The Best Sitcoms

My personal favorites: All in the Family, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, That 70's show, The Cosby Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Everybody Loves Raymond, Taxi, The Jeffersons, Faulty Towers, and Entourage if that counts.

This thread might attract more posts if moved to the Movies & Television Forum.

I was going to post the same thing - but Oli beat me to it.


Signor V.

Only Fools and Horses
The Office (Uk)

Friends
Fraiser

I love Lucy and The honey mooners because they still hold up no matter how many times you see them.

Then all of a sudden there is another one and that one is everybody loves Raymond.

Golden Girls, Andy Griffith.

Completely agree with you. Those are my favourite shows too. But I have to say that Seinfeld is no 1 (for me).

Soap was a big hit over here in the early 80s. Those guys were funny!

Sorry for posting it in the wrong thread guys. My mistake

No catastrophe, it's being moved to the TV Forum.

A few oldies off the top of my head:

I Love Lucy (Funny is funny, even after all these years.)

Burns & Allen (Gracie Allen was brilliant. Period.)

The Mary Tyler Moore Show (A great ensemble cast.)

Chef (Lenny Henry as a black Gordon Ramsay - years ahead of its time.)

The Vicar of Dibley (A gem from beginning to end.)

Fawlty Towers (John Cleese. Basil. 'Nuff said. Or, should that be Flowery Twats?)

I'll probably think of more in the days to come, but for now, these are among my all-time favorites. (And I'm also showing my age!)


Signor V.

Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, WKRP, Lucy, Fawlty Towers, Honeymooners, and (how many remember this one?) Amos 'n Andy.

Are you old enough to remember Amos n Andy?

They both belonged to the mystic knights of the sea lodge hall.

I remember a bite they did about the atomic stove it just came out they said. So stoves of the future will become smaller and smaller. So in the future you will no longer put the turkey in the stove. You will put the stove in the turkey.

The Honeymooners was outstanding. I think the team of Gleason and Carney is the funniest in tv history.

I Love Lucy,The Andy Griffith Show, All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Seinfeld and Raymond are also favorites.

Many people rank the Chuckles the Clown episode on Mary Tyler Moore as the funniest sitcom episode of all time. It's certainly at the top. I also have to add the Honeymooners episode where Ralph and Norton make a live tv commercial.

Yes the honeymooner The chef of the future commercial funny.

Lucy when she worked in the candy factory, when she made wine with her feet, when she gave John Wayne a massage, when superman visited little Ricky birthday party, when she made cigars while in Cuba visiting rickys uncle then same episode showed Ricky and little Ricky singing Babalo and playing the conga drum I could go on and on

I will add everybody loves Raymond when his brother wants to join the secret service funny,

I know I'll forget some but off the top of my head:

I Love Lucy
Mary Tyler Moore
All In The Family
Taxi (Christopher Lloyd was my favorite)
Seinfeld (I actually didn't get into it into several seasons in). It seemed boring at first and then grew on me. I got to really enjoy it.)

I liked Burns & Allen but thought Gracie stole the show. AND, I loved Art Carney in The Honeymooners. I know I'm alone here, but I never found Jackie Gleason that funny. Thought he was a big mouth.

I memorized Ralph Kramden's outburst at his mother-in-law when she insulted him and spoiled the ending of the show he was planning to see. Then I used it on my mother-in-law when she visited.

"You are a BLABBERMOUTH! A Blabblabblab. You! Blabbermouth! Out! GET OUT!" My father-in-law was in stitches.

That was on a record Ralph recorded the idea given to him by nortonto appolizes to Alice's mother. But as he said it he got crazy again on thst first record. Then thry made another record norton made a mistake and gave that record to alice. norton showed the right record to allice later.

I can't watch an Ed norton movies with out thinking of carneys Ed norton sewer worker character.

To the moon TIS, to the moon!

I know Oli!! I'm in the minority here.

Btw, can you even imagine the outrage of the "To the moon Alice" phrase if it were used today???

