The Greatest Sitcoms of All Time

The Good Life

Ever Decreasing Circles

I still like the idea that if you drop a cassette recorder that everyone would immediately take notice and be aghast instead of being too drunk/stoned/entranced with Michael Mcdonald to care or even notice in the first place.

Favorite sitcom? I watched far too much television in the 80's, it's too tough a call. Perhaps ILE fave We Got It Maid? No. I suspect it would be something with a very high quotient of Very Special episodes.

EDC is in theory an amazing sitcom but I can't shake the feeling that it is poor.

Terry And June is brilliant in the memory for every episode being the same - my boss is coming to tea and I have hit a golf ball onto a lorry bound for France.

Hi-De-Hi is underrated.

Dad's Army is rated almost exactly right.

Only Fools And Horses was actually good until they got love lives.

Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?

but the best of all has to be Fawlty Towers

Hi-Di-Hi! was rubbish, Tom. Don't give me that critical reappraisal shit.

Whenever I watch Cheers these days, it doesn't seem as good as it once did. Am I wrong?

Then there's the episode where Rerun joins a Southern California cult that worships a head of lettuce (named Ralph). And Mama (Mabel King, who was quite a hefty woman) busts up the scam by posing as Mother Nature. Funny shit.

Today's bit of useless information: apparently, Rerun was one of the first break dancers.

I've never got into Seinfeld, am I missing out?

Nick: the only really bad thing about Hi De Hi is Su Pollard (who is admittedly REALLY BAD).

THE SIMPSONS.

I don't really consider the Simpsons to be a sitcom, it's a genre all it's own.

The number of people I've known who've said "Nah, I've never really got into Seinfeld" and then have ended up totally obsessed suggests to me that not liking Seinfeld is just a schoolboy error. You gotta get past the slap bass and bad shirts!

:-)

The Odd Couple, Seinfeld, The Young Ones, Get a Life.

Best, in my eyes: early Drew Carey Show, News Radio, Seinfeld, Friends, Spin City (pre-Sheen), pre-canned-laugh M*A*S*H and ... umm ... the Dick Van Dyke Show?

My sitcoms: Bewitched, M*A*S*H, Father Ted (which was very nearly perfect) but mostly I am irritated by them. In Japan, Bewitched is called Endora because they don't show ones without Agnes Moorhead in.

Seinfeld is OK, except for THE DEVIL'S BASS that does a stupid jazzy thing whenever the scene changes. Also, I think I am the only person I know who cannot stand the Royle Family.

The Good Life is fun in parts though class / culture conflict v. dated, but Ever Decreasing Circles is GRATE: I suppose what really does it for me is the absurdism, the ridiculous, endlessly- intensifying panic which everyone *just about* manages to hold back. Particularly great Briers lines: "Who would stick a skip outside your house?" and "But she shot someone's *cat* once!" (they don't sound that special written down but it's all in the delivery). Richard Briers was, incidentally, the only person hoaxed by Brass Eye that I liked enough to think "Why did Chris have to do that to him?"

OFAH is on the whole brilliant: yuppie-era episodes v. overrated though. The faster, more down-to-earth earlier 30-minute ones may have been the best: 1985 and 1986 series particularly ace.

Perrin and Fawlty Towers probably the best British comedies of the 70s but whether either counts as sitcom is a moot point (Perrin more ongoing series, FT more of a farce). Both, viewed today, turn the trick of being very very funny *and* revealing a lot about the British psyche of the time (interesting thing about FT is that it has dated more than its "timeless" reputation suggests: attitude of and towards US tourists, uncomplaining public, Basil recoiling in horror at black doctor, references to "Finnish floozy" etc.).

This decade: love The League Of Gentlemen though it has lost some of the humour as it concentrates more and more on grotesques. Phoenix Nights would have been better if it had depended less on caricature Northern-ness: Peter Kay's humour is, to me, overtly "do you get the reference? eh? eh?" which is NOT FUCKING FUNNY in itself. You need something more.

Terry and June seems so much longer ago than it is ...

2) Dad's Army

3) Taxi

Much as it pains me to disagree with Dastoor about anything, Seinfeld is abysmal, and I will never change my mind about this.

talking about comedy in general, i notice that people like us has been on recently for another series (although this might have finished about 2 months ago: source 'prizd' enlgish magazine that someone bought over with them.... so, what do people think of people like us? i think it is fucking funny but no one ever talks about it, it never gets any hype etc.

i mean, its not groundbreaking or anything, but just well funny in a modest way,. some of this stiving to be freshhhhhhhh like chriss morris an the rest can be a bit dull after a while....

