# Sitcoms! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms/229805 "2004-02-18T16:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms/229805/21 "2004-02-19T17:18:49Z")
It takes a lot for me to overcome my natural, deep-seated aversion to the sitcom form. Something about seeing a living room with a couch facing me, and a dining table with all the chairs awkwardly clustered around three sides, just makes me sigh inside. I think part of it stems from growing up in the 80s, when I was expected to enjoy and identify with the likes of Silver Spoons, Family Ties, Webster, Diff’rent Strokes, and the Cosby Show. I even couldn’t stand **Cheers** , and seeing it in reruns today I still don’t see what was so damn funny. All this had the effect of turning me into a rabid anglophile; I clung to **Monty Python’s Flying Circus** like a lifeline. I’m not quite so disaffected today. Animation helps; most of my favorite comedies ever ( **Family Guy, Simpsons, King of the Hill, The Tick** ) are animated. The live-action ones I like tend to be cartoon-like and anarchic ( **Malcolm in the Middle, Arrested Development, The Young Ones, Greg the Bunny** ), or else extremely literate and well-constructed ( **Frasier, Fawlty Towers** ), or else unapologetically steeped in bad behavior and human weakness ( **Seinfeld, Blackadder** ). (Obviously there’s some crossover to these categories.) And **Roseanne** was/is special: it was very funny, but what made it great was the characters. It was the only series that could (for a time) get Serious without coming off as attention-seeking or mawkish; it earned its seriousness by making its characters and setting believable, and by the great performances of its leads (Roseanne, John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf particularly). (Plus it had Sara Gilbert, on whom I had an unapologetic crush. :)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms/229805.md?page=1)