Then again, I imagine a show like "All In The Family" (as hilarious as it was) would be big today.

Speaking of All In The Family, during that time, in my family, if my mom, sister or myself didn't quite grasp something or were slow to pick up on something, we'd quickly be called "Edith" by my dad & brothers. Of course we'd say to them "go stifle yourself."

TIS

Carrol O Conner was a liberal

I agree with alot of your choices Joe but my favourite has to be Arrested Development.

All the shows that the previous posters have listed are truly great shows and i enjoyed watching pretty much all of them.

But what, no mention of the show that put the Fox network on the map?

C'mon, admit it people, i bet more then a couple of you watched it too.

Great show especially the early seasons.
IMO, there will never be a sitcom better than The Honeymooners.

"Ralph, do you mind if I smoke?"

"I don't care if you burn."

Hey any of you guys like Entourage on HBO? That shit was friggin funny. If you don't believe me just look up Ari Gold on youtube

I never saw the Honeymooners till a year ago. I now watch it over and over. To me it's best show ever. Obvious they had small budget by the set, and they had restrictions on what they could say. Honeymooners shows that comedians can be funny without resorting to filthy jokes and cursing. I just watched episode where Ralph runs into his wife's old boyfriend, and tells him he owns bus company because he thinks other guy is rich business man.

Ralph learning how to golf on the honeymooners. Directions address the ball. Answer hello ball funny

This was an outstanding episode. When Ralph offered to pick up the dinner check and the dining companion didn't object, Ralph's reaction is classic.

Remember the ritual that Norton went through when he was about to sign something. I imagine him doing so had he been about to sign the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

A few licks of the pencil and some brushing and waving of the air around the paper before Ralph gives him a whack. I mimic this once in a while when I'm signing papers.

I also always loved to do Norton's dance from the Hucklebuck episode.

I loved that face he made. Plus I liked way it ended, all laughing about it. Show was very down to earth, and besides being funny showed that main characters all were decent people. I am trying to get old show Gleason hosted
on dvd, a variety show rom 1960's.

As a kid I loved the Little Rascals and the Three Stooges (with Curly).

The Honeymooners - I agree with you TIS, Gleason had his moments, but Carney was the best. Kind of like Seinfeld and Kramer.

George was the best in Seinfeld imo.

It's strange how opinions differ but I can't stand the George character. All the others I love. If I read the plot was centered around George, I usually didn't watch. I found his character totally annoying and unfunny.

That being said, and George aside, the show was really good.


TIS

I didn't watch it the first two years. Too whiny. Then I got hooked and I still watch the reruns. George is just a pathetic soul. The characters had the right chemistry and the actors were perfect.

All in the family, Seinfeld, King of Queens Honeymooners,

I was going to post this when the thread was first started but wasn't sure if it was a true sitcom. But every "Best TV Sitcoms of all Time" has it on their lists so here it is.

MASH is a sitcom, and a very good one.

I always liked MacLean Stevenson's character, Col. Blake. He cracked me up when Klinger appeared in his office with a woman's bathrobe, and Blake yelled at him, "For God's sake, Klinger, it's almost noon and you're still in a bathrobe. Go to your tent and put on a dress!" Klinger left and he turned to Pierce and complained, "You got to stay on these guys all the time."

Seinfeld
The Office (U.S.)

Freaking LOVE the Vicar of Dibley. One of the funniest and greatest shows ever.
Also Everybody loves Ramon, I love Lucy, The Andy Griffith show.

Anyone watch King of Queens?

Really funny show. Kevin James is a likable lead and Ben Stiller's dad cracks me up.

I like this quite a bit. The premise, a female Church of England priest appointed as pastor to an old-fashioned could have been a one-joke show, but it's a lot better than that.

I also liked King of Queens. I think Jerry Stiller was very funny in it.

Speaking of sitcoms. CBS is running I Love Lucy's Christmas show from 1956. I thought I heard they colorized it. If I heard correctly they will run Christmas shows from several past comedies (Brady Bunch is another I think). Anyway, it's probably on right now on he East. It starts at 8:00 here.




