In no particular order and impossible for me to pick just one, along with:
The Dick van Dyke Show
Green Acres
Cheers
Frasier
Seinfeld
and
Arrested Development
I’d add Northern Exposure
Jeebus! How could I forget 30 Rock?!?!
Easily All in the Family. The only one that comes close is The Honeymooners. The rest were standing on the shoulders of giants.
Other: Seinfeld
Fraiser.
Three-way tie between* Scrubs, Fraiser *and NewsRadio.
Another vote foe Cheers.
Where are you from? No Seinfeld? Anyway. . . Seinfeld.
The Dick Van Dyke Show isn’t even listed in your poll? For shame!
I know others have mentioned it, but it’s one of the top five, easily. The writing was surprisingly informed and mature, and even today it holds up.
How are neither of my top 2 on that list?
- Arrested Development
- Seinfeld
- Not sure, but it’s not even close whatever it is.
ETA: I do not consider The Wonder Years to be a sitcom, but I did enjoy the show.
Other: Fawlty Towers
Seinfeld.
Honorable mentions to The Simpsons, Dick Van Dyke, and Green Acres.
Not only is it Fawlty Towers, but by a mile. To assess all the others:
[ul]
[li]I Love Lucy - a 2 tops (Sorry, it was the first but far from the best, pretty stupid mostly) [/li][li]All in the Family - 4 (Groundbreaking & innovative, but hopelessly dated, watch it some time)[/li][li]**Simpsons **- 7 (For the first ten seasons it’s the best on the list!)[/li][li]South Park - also a 7 (Not only funny, but equally smart, whitty & sarcastically honest)[/li][li]Mary Tyler Moore - 6 (Solid through-out its run, smart enough to quit rather than drag on & get cancelled, savvy & well written, never got preachy, but never overtly hilarious enough)[/li][li]**Honeymooners **- another 7 (The classic 39 anyway, the first truly modern sitcom, and the only thing from 50s (and 60s) TV that was ever (& often) truly hilarious)[/li][li]MAS*H - 3 (Without a doubt the most over-rated show not only here but in TV history. First few seasons goofy fun, then a little preachy, then The Alan Alda Liberal Soapbox Show, when Houlihan’s hair turned silver - utterly unwatchable!)[/li][li]Everybody Loves Raymond - another 6 (Never watched it much, a little too boilerplate sitcom for me, but pretty funny & solid through-out)[/li][li]Wonder Years - N/A (Doesn’t belong on this list, was not a sitcom, was a half-hour dramedy) [/ul][/li]
But Fawlty Towers - a perfect 10
- Seinfeld
- The Andy Griffith Show
- Cheers
Three-way tie for first.
Fawlty Towers
For me it’s either Seinfeld or My Mother the Car.
Yes, (Prime) Minister by a country mile.
From the US: It’s a three-way tie between The Simpsons, Cheers and *Frasier *.
From the UK/Ireland: Father Ted. This is the only show I’ve ever done myself an injury laughing at.
1- Andy Griffith
2- All In The Family
3- Green Acres
4- The Honeymooners
5- Mary Tyler Moore
6- Beverly Hillbillies
7- Happy Days
8- Are You Being Served?
9- The Odd Couple
10- Big Bang Theory
This. Fawlty Towers achieved perfection of the sitcom form. And Arrested Development was too brilliant to last.