Best Sit-Coms of All Time... Go!

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:36 pm

HDO45331 wrote:
DC47 wrote:1. M.A.S.H.
2. All In The Family
3. I Love Lucy
4. The Honeymooners
5. Phil Silvers/Sgt. Bilko
6. The Simpsons
7. Sanford and Sons
8. Taxi
9. Gilligan's Island
10. The Beverly Hillbillies (greatest theme song ever)
11. Married With Children
12. 30 Rock
Add in The (original) Odd Couple. Plus, Mork & Mindy. Mine would be close to this.

I whiffed on The Odd Couple. Great show. Insert somewhere 7 or 8 on my list.

Like everyone it seems, I loved early Robin Williams. But I never saw much in this TV show the few times I caught it. Perhaps I missed something. Or he may have been held back by the constraints of the sitcom format.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:24 am

Mork and Mindy was from the Gary Marshall sit-com factory (home of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and a few others).

Maybe it's an age thing, but to me, these shows exemplify the worst of 70s comedy. Witless, predictable and from the old school set up, response, punchline style of writing.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:16 am

Pruitt wrote:Mork and Mindy was from the Gary Marshall sit-com factory (home of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and a few others).

Maybe it's an age thing, but to me, these shows exemplify the worst of 70s comedy. Witless, predictable and from the old school set up, response, punchline style of writing.

What do you know about writing for televis......wait. Never mind.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:19 am

Pruitt wrote:Maybe it's an age thing, but to me, these shows exemplify the worst of 70s comedy. Witless, predictable and from the old school set up, response, punchline style of writing.

Sooo ... the template for Big Bang Theory?

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:21 am

I'll get killed for this, but I think at least the first 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother belong on the list. The show had a weak ending but I don't think it's enough to diminish how strong the beginnings were.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:56 am

A_B wrote:
What do you know about writing for televis......wait. Never mind.

I am criticizing the format and the shows based upon my taste. (And as the latest shows I am working on are a preschool show about a spunky girl and her Grandmother and a reboot of "Inspector Gadget," I really shouldn't be criticizing a comedy legend like Garry Marshall. But I will anyway...)

And yep, the template for "Big Bang Theory," "Friends" and hundreds of other shows. Actually, the template was set up back in the 50s.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:34 am

Pruitt wrote:
A_B wrote:
What do you know about writing for televis......wait. Never mind.
I am criticizing the format and the shows based upon my taste. (And as the latest shows I am working on are a preschool show about a spunky girl and her Grandmother and a reboot of "Inspector Gadget," I really shouldn't be criticizing a comedy legend like Garry Marshall. But I will anyway...)

And yep, the template for "Big Bang Theory," "Friends" and hundreds of other shows. Actually, the template was set up back in the 50s.

Yep, the multi-camera sitcom is one of Hollywood's traditions of doing the same thing over and over again.

When "Malcolm in the Middle" debuted, the industry hyped that to incredible levels in large part because it was a single-cam sit-com. And now, who cares? Lesson: Be the first to do something if you're going to do it competently. When first is combined with competent, it becomes a breakthrough. When first is combined with worse than competent, the "first" part is viewed as why it failed, eliminating people from from doing the new thing again (for a while, anyway).

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:10 am

Well, when you only have two options - Single-cam and multi-cam - with varying degrees of minor changes (laughtracks, live audience, live) you really pay homage to the past even if you don't mean to. Sure, there's probably coming a time when we get a real first-person show (Mitchell and Webb did a lot of it on Peep Show, but it wasn't exclusive for the most part except for the times when we were inside their heads) and probably at some point we'll have a show completely shot with iphones like that Tangerine Movie that will make everyone at home think they can be the next Chuck Lorre. But when you're fitting your craft into a little box it's near impossible to fully think outside of it.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:29 am

BSF21 wrote:I'll get killed for this, but I think at least the first 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother belong on the list. The show had a weak ending but I don't think it's enough to diminish how strong the beginnings were.

I agree, but I think its a very narrow age range that this appealed to.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:31 am

Bensell wrote:In no particular order, my pre-1990 favorites that I mostly saw in reruns or on TV Land:

The Andy Griffith Show
Mary Tyler Moore
All in the Family
The Jeffersons
Newhart - "Hi, I'm Larry; this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl."
M*A*S*H
Cheers
Golden Girls
Night Court

Wait. Wow. I totally forgot the first Newhart and then the one Bensell is talking about here. How could I have forgotten those shows? So, so good.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:38 am

mister d wrote:
BSF21 wrote:I'll get killed for this, but I think at least the first 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother belong on the list. The show had a weak ending but I don't think it's enough to diminish how strong the beginnings were.
I agree, but I think its a very narrow age range that this appealed to.

