Great TV Sitcoms

For all my talk about how awful the genre of situational comedy is, I’ve sure seen a lot of sitcoms. And even though I’ve been known to say “sitcoms suck,” and even though that is true 99% of the time, I came up with a rather long list of good and great sitcoms. And of course I haven’t seen them all, so maybe there are some more good ones lurking on DVD somewhere, waiting for me to snatch them up. So let me know if there are good ones I haven’t listed. (*=exceptional)

Great Sitcoms

Arrested Development*: You’ve heard me hype it already. Now just watch it already. It did take me three or four episodes to get into it, but then I realized it is clearly the best sitcom ever made. The actors are all perfect, the plotting is tight, unpredictable, and genius, and, I guess most importantly, the jokes are funny. Genius. No other word for it.

Blackadder (particularly seasons II and III): For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Blackadder is a sitcom starring Mr. Bean, except it’s funny. Each season follows the small cast in a different period of British history, and awesome linguistic feats are performed. A smart sitcom if there ever was one. But fart jokes too.

Family Guy: Family Guy may not be “great,” in that it is rarely deep social commentary, and in that its plots are sometimes patched together out of nothing, but it has probably the most laughs per minute than any other show I’ve ever seen. The new seasons are, as a whole, not as well-crafted (if you can call it that) than the original three, but there have been high points in the new season, too.

The Larry Sanders Show: Like Arrested Development, one of those shows that won a ridiculous number of awards but no one watched it. Hey, I didn’t watch it either until I got cable and they reran them. This behind-the-scenes sitcom is the best of the subgenre. The characters are all filthy-mouthed assholes, and it’s hilarious and social commentating.

Old Simpsons: Everyone always talks about how the Simpsons used to be good, but few people remember how good it actually was. I was lucky enough last year to catch a few really old episodes (1^st-3^rd or 4^th season) on TV, which is odd because they don’t seem to repeat the old ones as often as the new ones, and I was surprised not only by how funny it was, but how real and emotional it was. These were real people in funny situations, and some episodes hit on a gut level, much like the best episodes of Futurama. That’s lost now.

Good sitcoms

Action: This show NO ONE watched, because it was on TV for, like, half a season. It starred Jay Mohr as an asshole movie producer and was funny. Kinda like Entourage but far less soap-opera-y. It was one of the only shows ever my whole family watched together, and then they killed it. Whatever, TV. Whatever.

The Business: I just started watching this show, but it’s been pretty funny so far. It’s on IFC Fridays at 11:30 and is about a porn producer who decides to become a real producer, so he converts to Judaism and tries to make a real movie. I’m especially fond of his main backer, his Japanese ex-brother-in-law who is a crazy millionaire. Try it, why not?

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Basically, see Seinfeld. Some episodes are annoying, but when it’s good it’s good. And better than Seinfeld, because no laugh track and more dirty words.

Father Ted: This British sitcom involves three priests who live together on this slightly-populated island off of Ireland. It’s sometimes predictable, and not as funny as some other shows, but it’s well-crafted and cute. It’s a good example of the “three main characters” sitcom genre you see more in British comedies than American ones.

Futurama: Less funny than Family Guy and The Simpsons, I’ll grant you, but it has much more interesting plots, characters, and emotions. And it is funny, of course. Just not the same laughs per minute, understand.

The Golden Girls: I watch The Golden Girls all the time on Lifetime, ha ha. Here’s my usual Golden Girls spiel: it’s written by robots or a supercomputer. I swear. They have, like, four plots, and then they chug the four characters and see what jokes come out. And it’s funny. Watch, even I can do it:

Dorothy: What are we gonna do? One of us is going to move out of the house/my ex-husband Stan’s back in town/one of our random friends or family members who we’ll never see again is involved in some sort of current events issue/two of us are going after the same man or award!

Sophia: You’re gonna get that mustache waxed, that’s what you’re gonna do!

Dorothy: Ma!

Sophia: You know I’m kidding, pussycat. This reminds me of a story of the old country. Picture it: Sicily, 1923. A beautiful young girl with breasts out to here decides to go to America to start a new life, but her friends try to dissuade her, worrying that the boat will sink on the way to the New World.

Dorothy: Yes, Ma, I get it. The girl was you, and the moral of the story is not to worry and things will work out.

Sophia: No, it means get a boob job. It’ll get you everywhere.

Blanche: I’ll say!

Dorothy: Blanche, we all know you’ve been everywhere with everyone.

Blanche: Well I never!

Sophia: Since when do you say never to anything?

Rose: You know, this reminds me of the time back in St. Olaf when Gustav Gunderflurvisson fell in love with a dairy cow…

Greg the Bunny: Puppets are funny. It is probably one of the golden rules of comedy. Well, I don’t think Avenue Q is that funny… Yeah. I said that. Deal. But Greg the Bunny is quite funny, with a retarded turtle named Tardy (“AAH! It’s a…a turtle!”), Count Blah, who punctuates every sentence with the word “blah” (blah), and an elitist monkey who quotes Shakespeare. Another great show canceled too soon. Too soon.

Home Movies: One of my three in the morning Adult Swim cartoons from back in the day. It (gasp!) had a real plot, unlike most of the new Adult Swim stuff, and it had heart (also unlike most of the new Adult Swim stuff). This improv-ed show involves a bunch of kids who film movies together. That’s it. Okay: comedy.

M*A*S*H: Yeah, it might have gotten preachy, but that didn’t bother me as much as it bothered you. The show is funny, although usually not hilarious, and clever, with good characters, some of whom actually get character development! Amazing! But that doesn’t happen in the wacky first three seasons. M*A*S*H was not only one of the best and deepest sitcoms; it was also one of the most innovative. Anyone who thinks Scrubs is clever should realize that most of their tricks M*A*S*H did first.

The Nanny: I know you think this ruins my credibility, but I’ve seen every episode of The Nanny about a million times and I still laugh. No, I don’t laugh at every joke, and some are groaners, but damn it! It’s funny. Maybe it’s the Long Island Jew in me…

Seinfeld: I go back and forth on Seinfeld. When I first saw it as a child, I thought it was very annoying. Then as the seasons went on I started to love it. Now when I watch the reruns I have a similar feeling. Some episodes are just not funny and highly predictable. I can’t bear to watch them play out. But then there are those episodes that I can’t help but laugh at, even when I mutter to myself, “Seinfeld is overrated!” Like that episode with the alternate universe characters (“Sorry…we already have a George”). Heh. Great.

South Park, once: For three or so years, South Park was the funniest show on TV. It was around 2000, when Cartman made Scott Tenorman eat his parents, or when they built a ladder to heaven, or when Butters had an episode of his own, or when Towelie and Lemmiwinks were new and hilarious. Then the show got too preachy, too conservative, too repetitive, too not funny. Why? Whyyyy????

Sitcoms that May Be Great, but I’ll Have to Check

Dinosaurs: I remember Dinosaurs being really good, but the last time I saw it I was ten and had less discriminating tastes.

My Name is Earl: I have seen one episode of this show, and it was promising. My parents are obsessed. My dad claims it is “better than Arrested Development,” but I think he does not give AD the credit it’s due. It’s on my queue, so we’ll see.

Sports Night: I remember liking it, and my good friend Allison Fisher swears by it, but it’s been many, many years. It’s on the queue.