Stevie T beat me to the punch with Bilko. I was once *milliseconds* away from asking Peter Gabriel about that tribute record of his.

EDC, naturally. But I also have fond memories of sit-coms which *could've* been great, but failed to sustain the material beyond the first series (As Time Goes By - I'm not kidding), the first show (Comrade Dad with George Cole) or even the pilot (The Clairvoyant with Roy Kinnear). The last two in particular got dire super-quick.

Filthy, Rich and Catflap all-time #1, natch.

Best sitcom of all time: Only Fools And Horses. Sustained humour for a fuck of a long time. They made it for 13 years or something and even the last episode (two parts, I think) was still funny. David Jason hasn't been convincing in anything since because he sold himself so well as Del.

Ruled out on the basis of not making enough of them: Fawlty Towers. Yeah, it's fucking great, but a lot of sitcoms have been fucking great for one series. I think they made about 12 or 13 of them. Let's not forget that Friends was actually pretty good for a while. See also: I'm Alan Partridge - not a single duff episode but only six made so not such a massive achievement.

Ditto but higher in the list: Father Ted. Probably one of the best situations in a sitcom and great characterisation, even if a couple of them (Jack, Mrs Doyle) proved a little thin after a while.

"Moment of shit" — as counter-defined by Seinfeld: "No hugs, no learning"... — is a TECHNICAL STRUCTURAL TERM in Hollywood!! I wuv Hollywood!!

There is too such a thing as new wave.

Nobody's mentioned WKRP in Cincinnati. Don't want to start controversy, but I'd take WKRP over Taxi, even.

The Simpsons is good, but I get a bit tired of the million-jokes style....where they throw in just really REACHING FOR IT gags in the hope that some will stick. It cheapens the really brill moments a bit. But Homer is GOD. And Marge's voice is pleasant...

Young Ones has made it to the US, was even on MTV for a while before they started doing.....um, *things* like The Real World. I especially liked The Comic Strip Presents. Very odd show, and was only on for a short while...I'd love to see some that never made it on over here.

A while back I read about a short-lived show on Brit TV called (I think) Southbridges. Was supposed to be a surreal Waiting-For-Godot gone nuts show about some nightwatchmen at a store. Anybody seen that?

Re: What's Happening-- Not to mention Rerun's tape recorder was this big old clunky MONO tape recorder...which are just great for recording concerts...

Also agree with Tom abt 'Hi-Di-Hi' - suprised Robin isn't a fan, as Perry/Croft always v. good on class dynamics (WIlson and Mainwaring in 'Dad's Army' prime example). Simon Cadell

And I'm w/Steve T on 'Seinfeld' - utterly abnoxious. Even 'Friends' is better.

Everything Croft did with Jeremy Lloyd horrendously dud to me.

Hancock and Steptoe, yes, both GRATE. Very nearly mentioned both, Andrew ...

Stevie is right about the abysmal and overrated Seinfeld, of course.

Best new sit-com: MerseyBeat.

Apologies for any confusion caused by that mistake.

"Demon King to Base! Demon King to Base!" hahaaaa oh that Frank!

Um.... but CLEARLY people, best American sitcom ever had to be Joanie Loves Chachi.

Incidentally, best line ever from Family Ties was from the Geena Davis as inept maid episode where Michael Gross and MJ Fox duck some projectile toast and then 'Steven' picks it up and all intense and serious like says to 'Alex', "If this had been a Pop Tart,...... we'd be dead now."

Ahahaahhaaaaa!

Of course Stevie T would probably say that was How Do You Want Me? so I'll put in a word for that as well. The word is 'beautiful'.

"You can quit smoking. I'll quit drinking coffee with you, to help." "Oh, like that's the same." "It's an addiction!" "It's not the same, I mean...How much do you drink a day?" "About 4, 5 pots." "Now that's just sick."

Favorite all time line: re: the Patch: "Oh, I just put them around my waist, like a belt." "You aren't supposed to wear all of them!"

We decided a long while back that it was exactly like my workplace. Dave is Joe, I unfortunately am Beth, Bill MacNeil is some sort of evil conglomerate of Neil and Dean. Ed is Jimmy James. It's so great.

