of that era.........

Loved F Troop! Also a big McHale's Navy fan.

 

[sigchip_a_yahoo.com]

I like that show. Kevin Can Wait is just the exact same show, without Leah Remini.

We watch that and like it but it is not as good as King of Queens was at least not yet. I loved the friends on King, the ones on Kevin have not been as good.

 

[dawgduice]

Tough choices but "All in the Family" for me Not on "network TV" but I love "It's always Sunny in Philadelphia".

 

[Obliviax]

I'd have to go with Seinfeld. But for me, a close second is Green Acres. It was so stupid, I could not just laugh at it. All in the Family and Big Bang Theory are right up there though.

Green Acres is great....I still know all of the words to their song. Gilligan's Island is right behind. My wife would say Bewitched, but I think that is a chick show.

 

[CF LION]

Other than The Office, I haven't watched any sitcoms with much regularity in the past 10-15 years. I know shows like Modern Family, King of Queens, 30 Rock, Big Bang, etc could also be on a top ten. Maybe we need a March-Madness-like sitcom bracket tournament of 16 or 32.

 

[Op2]

You're missing today's top comedy, "Big Bang Theory"!

The first 4-5 years I thought BBT was great. I can't barely watch it now. They've ruined it. It's completely different than it used to be and it's just not funny.

The first few episodes she was on, when Raj and Howard first pretended they were Sheldon and went on the computer dating site and got together with Amy, Amy was great. She was a female version of Sheldon. Then they made her really lame and desperate and needy.

For all his strangeness, Sheldon has the strength of his convictions and his ways and if others think it's weird then it's their problem. OTOH Amy is constantly kissing butts of Penny and Bernadette and Howard trying to get them to like her. She should be proud of her weirdness, like Sheldon.

And it's too much like Friends now. Amy's not funny. Bernadette is only a little funny. Howard is much less funny now that he's so domestic (and they had them have a baby too?...are you kidding me...talk about cliche).

Penny and Leonard use to be the heart of the show along with Sheldon but now that they're married they're boring. Sheldon has become less interesting too. Even Stuart, who used to be a bit player but a good one, is now kinda cliche.

The show is basically like Friends now but with 7 (7.5 if you include Stuart) unfunny friends. The fact that the guys are geeks is barely relevant anymore. The notion that Penny could be so dumb all those years and then quit acting and get a job as a pharmaceutical salesman and make more money then the PhD physicists that probably have tenure by now is silly.

If you have TBS where they play all the repeats, watch and notice the difference between the new and the old. It's night and day.

 

[Tri-Power65]

The first few years of Happy Days belongs on the list. Before the show jumped the shark...literally.

 

[SR108]

In honor of Cliffie's birthday today ..... what is your favorite sitcom of all time?

I didn't reach back as far as The Honeymooners, Dick Van Dyke or Gilligan's Island since I never watched those shows in real time. The first sitcom I ever remember watching "live" was The Mary Tyler Moore show. I also limited it to network TV and no animated shows.

My top ten in no order ..............

How could you forget F Troop ?

 

[Connorpozlee]

Seinfeld by a mile.
There were so many times when my life was running parallel to George Costanza's that kind of shook me to realize up that my life was going nowhere. (Example 1: When George answers Kramer's rant about having conceivable reason to get up in the morning with "I like to get the Daily News". That was my morning routine for about 3 years. Example 2: Frank Costanza yelling at George to take the civil service exam on the exact same evening my father and I got into an argument over the same thing.)
MASH took itself way too seriously though it was as good as any show when it was on (the John Tuttle episode is a classic).
All in the Family had a great run before wandering off in an unfunny direction.
Cheers never took itself too seriously. Rebecca kind of drug that show down a bit for me.
I've been sick all week and have watched about 20 episodes of Mary Tyler Moore. Great show.
Just outside of the time parameters of this poll is the Odd Couple. Great show.