TIS

"I Love Lucy Christmas Special" -- Two newly colorized episodes, including the seldom-seen "Christmas Episode" and "Lucy's Italian Movie," are scheduled to air. (8 p.m. Dec. 20, CBS)

I ended up watching Lucy last night. I guess the Christmas show was not shown that often. It was nice but not as good as Lucy in Italy. You know, after all these years, I found myself STILL laughing out loud at her facial expressions/gestures. I actually enjoyed it.




TIS

Up until "Seinfeld," I would have regarded "MASH" as my all-time favorite sitcom. I loved Col. Blake, too. But MASH was just as great for its recurring characters like the nutbag Col. Flagg, Scully, & Rizzo. I liked Trapper slighly more than BJ Honnicut and thought the character of Frank Burns was played brilliantly by Larry Linville.

My other favorite sitcoms include "Cheers," "Night Court," "Soap," "Barney Miller," "WKRP in Cincinnati," and "Arrested Development."

Been watching Episodes, absolutley hilarious.

Honeymooners, Seinfeld, and one I haven't seen anyone else mention is King of Queens which originally took a while to grow on me. Curb your enthusiasm is also up there.

"Still Standing" was a very funny show. I watch it in the morning whenever I'm home. Of course it was cancelled to make room for more reality shows

It used to be on much more. In fact, it used to be on in back to back episodes. I like Jami Gertz.

Me, too. She's cute and funny. But I've never seen her new show, "The Neighbors." I'm just not into aliens and whatnot.

I loved "Mad About You" and rewatch it whenever possible. It randomly shows up on some cable channels. I have the DVR set to record it on any channel, so it surprises me sometimes and BAM, it's there.

Great show. Very smart. It's on FXX all the time, and the episodes are sometimes available for free on FXX On-Demand.

My daughter and I love to watch it together and have now incorporated the following into our everyday conversation:

"This is what I'm saying!"
"Never gonna happen, my friend!"
The use of A and 2 instead of A and B when making multiple points.

Sylvia Buchman may have to wrestle Marie Barone for worst MIL.

As George Carlin said:

"She wrote down her reasons: numbers 1,2,and C. She was never any good at indexing."

This is what I'm sayin', Babe. We use it ALL THE TIME ourselves .

I was hoping someone would mention Married With Children, my all time favorite sitcom have every season on dvd. M*A*S*H was also damn good as was WKRP

Married with Children was something. There was one epiosode where Al was smoking a cigar. It was hanging down in his mouth. Then he sees a pretty girl with her boobs hanging out. All of a sudden his cigar started to get higher and higher in his mouth.

Fox Channel 5 just started when they got that show. It helped make FOX a success. Before that it was just ABC, CBS, and NBC they were the big three.

A little known fact Ed O 'Neal is a Brazilian Jujitsu Black belt it took him 20 yrs to do it, but he did it.

Growing up we used to watch Barney Miller. Cheers. MASH. (Hot lips was hot). Family Ties.

But mostly the Yankees on channel 11. Bill White and the Scooter were a sitcom to me.


Nowadays my favorite was The Wire. Subject matter aside I'd be hard pressed to find a better written show

House Of Cards on Netflix is genius.

I always liked Twin Peaks. Only two seasons and very esoteric and dark but I was intrigued as a kid and now own the DVDs.

My wife's favorite. Good pick SB

House of cards I have been watching that show for two seasons waiting for Franks wife to get naked. So far it has not happened damn it.

I even bought myself some F U cuff links. If you watched the show you know what I am talking about. I have no doubt that Spacey will win the Emmy for his roll as frank.

On thinking hot lips is hot she was.

When I was 16 I made it with my neighbor Joanie she was 33. I would screw her after her Husband left for work. I stll get excited thinking about it. Until I thought well I am 74 now. That would make Joanie 91 if she was still alive. Then I threw up

Hard to top that post Foot but I enjoyed it nonetheless. You make my day so much more worthwhile. For that, I thank you.

