Best sitcom ever?

Silly foreigners just don’t seem to appreciate the genius of “Father Ted”.

Other-The Dick Van Dyke Show

Maybe you’re just talking to the wrong foreigners!

Hey, I love bringing cookies to things and telling people, “They’ve got cocaine in them! Oh, not cocaine, what am I on about? I meant, whaddaya call 'em, raisins, they’ve got raisins in them.”

Of course, I spend most of my time watching Father Ted thinking unpriestly things about Ardal O’Hanlon. Talk about your (fictional) father whatawastes.

Blackadder. Specifically, Blackadder Goes Forth. British sitcom set in the trenches of World War 1 - frequently hilarious, but deeply, deeply black humor. And the series finale was probably the best of any sitcom I’ve seen.

Other: WKRP in Cincinnati.

HMYM is best when episodes are watched back-to-back. But the writing and the story plots are pretty brilliant.

I’d vote Seinfeld. It’s still funny and the language and jokes had a large impact on American pop culture.

Nonononononono yes,

I am an American, but I have yet to find an American show that I can re-watch as often as I watch:

  1. Fawlty Towers
  2. The Vicar of Dibley

For American Shows, I guess the best I would choose from those mentioned would be:

  1. Cheers
  2. Seinfeld
  3. Nightcourt

No offense to the OP, but this poll was flawed from the start. I know you can’t include every sitcom ever made, but leaving off Newhart, WKRP, Frasier, and Cheers alone, not to mention many other worthy contenders, was a bit lax. Again though, it’s just a fun poll. No big deal. I might have removed “ever” from the thread title.

I didn’t consider the BBC shows, but Fawlty Towers is up near the top. However, it was really just the John Cleese show, lacking any of the more interesting aspects of the sitcom. The other characters were superfluous, and there was no important continuity of serial aspect of the show.

Outstanding show, the very best over the top comic performance in a sitcom by John Cleese, but not the very best sitcom ever.

ETA: Also, kudos for the mention of Good Neighbors by someone above. I was tempted to turn my yard into a farm myself just to annoy my neighbors.

Scrubs.

Seinfeld

There are many I love more but none other that so completely met the criteria for greatest anything ever.

Seinfeld
Cheers
Frasier
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development
Just Shoot Me
WKRP in Cincinnati
Taxi
Night Court
NewsRadio
Fawlty Towers

***Seinfeld
Cheers
Barney Miller


*WKRP in Cincinnati *would be my nomination.

“With God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” remains the funniest line ever.

  1. Dick van Dyke Show
  2. Andy Griffith Show (b&w only)
  3. Simpsons (in third more because it’s not a clean fit into ‘sitcom’ than because it is lower quality)

Community, or Scrubs.

I voted “Other” – “Seinfeld”, in my opinion, was the best sitcom ever.

No way, the 70s includes both “All in the Family” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, which are two of the best sitcoms of all time.

For once, my choice, MASH, is actually included in the poll. Barney Miller would be a close second.