 

[CF LION]

How could you forget F Troop ?

The poll was for shows from 1970 to present. But I am a big fan of the show.

 

[SR108]

The poll was for shows from 1970 to present. But I am a big fan of the show.

Yea, I guess your right, they, (60's, 70's, 80's) all seem to blur together for me.

 

[CF LION]

Seinfeld by a mile.
There were so many times when my life was running parallel to George Costanza's that kind of shook me to realize up that my life was going nowhere. (Example 1: When George answers Kramer's rant about having conceivable reason to get up in the morning with "I like to get the Daily News". That was my morning routine for about 3 years. Example 2: Frank Costanza yelling at George to take the civil service exam on the exact same evening my father and I got into an argument over the same thing.)
MASH took itself way too seriously though it was as good as any show when it was on (the John Tuttle episode is a classic).
All in the Family had a great run before wandering off in an unfunny direction.
Cheers never took itself too seriously. Rebecca kind of drug that show down a bit for me.
I've been sick all week and have watched about 20 episodes of Mary Tyler Moore. Great show.
Just outside of the time parameters of this poll is the Odd Couple. Great show.

I totally forgot about The Odd Couple. I may have to rethink my list.

The 70's had to be the golden era of the sitcom:

All in the Family
Mary Tyler Moore
MASH
The Odd Couple
Happy Days
The Bob Newhart Show
Taxi
WKRP
Barney Miller
The Jeffersons
Sanford and Son

 

[Lionguy32]

I voted for Seinfeld, but the first two seasons of Arrested Development are about the laugh out loud funniest ever on TV. It definitely takes a few episodes to really get it, but it is well worth watching on Netflix.

 

[Connorpozlee]

I will say, I watched the opening 2 episodes of Brockmire last night as it was damn funny. Well worth a watch.

 

[harbest]

Nothing comes close to Seinfeld IMO, but some of my other favorites include It's always sunny in Philadelphia, Night Court, Futurama, and reaching way, way back, Car 54 Where are you?

 

[NittPicker]

Green Acres is great....I still know all of the words to their song. Gilligan's Island is right behind. My wife would say Bewitched, but I think that is a chick show.

I was a young kid when the Gilligan's Island, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie reruns were shown soon after I got home from school. Looking back on the shows now I don't see them as being funny. So why did I watch them?? Ginger, Mary Ann, Samantha and Jeannie. Nice eye candy for a prepubescent kid who knew he like looking but hadn't yet figured out why.

 

[NittPicker]

I will say, I watched the opening 2 episodes of Brockmire last night as it was damn funny. Well worth a watch.

I thought it was hilarious too. Hopefully it can carry through to future episodes. Maybe too sexual for some. There's a Seinfeld connection too. The owner of the baseball team was Jerry's girlfriend in "The Summer of George". She's the one who lived with the dude.

 

[Cletus11]

The first 4-5 years I thought BBT was great. I can't barely watch it now. They've ruined it. It's completely different than it used to be and it's just not funny.

The first few episodes she was on, when Raj and Howard first pretended they were Sheldon and went on the computer dating site and got together with Amy, Amy was great. She was a female version of Sheldon. Then they made her really lame and desperate and needy.

For all his strangeness, Sheldon has the strength of his convictions and his ways and if others think it's weird then it's their problem. OTOH Amy is constantly kissing butts of Penny and Bernadette and Howard trying to get them to like her. She should be proud of her weirdness, like Sheldon.

And it's too much like Friends now. Amy's not funny. Bernadette is only a little funny. Howard is much less funny now that he's so domestic (and they had them have a baby too?...are you kidding me...talk about cliche).

Penny and Leonard use to be the heart of the show along with Sheldon but now that they're married they're boring. Sheldon has become less interesting too. Even Stuart, who used to be a bit player but a good one, is now kinda cliche.

