(VANITY) The Greatest TV Sitcoms of All Time

My television | November 13, 2005 | Lancey Howard

[Lancey Howard]

In order, I rank the greatest TV sitcoms of all time like this:

1. I Love Lucy (the template for all sitcoms)
2. The Honeymooners
3. Seinfeld
4. Barney Miller
5. M.A.S.H.
6. Cheers
7. Taxi
8. The Andy Griffith Show
9. Hogan's Heroes
10. Gilligan's Island

Honorable mention:

All in the Family
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Cosby
The Odd Couple
McHale's Navy
The Phil Silvers Show
Night Court
Friends
Gomer Pyle, USMC (early years)
Family Matters (early years)
Home Improvement
The Beverly Hillbillies
Three's Company
The Jeffersons
Happy Days
Dick Van Dyke
Coach
Green Acres

(NOTE: Omitted from the above lists were shows that were more "situation" than "comedy", such as 'Leave it to Beaver', 'The Donna Reed Show', 'Father Knows Best', etc. Also omitted were animated shows such as The Flintstones, South Park, The Simpsons, and Family Guy.)

(P.S. I am old enough to have watched all of the above shows during their first run with the exception of Lucy, The Honeymooners, and The Phil Silvers Show, all of which I caught fully in reruns. The above lists are strictly from memory, so I hope I didn't leave out anything obvious. Have fun.)

[Pusterfuss]

Not in any particular order:

Hogan's Heros
Fernwood2nite/America2nite
Cheers
Barney Miller
Night Court
WKRP

British:

Fawlty Towers
To the Manor Born
Good Neighbors
Dr. Who

[beyond the sea]

Right

[beyond the sea]

1. The Andy Griffith Show 2. The Andy Griffith Show 3. The Andy Griffith Show 4. The Andy Griffith Show 5. The Andy Griffith Show ........................

I agree

I always had a warm place to sleep.

Otis

[beyond the sea]

You forgot "Nightline".

[Fiddlstix]

Talking to yourself now? We get it - you're better and smarter than all of us combined, and quite full of yourself too. We're all impressed. Now, go newsgather or something.

Berlin_Freeper

Since Jan 27, 2005

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Heck Larry.......
Just another N00B who knows more about FR than JimRob himself.......
Been sent here to set us all straight........
LOL

[IndyTiger]

The Andy Griffith Show old reruns still crack me up more than any other. Just the B & W shows before Don Knotts left, though. Not the shows after they went to color.

[beyond the sea]

So do I!

[beyond the sea]

I saw almost every episode multiple times ... where was the libbie bend to it?

"libbie bend" -- everyone of the characters was self-absorbed.

Liberal enough?

;-)

[Flux Capacitor]

----The Greatest TV Sitcoms of All Time----

The Howard Dean Show (2003 -- present)

[Larry Lucido]

Yeah, but what do I know? If it didn't happen on Lucy, I never saw it. :-)

[beyond the sea]

Have you ever notice how Seinfeld was just Lucy rearranged?

LOL.

Explanation please. Who was the 'Lucy Soup Nazi'?

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

WKRP In Cincinatti (GOAT?)
King of the Hill (yes it's animated, but still a great sitcom)
Get a Life (Chris Elliott slays me, and you got Bob Elliott in the bargain)
The Garry Shandling Show (not the Larry Sanders (?) thing)
Newcomer with a lot of potential: My Name Is Earl

[Larry Lucido]

Ping to #93 for when y'all get up.

[Larry Lucido]

Get a life and Gary Shandling were great. Bakersfield PD was snatched off too soon, also.

[beyond the sea]

The only thing TV is really good for is sports.

........ and Mathew Lesko (Free Government Money)

[Will_Zurmacht]

i have to go with Seinfeld too, but I think it's a generational thing though.
It's the only one of those mentioned that i can watch repeatedly.
my take on their list
from a late Gen Xer

1. I Love Lucy (the template for all sitcoms)
unbearable....i'd rather pluck my eyes out.

2. The Honeymooners
have no idea, but people always mention the honeymooners.

3. Seinfeld
know it and still enjoy it.

4. Barney Miller
Again, no clue. I think its from the 70s.

5. M.A.S.H.
It was on in reruns when I was a kid. Didn't like it then.

6. Cheers
gee, wonder who Sam will hit on, then we'll hear the intellectual waitress pontificate, then we watch the two drunks...good times.
I think they wrote one episode, then re-did it for 7 years.

7. Taxi
no idea.

8. The Andy Griffith Show
i think it is in B & W. On at 5 a.m.

9. Hogan's Heroes
no idea.

10. Gilligan's Island
watched it after school as a kid. Always had problems with the logic on the show, even when I was 7 yrs. old. "If they can invent a radio out of coconuts, why cant they fix their friggin' boat?"


maybe i don't watch enough tv.
hope i'll survive.

[Flux Capacitor]

Not strictly a "sitcom", but The Jack Benny Program was one of the all-time funniest, smartest, warmest, and just plain best comedy series ever televised. Jack was a true genius. God bless him.

-Dan

[skr]

Absolutely!

[beyond the sea]

There are places where they mock whackos, true...as when the "holistic healer" turns George purple, but the underlying worldview is immoral.

You're right, but never has the " underlying worldview being immoral" been so damn funny.

;-)

[beyond the sea]

Kramer was the ultimate entrepreneur. He wrote a coffee table book about.... coffee tables (the book even had fold out legs), he invented a new cologne, 'The Beach', which was so good it was stolen by Calvin Klein, and he was involved in numerous money-making ventures with Newman. Never worked? Au contrare....

Remember the 'collected bottle caper' in the Post Office truck?

;-)