"Coach" was a very funny show. Hayden Fox was a politically incorrect guy's guy, but a good guy nonetheless. And I loved him for that .

"Sex in the City" is my all-time favorite. Bob Newhart Show was always witty.

You're such a Samantha, TB .

As long as I'm not a Sanford, PB.

How about The Montefuscos!

Get Smart, Hogan's Hero's and the Odd Couple are some of my favorites

I love "Hogan's Heroes." I own the box set because they don't show them much anymore.

Hogan, get the car.

I too PB. Scultz has to be one of the best characters ever on TV.

Schultz: "I know nothing"

Contrast that with Sheldon: "I know everything." (Still funny though).

I see Hogan's Heroes at 9pm on MeTv. Always good for a laugh. Besides a general lack of sitcoms these days, it seems like the theme song isn't that important anymore. Think of the songs from the Odd Couple, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Cheers, Hogan's Heroes - all of these show are instantly recognized from their songs. Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, McHale's Navy, Batman - even the non-sitcoms like Bonanza, Hawaii 5-0, Rockford Files all had songs we recognized from just a few notes.

[/quote]I see Hogan's Heroes at 9pm on MeTv. Always good for a laugh. Besides a general lack of sitcoms these days, it seems like the theme song isn't that important anymore. Think of the songs from the Odd Couple, M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Cheers, Hogan's Heroes - all of these show are instantly recognized from their songs. Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, McHale's Navy, Batman - even the non-sitcoms like Bonanza, Hawaii 5-0, Rockford Files all had songs we recognized from just a few notes. [/quote]

Don Marco, We get METV down here too, great shows, all the old time favorites

They did a genius of a job writing Everybody Loves Raymond. So relatable. My wife and I really loved this show and still enjoy the reruns.

As far as older sitcoms. Laverne & Shirley is a classic.

We all love Raymond. We even have a thread:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=621317&page=1

Thanks for the heads up PB, much appreciated. I will give it a read.

I don't feel like going back thru all the pages but did anyone mention The Dick Van Dyke Show? I recently saw #CNNs series "The Sixties" and was reminded how funny that show was (along with some others).




TIS

I just posted in another thread that Laura Petrie was one of my first loves as a kid in the '60s, Tis.

Laura Petrie, Jeannie (Barbara Eden), Marlo Thomas in "That Girl." And of course all the daughters on "Petticoat Junction."

Unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhh.

PB,

They played clip from Dick VanDyke when Laura had her baby and Dick was convinced the hospital gave them the wrong baby. He says to Laura, "Honey, how much do you like that baby?" Then the couple who's baby they think they have ring the doorbell...I assume you saw it.





TIS

Do ya'll recall the DVDS controversy over whether Laura should wear a dress or pants. Polls showed viewers preferred a dress.

I enjoyed very old episodes of Bewitched, I love Lucy, some episodes of Married with children, some Seinfeld episodes, and I enjoyed Twink Peaks as well.

My grandmother liked the golden girls and some of those episodes are funny.

There's probably only a handful (if that many) of Board members who ever saw the Amos 'n Andy Show. How many of you have seen it? Now, that was one funny show.

Political correctness aside, that's one of the funniest shows of all time. Bar none.

It looks like a lot of these are on youtube and for sale on Amazon now. They really are hilarious.

They were, of course more or less barred from being shown for a long time - not shown on TV, and not made available on tape or disc. My dad, though, who was in his thirties when the show was first on, just loved it, so I tried to hunt it down. It turned out there was one think tank or some such that was licensed to sell them, something like the "Foundation for the Study of Historical Media." They sent you a big box of VHS tapes, no marking on it, and the tapes on the labels themselves were all just computer-printed. My dad roared at them, and pretty much wore the tapes out.

Same with my Dad, MP. We had the VHS tapes back in the early '80s, and much more recently I was able to track down those same unlicensed episodes on dvd. Not hard. Just Google Amos and Andy + DVD .