Posted on 08/31/2025 8:52:20 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Sitcoms are the comfort food of entertainment, the things we turn to when we need a boost or a smile. Unlike other genres of the best TV shows—like, say, crime shows, which we need to be in the mood to watch—we are always ready for a few laughs. Naming the best sitcoms of all time invites a lot of debate, but there’s no doubt that classic TV shows like I Love Lucy, which premiered in 1951, helped pioneer the format in which familiar characters find themselves in situations, whether realistic or ridiculous, that become fodder for laughs, usually within a tight, 22-minute episode.
(Excerpt) Read more at rd.com ...
I remember Readers Digest in every house in the 70's, like phone booths on the corner, and phone books.
Oh well my favorite 3, "I Love Lucy", "Laverne and Shirley", and "The Brady Bunch", honorable mention to "Threes Company"'.
Flame away
The Reader’s Digest is a left wing rag. Designing Women? Will and Grace? Shove it up your kazoo, Reader’s Digest.
My Three Sons
Seinfeld, Cheers...
Sanford and Son, The Honeymooners, All in the family.
No flames here! All fun shows. Mine would be:
1. Gilligan’s Island
2. Sanford & Son
3. Barney Miller
H.M. Home Improvement
H.M. From Across The Pond: Are You Being Served?
My favourites include Taxi, Barney Miller, and Sanford and Son and from the UK would be Are You Being Served and Last of the Summer Wine.
I never heard of at least 1/3d of the shows and probably watched less than half of those I was aware of.
Never liked frazier- All in family was funny- sanford and son was ok- good times = meh, the jeffersons = meh, wkrp in cincinatti was ok- barney miller = ok, mel’s place was ok- too many ok shows to mention- Tim allen’s show was pretty funny- bob newhart, tim conway, candid camera, lots of really funny stuff back then
The Readers Digest list is missing Andy Griffith Show, but it includes “Black-ish” and shows I have never heard of.
The only show before 1971 is I Love Lucy, and I can’t tell if it is supposed to be #1 or #34, or maybe they are not ranked.
This seems more like a list with absurdly wrong info intended to provoke comments.
I don’t have much interest in sit-coms now; but I’ve always liked ‘Due South’, ‘Northern Exposure’ and ‘M.A.S.H.’
I guess they’re not strictly sit-coms...
Frazier, Raymond and King of Queens would be my top three. There are older ones that fit on a list, but most are just trash. I am told Seinfeld is funny, but I can’t stand looking at his mug. Then of course, he swiped the underage girlfriend of a man who came to the set to watch a performance. You are rich and famous, find your own bed partner, from unattached ladies. I have a hatred for schemers and scammers. He is both.
Also honourable mentions to Happy Days (first two seasons only) and Alice (the Polly Holliday era).
Terrible list. It’s missing Always Sunny and older South Park (it did jump the shark but so did most of these shows).
And did it have Sanford? If not this is an atrocious list. I just watch them all a couple months ago. It’s actually very relevant still today.
Everybody loves Raymond probably one of the funniest-
I believe it began as an anti-Communist organ; I remember all the accusations that it was used by the CIA to influence public opinion...
However… the series went downhill after Steve Carell (as Michael Scott) left. I bought the entire Steve Carell series, seasons 1-7. Not interested in the rest.
I’ve never seen about half of the shows on this list. How could they leave out The Dick Van Dyke Show?
I Love Lucy, Bewitched and The Dick Van Dyke Show.
“This seems more like a list with absurdly wrong info intended to provoke comments.”
Ad Revenue. Every one has a link.
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