The show is basically like Friends now but with 7 (7.5 if you include Stuart) unfunny friends. The fact that the guys are geeks is barely relevant anymore. The notion that Penny could be so dumb all those years and then quit acting and get a job as a pharmaceutical salesman and make more money then the PhD physicists that probably have tenure by now is silly.

If you have TBS where they play all the repeats, watch and notice the difference between the new and the old. It's night and day.

True on Big Bang Theory. Show jumped the shark a few years ago. Went too mainstream and got too many characters. Some bad jokes now and canned laughter. They should put it out of it's misery by now.

show I didn't see mentioned...How I Met Your Mother. Was a pretty funny show, Barney character played by Neil Patrick Harris was really good.

 

[hagberg]

Of the shows you listed, I would have to pick Taxi. It was so well-written and had such great characters that it was hard to beat. I especially like the throwaway lines, for example, Alex talking to a very large woman who can't believe he actually likes her, and she makes a comment about how she could stand to lose "5 or 70 pounds!" That's a line I've used myself from time to time!

Currently, my favorite is Life in Pieces. It has an interesting format, and is another show that is very well written. I think I must be among the 1% who just really can't stand Big Bang Theory. I liked it for a couple seasons, but the whole show seemed to get a little full of itself with its success.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Other than The Office, I haven't watched any sitcoms with much regularity in the past 10-15 years. I know shows like Modern Family, King of Queens, 30 Rock, Big Bang, etc could also be on a top ten. Maybe we need a March-Madness-like sitcom bracket tournament of 16 or 32.

Forgot 30 Rock - also should get consideration.

 

[Op2]

Of the shows you listed, I would have to pick Taxi. It was so well-written and had such great characters that it was hard to beat. I especially like the throwaway lines, for example, Alex talking to a very large woman who can't believe he actually likes her, and she makes a comment about how she could stand to lose "5 or 70 pounds!" That's a line I've used myself from time to time!

Currently, my favorite is Life in Pieces. It has an interesting format, and is another show that is very well written. I think I must be among the 1% who just really can't stand Big Bang Theory. I liked it for a couple seasons, but the whole show seemed to get a little full of itself with its success.

That reminds me of another Alex line. He is divorced and his wife has re-married to a South American guy and his daughter is getting married in South America. Alex isn't invited but he finds out the wedding is happening and goes anyway.

While there he sees his ex-wife, who he hasn't seen for a long time and who has gained a lot of weight. Alex then makes a play on the "You haven't lost a daughter, you've gained a son" line by saying "You haven't lost a daughter, you've gained a ton."

 

[Jayb48]

Barney Miller.

 

[psuro]

Flintstones.

 

[PACOLT]

Last Man Standing for me.

 

[Cyclingmik]

Not even close. All in the family. Mash a distant second.

 

[interrobang]

Um, where's ALF?

 

[91Joe95]

The first years of this show were some of the absolute funniest ever to grace TVs not located in France.

 

[Roar More]

I'll throw in Angie Tribecca for a current show.

 

[BoChops]

MASH and Three's Company were the only sitcoms that I watched every week back then. The Jefferson's and Home Improvement were a good laugh also.

 

[pasmokin2002]

No Golden Girls?

 

[Connorpozlee]

Curb Your Enthusiasm is another great one.

 

[delcoLion]

In honor of Cliffie's birthday today ..... what is your favorite sitcom of all time?

I didn't reach back as far as The Honeymooners, Dick Van Dyke or Gilligan's Island since I never watched those shows in real time. The first sitcom I ever remember watching "live" was The Mary Tyler Moore show. I also limited it to network TV and no animated shows.

My top ten in no order ..............

Sorry, CF... I can't vote on a list that does not include Night Court.

 

[rudedude]

A vote for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Cringeworthy humor!

 

[psuro]

Archer. Plus-Lana Kaine is hot.

 

[mn78psu83]

A vote for Curb Your Enthusiasm. Cringeworthy humor!

Brilliant stuff!