Bakersfield PD
Arrested Development ! I know, I know, its been done, but you asked 
I don’t think I’ve seen mentioned in this thread Frank’s Place, which ran for only one year, IIRC. It was a clever “dramedy” created by the same folks who did WKRP. I first started watching it because it was centered around the cooking in a creole restaurant, but I was hooked by the funny, smart writing and acting from episode one. I have no idea why it was canceled, and I was always pissed that it was.
NO! RACHEL TRUE IS MINE!
Come to think of it, you can have Rachel if I can have the show’s other star Essence Atkins 
Back on topic, Half & Half was a really good show.
My favorite underappreciated sitcoms were:
Dweebs - The misadventures of a software startup, with Peter Scolari as Warren, the socially inept (but strangely sexy, at least I thought so–especially after he did nothing for me in Bosom Buddies) Bill Gates-meets-Steve-Jobs-style CEO. I still have all the eps on videotape somewhere. All six or so of them. It didn’t last long, sadly.
**Pearl ** - Rhea Perlman as a working-class mom going back to college, and Malcolm McDowell as her sadistic, stuffy Ivy-League-snob professor. I like McDowell and I thought the chemistry between the two of them was great. Got most of these on videotape too.
**Anything But Love ** - Richard Lewis in some kind of creative job (fashion house? Newspaper? I can’t remember). I remember that my favorite character was his female boss.
**Father Ted ** - Underappreciated in the US, at least. This show is hilarious! Oddly enough, I first got turned on to it because the guy who sent me the tape with the *Dweebs * episodes on it included a couple of *Ted * episodes because he thought I’d like them.
And one that’s not a sitcom but had comedic elements: Cupid. This was one of the smartest, coolest shows to hit TV in a long time. Naturally they cancelled it with less than a season aired, so I can’t even buy the DVD set.
I’ll second Get a Life and Greg the Bunny. The latter I only discovered on DVD. It started out pretty good and got better, so that by the end of the second disc I was very sad that that was all there was. There are some very funny moments there (including pretty much any with Tardy Turtle), and the [del]puppets[/del] fabricated Americans are funny enough to upstage Seth Green, Eugene Levy, and Sarah Silverman.
I am glad I am not the only person that loved Starved. The enema episode has burned into my brain. I laughed so hard I cried.
I should be rightly flogged for this, but IMHO Bosom Buddies has to rank high on this list.
The premise was stupid even by sitcom standards, nearly every episode’s story line was a sitcom cliche, and supporting babe Donna Dixon is on the worst TV actress short list with Barbara Feldon and Rebeca Arthur (Balki’s girlfriend on Perfect Strangers). Still, the talent of the two leads–Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari–more than made up for that; they had perfect and witty dialogue timing, knew exactly how to set up and deliver physical comedy, and managedwring some new humor out of each by-the-numbers set -piece they were forced into. Scene-wise there were actually a few good bits in each episode, and the late Wendy Jo Sperber was an excellent straightman for them to play against.
Whenever I stumble across it on some obscure, three-digit cable channel, I always stop and watch. It was a show that proved (at least when it comes to TV) that great talent can overcome an utterly horrible premise.
I’ll second Wings, Boston Common, Stark Raving Mad, and The John Laroquette Show.
How about Wonderfalls? Only four episodes were ever aired. Geez, at least give it a shot before you cancel it.
Also, Grand, another one that ran for just a short time and hardly anyone remembers. Clever and funny.
I liked Honey I Shrunk The Kids, with Peter Scolari, but I’m not sure if that counts as a sitcom.
I remember liking The Cavanaughs, about an Irish American family, with the always-entertaining Barnard Hughes as the irascible patriarch. I think it lasted less than one season.
And I had really high hopes for That’s Life, mainly because the lead actress–relative unknown Heather Paige Kent–was IMO very hot! But it also starred Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino as her parents, whom she moves back in with after she dumps her fiance and goes back to college. Kevin Dillon and Debi Mazar were in it, too. Pretty good cast, but apparently not enough to get people watching it.
I loved that show and now I can’t remember a thing about it and have no idea why I loved it. But I did.
I think I thought there was a funny sitcom starring Tea Leoni, but my browser needs restarted because it won’t open imdb.
Winerhawk, my favorite episode of **Pearl ** was the one with Billy Connoly as MacDowell’s brother.
I wasn’t crazy about that particular show, but the boss was played by the ever lively Ann Magnusen, whose work with the performance art/ psychodelic rock band Bongwater is well worth checking out.
- Tamerlane
Damn, almost made it through the thread without seeing it mentioned. The hands-down winner for me.
Adding insult to injury: Kaylee from Firefly was in a bunch of episodes…that never aired.
Further insult: When I first got my new digital cable I saw it being rerun on a channel called LOGO. Elated, I immediately flipped over to it, and was greeted by: NOT AUTHORIZED :mad:
“The 101 lives of Jack Black Savage” or something like that. It was about a pirate that needed to save souls to make up for the ones he killed as a pirate. Very cool, and it only lasted like 4-5 episodes
I think all three fans must be SDMB members. It was a great show although I was young and it only lasted a few episodes. That Frog killed me.
I like Mamma’s Family for some reason too. I once told a theater snob gay man that I watched it expecting ridicule but he told me I should because it was a very good, wholesome show. I didn’t expect that.
I liked Silver Spoons but I haven’t seen it in 20 years or so.
Doctor, Doctor was well done. One of the few shows at the time where the token gay character was treated a bit more intelligently than just a queeny comic stereotype.
I wish it would come out on DVD some day. I’d like to watch the whole thing.
I remember The Kroft Supershow fondly. I still occasionally sing
Doctor Shrinker, Doctor Shrinker
he’s a madman with an evil mind
Doctor Shrinker, Doctor Shrinker
he’s as crazy as you’ll ever find
and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl had a lot to do with my acheiving puberty.
I also remember Open All Night. There was one with a hotel that was a great parody of Psycho.
May to December. It was a hit that ran for years in the UK, but it never took off here in the States, unlike other Britcoms such as Are You Being Served and The Office. It’s a pity that it never garnered an audience here, because it was well written and well acted. The lead actor, Anton Rodgers, was amazingly funny in it.