I'm an old bastard and I loved it. Hell I'm going to check Jim Gaffigan's sitcom because Victoria is on it!

1. MASH
2. Cheers
3. Seinfeld
4. HIMYM
5. Archer
6. Brady Bunch (not because it was really that great, but damn did I love this show)

EdRomero · Post by **EdRomero** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:44 am

DC47 wrote: 11. Married With Children

I think this show gets overlooked for its significance. It did almost everything Roseanne got credit for before Roseanne did it. There was a lot of stupid silliness, but I think it was one of the earliest shows where the writers had the characters do whatever they thought would be funny, reality be damned. And based on later success, the casting director did a great job. And then there was Kelly Bundy, who was dressed more conservatively than most of today's characters on the Disney Channel.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:24 am

My top 5:

1. Cheers
2. Seinfeld
3. MASH
4.Parks & Rec
5. Big Bang (I make no apologies)

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:24 am

Rush2112 wrote:
1. MASH

I'm a HUGE fan of MASH, but generally only the first years...the "HenryBlake/TrapperJohn/FrankBurns" seasons. The sappy-ness factor went way up when they moved into the "Potter/Winchester/Honeycutt" years.

Post by **Sabo** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:28 am

DaveInSeattle wrote:
Rush2112 wrote:
1. MASH
I'm a HUGE fan of MASH, but generally only the first years...the "HenryBlake/TrapperJohn/FrankBurns" seasons. The sappy-ness factor went way up when they moved into the "Potter/Winchester/Honeycutt" years.

The Potter/BJ/Burns years were the best IMO, but they were only slightly better than the time frame you described.

Honestly, the show went downhill when BJ grew the mustache.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:39 am

Parks and Rec deserves as much of a nod as The Office if not moreso. That cast was incredible.

Post by **brian** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:49 am

If I were re-doing my list I'd put Parks and Rec in there.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 11:56 am

brian wrote:If I were re-doing my list I'd put Parks and Rec in there.

Just wait 10 years for the reboot/reunion version of this thread, available exclusively on Netflix.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:17 pm

Every now and then I'll catch an old episode of All in the Family, which was a great show as well as groundbreaking. While I don't think it holds up great, I enjoy it and laugh, maybe out of nostalgia, maybe because Carroll O'Connor was so incredible. Archie Bunker's interactions with black people, particularly Lionel and the Sammy Davis Jr. episode were fantastic.

But that is just a preamble to introduce Norman Lear's true masterpiece, one for the other old folks. This show was decades ahead of its time.

And of course, the spinoffs, Fernwood 2nite and America 2nite

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:42 pm

howard wrote:Every now and then I'll catch an old episode of All in the Family, which was a great show as well as groundbreaking. While I don't think it holds up great, I enjoy it and laugh, maybe out of nostalgia, maybe because Carroll O'Connor was so incredible. Archie Bunker's interactions with black people, particularly Lionel and the Sammy Davis Jr. episode were fantastic.

But that is just a preamble to introduce Norman Lear's true masterpiece, one for the other old folks. This show was decades ahead of its time.

And of course, the spinoffs, Fernwood 2nite and America 2nite

I watched all those shows. I enjoyed Fernwood Tonight and America Tonight much more than MHMH.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:42 pm

Rush2112 wrote:
I'm an old bastard and I loved it. Hell I'm going to check Jim Gaffigan's sitcom because Victoria is on it!

1. MASH
2. Cheers
3. Seinfeld
4. HIMYM
5. Archer
6. Brady Bunch (not because it was really that great, but damn did I love this show)

God damn it I forgot P&R (probably number 3 for me.)

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 9:58 pm

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:15 pm

I'll raise a Richard Pryor written episode:

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:30 pm

I was watching a Sanford episode featuring Aunt Esther when you posted that. Great stuff. I had no idea Pryor wrote for that show. Hard to believe. That was a breakthrough. Not too likely that Lenny Bruce was invited to write for The Honeymooners.

howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:34 pm

I think he only worked on the show for a short while, only a few episodes. Wasn't a very reliable employee.

ETA: the internet sez only two episodes, co-wrote with Paul Mooney.

