Greatest sitcom of all time...

I’ll second Simpsons, Seinfeld, and Fawlty Towers, and throw in The Larry Sanders Show

Wierdly, for the quality of the entire troupe I would like to be the first to advocate The Nanny.

NewsRadio. At least until Phil Hartman was murdered.

Right up there: Barney Miller, WKRP, The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart and Fawlty Towers. Also Drew Carey before something bad happened with the writers.

Right now, I like My Wife and Kids.

Seinfeld, followed VERY closely by All in the Family and The Simpsons.

Don’t forget Night Court. And Northern Exposure, which I realize falls into a gray area, but there it is.

Don’t forget Cheers, either.

Oh yeah, and the Cosby Show. I always loved to watch that with the whole family.

The short-lived It’s Your Move and the long-lived Married with Children. You can never ever go wrong with David Garrison :slight_smile:

Non-DG ones NewsRadio and Sports Night. Although the latter did have Garrison’s successor on the show, the godawful Ted McGinley. Yep, I got Jefferson issues. :rolleyes:

Britcoms: the Minister series, Blackadder.

  1. Fawlty Towers
  2. Blackadder II-IV
  3. Yes (prime) minister

these are way better than the rest

  1. Red dwarf I-VI
  2. Bottom
  3. One foot in the grave
  4. The young ones
  5. The Brittas empire
  6. Police squad
  7. The detectives

The Simpsons - the most irreverent
Taxi - Louie, Reverend Jim, Vic Ferrari
WKRP - Bailey Quarters was hotter!
Barney Miller - dry humor at its best
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Ted Baxter, best ever.

The Bailey Quarters Show, a.k.a. WKRP

The Honeymooners.

MASH
Frasier
Yes, Minister

Does nobody like Friends here??

Have to go with Seinfeld as my number 1 but honorable mentions go to Friends, Cheers, Simpsons, Frasier, Married with Children, Blackadder, Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister, Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses

George Burns and Gracie Allen Show for out-and-out hilarity.

Dick Van Dyke is the perfect example of the sitcom format, though. No one has topped it in any respect.

Other top ten:

Simpsons
Fawlty Towers
Cheers
MAS*H (the first few years; it eventually grew tired and strident)
Allie McBeal (the first two seasons – when they were “on,” I never laughed louder)
Taxi
NewsRadio
Titus

The best is MASH, though Cosby runs a close second - Mrs JohnT and I have been watching the late seasons (5-8) reruns on Nick at Nite and have been surprised by how good they were.

The best that nobody has yet mentioned is, imho, Family Ties.

WKRP in Cininnati

“As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly.”

The one I live in…

Funniest for short period: Soap. Hands down winner here.

Best Acted: Probably All in the Family. True charicatures.

Best highbrow: Yes, Minister.

Most compelling to watch: MASH*. You just never knew when they’d do something outstanding or gut-wrenching.

Best Without Specific Category: Barney Miller. Great actors in a comedy that defied categorization. Better overall than Night Court, which relied way too much on the goofy characterizations of the DA, the judge, and Bull.

And am I really believing what I am seeing, reading the thread? I don’t believe that not one poster has even mentioned the granddaddy of them all, I Love Lucy.

Absolutely Fabulous