My picks, in no order:
What We Do in the Shadows
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Community
30 Rock
Brooklyn 99
Ghosts (both)
My Name is Earl
Arrested Development
Veep
I’ve never heard of Fisk, I’ll have to check it out!
Just speaking for myself, I think the first two or three seasons would be a contender. After that, not so much. If we can specify partial runs, then maybe. Same with Community. Again, in my opinion.
I think we should… but this might be the only candidate.
I’ve listened to it all the way through more than any televised comedy.
Peep Show, by some distance.
I also love Bojack Horseman, which another poster has mentioned, but I can’t call that a sitcom. It’s more of a drama with some (usually dark) comedy in it.
Just thought of another, but again I’m not sure it’s strictly a sitcom: Detectorists
I forgot about that one, (strictly UK version only though)
My favs:
The Office
Modern Family
Curb Your Enthusiasm
It’s Always Sunny
30 Rock
Brooklyn 99
Arrested Development (first three seasons)
Veep (first four seasons)
Bojack Horseman
Ted Lasso
One of my absolute favourites of all time: Delocated (by Jon Glaser). Season 2 is probably my favourite season of any TV show ever.
It goes deeper and darker and gets more thoughtful than most sitcoms, to be sure. But I would insist that when you have a character made up of three kids staked up in a trench coat calling themselves Vincent Adultman and another character building his own version of Disneyland and getting away with using the name because, as it happens, Disney misspelled the name when they trademarked it, you have your sitcom credentials in good order along with anything else you might be doing with the show.
One fun aspect of Parks and Recreation was the contrast between Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope and Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson. Political parties were never specified but Leslie Knope seemed to be a classic Democrat in her belief in government serving the people, while Ron Swanson was clearly a classic libertarian who wanted as little government interference as possible. Clearly opposites but they respected and liked each other. (It helped that she was such an overachiever that he was able to run his department with fewer people than he would have without her there.)
Edited to add, perhaps the most fantastical element is that people on opposite sides of the political spectrum could be friends or respect each other.
Some of these are really stretching the definition of the word sitcom. I wouldn’t consider Ted Lasso to be a sitcom. If you are counting that I would put the superior Shrinking on the list.
I thought I was going to be the first to mention Kimmy Schmidt but someone beat me to it.
Yeah. A sitcom needs to clock in around 30 minutes…like The Bear.
My top 3 are
Ghosts
Corner Gas (I don’t think it’s mentioned yet)
The Good Place
A couple I like that haven’t been mentioned…
Angie Tribeca and Sarah Silverman (especially if I could remove the male stars)
I assume you’re talking about Jay Johnston from The Sarah Silverman Program, but did something happen with someone from Angie Tribeca?
ETA, that reminds me, if we’re counting animated shows, Bob’s Burgers.
My top ones are based on how willing I am to rewatch the show or click on clips on YouTube. The humor stays fresh and funny to me.
- Community by a long shot
- Brooklyn 99
- The Good Place
- What We Do in the Shadows
How are we defining sitcom?
How is Ted Lasso not a sitcom? It’s a situational (situation is a workplace) comedy like Cheers and The Office.
I’m going to keep in the dramedy shows because I don’t feel like splitting hairs. In no particular order:
- 30 Rock
- Veep
- South Park
- Bojack Horseman
- Parks and Recreation
- Fleabag
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Atlanta
Below that, Community, Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, Kimmy Schmidt, Silicon Valley, The Good Place.
You’re the first person I’ve ever encountered who knows about Derry Girls. I congratulate you on your good taste.
Ones that have been mentioned that I wish I’d thought of originally: Arrested Development, Good Place, Community, Ghosts (UK), Silicon Valley.
I may turn this into a poll – everything that gets mentioned is a nominee, and then everybody vote for 5 or 10 or whatever.
For Sarah Silverman it’s all three males. The Steve and Brian characters didn’t do anything for me.
And I worded my comment wrong. The removing of the male stars only applied to Sarah Silverman, not Angie Tribeca.
Because it’s not a comedy? It’s certainly debated across the internet. Some do call it a sitcom. In most places I see it described as a comedy-drama. The drama isn’t life or death but drama can be heartwarming too. Shrinking is made by most of the same crew. I think it’s much funnier than Ted Lasso when it’s funny. I don’t consider that a sitcom either.