ETAA: and the episode I referenced, only Mooney is credited. (So, Pryor probably wrote it anyway.)

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:59 pm

Probably had to use a fake name to work in TV. Contracts and such. I suspect he was "Ron Howard."

Tonight I've been listening to the Howlin' Wolf London sessions. Haven't heard all of this in a couple decades, just a cut here and there on Wolf collections. It's amusing that the drummer on one number is still credited as "Richie." Even in the early 70s -- just a little before Sanford -- it was widely known that this was Ringo Starr. Lot's of pseudonyms back in the day. Paul McCartney was "Bernard Webb" on some non-Beatles writing credits. Elton John laid down a piano track on an early 70s Jackson Browne album as "Rockaday Johnny.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:50 am

EdRomero wrote:
DC47 wrote: 11. Married With Children
I think this show gets overlooked for its significance. It did almost everything Roseanne got credit for before Roseanne did it. There was a lot of stupid silliness, but I think it was one of the earliest shows where the writers had the characters do whatever they thought would be funny, reality be damned. And based on later success, the casting director did a great job. And then there was Kelly Bundy, who was dressed more conservatively than most of today's characters on the Disney Channel.

Ha, you are right. A lot of those Disney shows have 15 yo girls dressed like Kelly Bundy. I recently tried to watch an episode of Married With Children, and it does not hold up at all. It was edgy to say the least at the time. How many shows at that time directly revolved around and openly discussed sex? The slutty daughter, the virgin son constantly trying to get laid, Peg summoning Al for sex, and Al stumbling down the stairs looking disheveled and disgusted. Even the dog made sex jokes.

A_B wrote: (Mitchell and Webb did a lot of it on Peep Show, but it wasn't exclusive for the most part except for the times when we were inside their heads)

Inside their heads? How could we forget Herman's Head?

I really enjoyed HIMYM. Despite being in the next phase of life. That probably was a major factor in why I liked the show so much. The characters were sort of living the life I just left, so it was very nostalgic. Looking it up, the show started the same year I got married and moved out of NYC to the 'burbs. All the jokes bashing NJ or moving to Long Island really hit home. Bad pun not intended.

I watched All in the Family not too long ago, and I still loved it. I didn't fully get it as a kid, but it was a great base for understanding the changing societal mindset regarding race and politics, as well as generational tensions caused by the changes.

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:20 pm

howard wrote:I'll raise a Richard Pryor written episode:

That was awesome. I LOLed at work.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:56 pm

Showing my age, here. When Fox was a brand new network they had an awesome Sunday night lineup. Not sure of the order, but they had:

It's Garry Shandling's Show - seriously underrated...
Married with Children - which was great in its early days, then went off the rails...
Get a Life - very funny show in which Chris Elliott played a 30 year-old paperboy
Herman's Head - ahead of its time!

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:04 pm

Ill +1 Garry Shandling show. Not sure if it cracks the top 10 but was innovative, if not influential. Dont really recall many shows like that since.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:05 pm

Seems like Super Dave Osborne was somehow in that lineup too.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:45 pm

HaulCitgo wrote:Ill +1 Garry Shandling show. Not sure if it cracks the top 10 but was innovative, if not influential. Dont really recall many shows like that since.

I'd be curious to watch it again. I watched it at the time, remember it being a bit weird, but the only specific thing I remember is the theme song. The opening theme to Gary's Show. The song that you hear when you watch the credits. I liked it.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:47 pm

The Sybian wrote:I'd be curious to watch it again. I watched it at the time, remember it being a bit weird, but the only specific thing I remember is the theme song. The opening theme to Gary's Show. The song that you hear when you watch the credits. I liked it.

This is virtually my exact same experience with that show. It was basically a PG version of The Larry Sanders Show, and I didn't "get" it at the time. Probably worth revisiting.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:18 pm

I wanted to mention Get A Life, because I loved it, and the great Bob Elliot was in it, but man was it a stupid show.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 5:56 am

Forgot to mention Fawlty Towers.

Only 12 episodes, but not a weak one in the bunch.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:04 am

howard wrote:I wanted to mention Get A Life, because I loved it, and the great Bob Elliot was in it, but man was it a stupid show.

But how great was Chris Elliott?

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 11:17 am

Just the best. I dig his most recent show, Eagleheart

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:23 am

Simpsons screenshot search engine

!!!

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:50 am

Post by **brian** » Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:57 am

My productivity today just got ruined.