Pinefox, you've wound me up with your 'Stevie is right about the abysmal and overrated Seinfeld, of course' comment in a way that only your 'Public Enemy are revolting' one previously has.

And, of course, it goes without saying that when I say "NewsRadio", I mean "NewsRadio pre-Jon Lovitz". The NRs with Katherine (Bill McNeil's radio partner) were THE BEST. But it's all good, really.

Written by Roy "Summer Wine" Clarke, I recall the pilot being reasonably subtle (possibly no laugh track), making great use of Kinnear's gifts (please see my pamphlet: "The Gifts of Roy Kinnear, Such As They Are", Methuen, 1981) and the subsequent series as being embarrassingly lame (right down there with that Neighbourhood Watch one with Barraclough from Porridge).

I reckon this sticks in the mind so sharply because I watched it with my Dad, who spent much of the late 70s and early 80s being serially disappointed by Roy Kinnear, one of his comedy heroes.

Sitcoms that started out great but became tiresome shit: Red Dwarf, Will and Grace, Just Shoot Me, The Facts Of Life, and Frasier.

Yeah, go ahead and tell ANOTHER fat joke. Oh, look, his stomach's talking again. Bwah ha ha.

The parodies were the best thing on that show. "Mmmmm...fishsticks!"

Cripes, this is almost ringing a bell. But was it really *1981*??

>>> Kinnear's gifts (please see my pamphlet: "The Gifts of Roy Kinnear, Such As They Are", Methuen, 1981)

I can't stand that pamphlet. You only put it out as a spoiler for my own short book, Roy Kinnear: Laughter and Tears, which was published by Croom Helm in February 1982. And I had an important chapter on Watership Down, which your pamphlet doesn't even mention, as I recall.

>>> that Neighbourhood Watch one with Barraclough from Porridge.

Predecessor of the hilarious MerseyBeat?

>>> I reckon this sticks in the mind so sharply because I watched it with my Dad, who spent much of the late 70s and early 80s being serially disappointed by Roy Kinnear, one of his comedy heroes.

I was disappointed by his death, too, falling off a horse while making Return of the Musketeers. So sad. I mean it!

As far as Will & Grace is concerned; I really liked the first season. It's all about the supporting characters, anyway; Will and Grace themselves are not very interesting.

I specifically *avoided* Watership Down in my piece, because of the whole Art Garfunkel business - AS YOU WELL KNOW.

Hanle y: eh?

Here's another: A Very Peculiar Practice.

For instance - Newsradio & the Comedic Art. Oh, my. An IN-DEPTH analysis of what made _NewsRadio_ great. Also included - "Bitchcakes"!

(the above is v. paraphrased)

(re: bitchcakes, i knew that was a newsradio reference from the first time i ever saw it, i just didn't KNOW i knew it)

I absolutley hate friends, that show gets on my nerves. The only reason they pay the actors so much is not because it's a good show it's because NBC has nothing else. They must stop calling it Must see tv. I also don't understand why so many people like three's company John Ritter is about as funny as billy crystal. (Bill crystal is the most unfunniest person alive, I hated him on SNL.)

During my recent visit to the land of non-stop sit-coms I enjoyed 'Dinner Ladies', 'The Good Life' and a weird documentary about a poison pen campaign in a small village. I watched it because nowadays they tip you off about bad language before the programme starts. 'Joanne Something has a big cunt' - how often do you hear poetry like that on television?

I think the best one ever is 'Steptoe and Son'.

Top British and US sitcoms

1 The Phil Silvers Show (US)
2 Seinfeld (US)
3 Fawlty Towers (UK)
4 Porridge (UK)
5 Yes, Minister (UK)
6 Frasier ( US)
7 M*A*S*H (US)
8 Till Death Us Do Part (UK)
9 Hancock's Half-Hour/ Hancock (UK)
10 Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (UK)
11 The Larry Sanders Show (US)
12 The Mary Tyler Moore Show (US)
13 The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (UK)
14 The Good Life (UK)
15 Steptoe and Son (UK)
16 Only Fools and Horses (UK)
17 Cheers (UK)
18 The Dick Van Dyke Show (US)
19 Dad's Army (UK)
20 The Simpsons (US)

