Best Sitcoms- Near Misses

Oddly, when I finished my post on WKRP In Cincinnati, two fortuities emerged. 1) I could think of no truly great sitcoms in the last three decades, and 2) I rounded out my list at an even 10, with all of them beginning in the 1970s or earlier, and 7 of the 10 representing the Golden Age of the 1970s.

In thinking over the last 3 decades, there were some good sitcoms: Night Court, Cheers, and Seinfeld are the three most well known 'choices.' But Night Court was Barney Miller Lite, Cheers, like M*A*S*H*, ran too long, and, frankly, I think Ted Danson's other sitcom, Becker, was actually better written and acted, and Seinfeld failed for two reasons: first, it was really an inferior version of the old 1950s sitcom, The Abbott And Costello Show, and two, one never really cared about the characters. Add to that the fact that for every memorable Soup Nazi episode there were three or four simply bad episodes and a bevy of rather generic episodes.

I then thought of Married....With Children, and was tempted to name it, for it was the best example of a slob comedy around. It was vulgar, anarchic, disrespectful, and very funny. But, it also ran too long and, despite sexy Kelly Bundy, also fell into banality in later seasons. But, it was far better than pretentious crap like fellow slob comedy Roseanne.





Then there was Home Improvement, Everybody Loves Raymond, 30 Rock, The Office, Scrubs, but every episode I've seen of those shows mark them as utterly generic and non-innovative. Of course, innovation gets harder as time wends onward. And don't even get me started on the crap that was The Cosby Show and its spinoffs.

Two exceptions have been The Simpsons and, even more so, Family Guy. Unfortunately, they are both more properly satires and cartoons, not really sitcoms. Besides, The Simpsons long ago Jumped The Shark.




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In looking back in time, a good argument can be made for I Love Lucy, but that was all Lucy, not SITUATION comedy, and it ran too long. Other 1950s entries were simply too mediocre: Burns And Allen, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver.

The High Concept 1960s offered only one possibility as being overlooked, and that was the gleefully non-PC F Troop, which ran only two seasons. But, it was quite formulaic, even with brilliant moments from Larry Storch and Ken Berry.





The Monkees also ran only two years, and was quite innovative vs. other sitcoms, but it never had much depth. The same can be said for copycat shows like I Dream Of Jeannie and Bewitched, The Munsters and The Addams Family, The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family, etc. And, Desilu shows like The Andy Griffith Show were simply too tame and predictable. Hogan's Heroes offered some quality, but was too formulaic in its scenarios- the Nazis scheme and lose (repeat formula).

The 1970s offered shows from the three titans of sitcoms: Garry Marshall, Norman Lear, and MTM, but none matched the shows that made my cut, from those ranks. Mork And Mindy had brilliant moments, but it was all Robin Williams. Three's Company started the T&A comedy scene, but offered no depth. Sanford And Son, Chico And The Man, and Welcome Back, Kotter offered ethnic humor and little else (although Redd Foxx could be brilliantly funny), while Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts Of Life offered crap. Same with Family Ties.



So, there you go. If I've overlooked a gem (American made) let me know. Enjoy the clips of those shows I mentioned and maybe in the near future I'll tackle another television genre.