Still waiting for the list to load, but I’ll comment on this. I attempted to watch the entire series, and some of the earlier ones are pretty funny, but Geez, it got unwatchable pretty quick. I gave up during the episode where they drag a dead body around for a half-hour. Painfully unfunny. Not even John Cleese could make salvage that shit. I’d say 31 is about 60 too high.
It’s probably way too dated, so not really.
Yeah, that list sucks. As God is My Witness. 
NewsRadio is only at 50?
All I can say is that obviously I have a very different conception of what makes a good sitcom than the editors of RS.
Also, I’ve never heard of, let alone seen, more than half the shows on that list.
Night Court (#97!) was certainly way better than Cheers. And how does Mary Tyler Moore rate above Dick Van Dyke??!?!
I will, however, gladly admit that the line (both in substance and delivery) “Brahm’s Third Racket” is just about the funniest thing I’ve ever heard on TV.
You 3 are dead to me!
You may move to the head of the class!
I’m not sure, but I think I see what you did there.
It depends. Do you mind a sitcom in which all of the characters are very unlikable? And do you like surreal humor?
Not on purpose…but sometimes I can’t help myself!
I was a little surprised that, unless I missed it, none of the Garry Marshall sitcoms made the list (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy). They were all huge in their day, but maybe the quality wasn’t high enough to make the list. (I went back and watched a few episodes of Mork & Mindy several years ago. Robin Williams was brilliant, but everything else about the show was conventional-sitcom-ey.)
I enjoyed it back then, and have recently started watching it again on Hulu. I think it’s still just as funny now as it was back then. IMHO the reason for it’s success is that most of the sitcoms in the late 80s and early 90s seemed to be family shows where every episode was about some kind of “lesson of the week.”
Growing Pains, Family Ties, Family Matters, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, Fresh Prince, Full House, Golden Girls, etc. All of these shows featured serious topics, usually taken seriously, and a few lighthearted moments and comic relief characters thrown in to keep things from getting too serious. Having a few shows like that is fine, but it seems like almost all the sitcoms from that time period had the same formula. Seinfeld did away with that model. Instead it went with an all funny and irreverant all the time style, even when dealing with topics that might otherwise be taken seriously on other sitcoms. IMHO that’s what made it great, and that’s why it’s still great.
Both of my Thoroughly Millennial kids love Seinfeld (for the “no hugs, no learning” aspect of it, and they claim they actually care about the characters), and have made their significant others watch every episode, along with both Offices.
Oh, and the rebellious skateboarder kid loves Frasier!
(and Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is less surprising)
I don’t think the mediocre seasons matter at all. Its about greatness, not the average.
WKRP at 79th place is a travesty. I suspect that’s because it’s hard to find because of music licensing issues. It used to regularly make the top 10 of such lists.
I would put Futurama much higher than 74th.
The Simpsons seems right at #1, even if it hasn’t been very good for a couple of decades. Its ‘excellent’ period was still longer than almost all these other shows.
I would have put Cheers just below Seinfeld. I loved the later seasons with Rebecca and Woody, but the early seasons with Diane and Coach just didn’t do it for me.
I’m one of the few people that has only ever seen the Woody-Rebecca era. I am sure I’ve seen my share of earlier episodes, but my primary memories of Cheers are Rebecca and Woody.
Ouch, comedy doesn’t age well. I can get the Simpsons references from the 1990s fairly well, and the show definitely isn’t a product of its time. I still find good episodes now and then of all the seasons.
But All in the Family and MASH are such a product of their time, I find them unwatchable.
For al the animated shows on that list, I’m disappointed to not see Archer.
If you think their music lists are any different then you are in luck in a way.
Rolling Stone music lists are as parochial and lazy as this list. The best albums are mostly popular North American / UK rock with a the odd jazz or rap album to signify coolness?