Worst British Sitcoms
1 Sir Yellow (Yorkshire)
2 Up the Elephant and Round the Castle (Thames)
3 Trouble In Mind (LWT)
4 Take a Letter, Mr Jones (Southerni)
5 My Husband and I (1987-88) (Yorkshire)
6 Constant Hot Water (Central)
7 High and Dry (Yorkshire)
8 Come Back Mrs Noah (BBC)
9 Tripper's Day/Slinger's Day (Thames)
10 High Street Blues (LWT)
11 Room Service (Thames)
12 Romany Jones (LWT)
13 Rule Britannia (Thames)
14 Selwyn (Yorkshire)
15 Don't Drink the Water (LWT)
16 Odd Man Out (Thames)
17 In for a Penny ( LWT)
18 Plaza Patrol (Yorkshire)
19 Yus My Dear (LWT)
20 Bottle Boys (LWT)

I know nothing about any of the top 20 worst ones except for 'Up the Elephant and Round the Castle'. 'Take A Letter Mr Jones' sounds hilariously predictable though.

i love sitcoms

It was, too: male secretary slogs/acts as minder for female boss. Ooh, the hilarity.

Still watched it though, as it had Mr. Humphries from Are You Being Served?

The greatest sitcoms, IMHO:

Fawlty Towers
Dick Van Dyke show
Coupling
Father Ted
Odd Couple
Cosby Show
Cheers
Frasier (for the first 6 seasons, anyhoo)
All In The Family
Waiting for God

For once and for all: can someone tell me the difference between Coupling and Two Pints of Lager? Which one has Ralf Little in? Is that the one with the guy who used to be in Hollyoaks?

"Two Pints of Lager...."

Ta-daaaaaaa.

I was referring to the UK edition - very depressing and claustrophobic, IN A GOOD WAY. wouldn't mind seeing the US version, not least because it lasted a season longer. I thought they were releasing Dear John on DVD around the same time the Citizen Smith box 'dropped', but i haven't seen it anywhere... Still love the episode with ralph the mobile DJ.

surprised Red Dwarf doesn't get more love

I loved the first season; from then on it kind of gets lost in this desire to e a catch-phrase-heavy comedy for the Star Trek loving Colin Hunts of the world...

Sad to see no mention in either best or worst of Milligan's "Curry & Chips"...

But did it work? It was worryingly sentimental.

On the other hand, it was incredibly refreshing to get away from the comedy of embarrassment with which Gervais and others have dominated the screens in the last few years.

Caroline Aherne should write more telly.

I saw most of the first series years ago, and got bored with it after that. This episode seemed to have upped the stakes a bit in terms its ambitions as a comedy.

I enjoyed it tremendously, so I feel a bit mean criticising, it but you could feel the heartstrings being pulled on a bit too much.

All In The Family
Seinfeld
Cheers (before Rebecca was a complete loser and the show started jumping sharks with celebrities, etc.)
Frazier
Mary Tyler Moore
Taxi
Soap
Cosby Show
Stark Raving Mad
MASH (before Alan Alda took things too seriously)
WKRP In Cincinnati -absolute best approach to a serious episode of all time had to be the one with The Who concert when people were trampled to death due to festival seating. It paid proper respects but still managed to be a funny sitcom. Additionally I think I'd have to say that Johnny Fever is my favourite television character of all time, followed pretty closely by Venus Flytrap. Two characters who really managed to be "cool" without being tough guys. Too many classic moments with Johnny and drugs too!

Generally, however, it tried too hard, and yet not hard enough.

Was watching an early ep of "Yes Minister" when a thought popped up:

Have there been any good/great American sitcoms that deal with hierarchy? You have English shows like YM or Blackadder that are all about it, but the only American one I can think of is maybe 30 Rock. Does Gomer Pyle USMC count?

And YM and 30 Rock have a similar thing with their characters going on, only the relative power levels are swapped.

Ken Berry was a very talented, musical performer who showed his best stuff on Carol Burnett. But for my generation, he'll always be known for this (and no, you couldn't do this opening today). RIP. https://t.co/QLc03uzdHg

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) December 2, 2018

btw I'm assuming Perrin is talking about irreverence toward the military -- no longer permitted on SNL -- not "Where paleface and r*dskin both turn chicken"

Oh, thanks for clearing that up. I was concerned I might agree with him for once.

keep on flakin' and supporting the cavalry