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Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 28th February 2024, 11:25 PM

What is your favourite sitcom of all time?

AND what would you say is THE most influential of all time? I made that second poll shorter, as thw answer is cleaely not gonna be Porridge on that one.

Posted by: WhoOdyssey 28th February 2024, 11:29 PM

We do have a TV forum

For me: Modern Family, Outnumbered, Bob's Burgers, Peep Show & The Inbetweeners come to mind immediately. I'll have to have more of a think though...

Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 28th February 2024, 11:32 PM

I forgor about those and havem't heard of Outnumberes tbh!!

I thibk Sharma and Greg was pretgy influential too tbh

Posted by: Herbs 29th February 2024, 12:01 AM

My favourite - Will & Grace
Most influential - Friends

Posted by: Popchartfreak 29th February 2024, 10:37 AM

Best is classic Simpsons (first decade) and Futurama, and that's in the whole of the TV sitcom universe going back to the 50's.

Most influential? Those that defined or changed the format - so I Love Lucy for inventing it and being the most popular globally until Friends. Phil Silvers Show/Bilko for being the first non-family sitcom (set in army barracks) The Addams Family for twisting the format and creating a fantasy universe set inside the real world, Green Acres for reversing that, one normal charaacter set inside a fantasy universe, breaking the 4th wall, incorporating credits into the show and inspiring The Simpsons, Mary Tyler Moore Show for women taking centrestage and not just being a wife, MASH for insisting laughtracks and an audience weren't needed and mixing humour with dark social commentary, and Soap for taking the piss using a massive whacky cast and veering into horror, sci fi and social advances like the first gay characters.

UK sitcoms were all pretty much traditional sitcom formats until The Young Ones, which was more Soap/Green Acres tradition but with cartoon violence which leads onto Simpsons. The unknown Parker Lewis Can't Lose was groundbreaking in editing and filming and sound effects techniques that became widely used in later shows like Malcolm In The Middle and beyond, and focused on High School age kids with fantasy elements. Friends inspired copycat formats due to it's popularity but it was fresh in terms of using young people as their own "family".

Pretty much all American shows, really, though, most UK shows just tinker with the same basic sitcom format and just have writing style differences. Simpsons changed everything cos its animated and can change by the episode if it wants to, and do whatever it wants, so it was completely free to challenge everything that went before and use the bits it liked or create pastiches of anything. The docu-sitcom approach is the main stand-out more recent approach, so that'll be The Office then (UK) - I really can't think of any other UK sitcom to affect US product, bar Till Death Us Do part bringing gritty social commentary (arguing!) into the format via All In The Family.

Sorry most of those are ancient! More recent ones I mostly don't know so over to others!

Posted by: King Rollo 29th February 2024, 03:21 PM

I picked 'other' as I think Fawlty Towers is my favourite.

Posted by: Padamic Tension 29th February 2024, 11:20 PM

I picked other as Birds of a Feather has always been my own fave, im also a huge fan of Steptoe and Son, Keeping up Appearances, Friends, Father Ted and Fawlty Towers.
I think Friends is probably the most influential overall though.

Posted by: Severin 2nd March 2024, 06:07 PM

Fawlty Towers is widely held up as the best ever.

That, The Young Ones, Green Wing and Married... With Children are my favourites

Posted by: Slayer 2nd March 2024, 06:44 PM

I can't pick one but my favourites are:

Will & Grace, Modern Family and Friends.

Posted by: Dexton 25th March 2024, 03:08 PM

Friends, Seinfeld, Modern Family, The Office, HIMYM, Schitts Creek. Some of these are more sitcom than others though.

Most influential for modern sitcoms would be a toss up between Friends and Seinfeld. Both have their merits and have essentially produced countless “copies” of lesser/equal value. I love HIMYM but besides the gimmick of it all being told through the eyes of a narrator it wasn’t much different to what we’d seen before.

I guess Simpsons too but I feel they belong to a whole other animation poll.

Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 25th March 2024, 04:09 PM

It's gotta be betqeen Friends, Frasier, Seinfield and Simpsons for MOST infkuential, although Will and Grace has also had a big infkuence.

Ahh I forgot Dharma ans Greg from the poll!!

Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 25th March 2024, 04:10 PM

Hope and Faith and 2 Pints getting votes

Posted by: Colm 25th March 2024, 05:24 PM

Yes, Minister/Prime Minister
Blackadder
Fr Ted
Green Wing
Absolutely Fabulous
Peep Show

Posted by: Calum 25th March 2024, 05:48 PM

The poll literally missing all of my top picks for best sitcoms of all time...

Still Game
Chewin' the Fat
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
The Job Lot
The Thick of It
Friday Night Dinner
Gary: Tank Commander
Miranda
Peep Show
Two Doors Down

All iconic and far superior to pretty much all of the list in the poll imo (Modern Family, The Office US and B99 are of course amazing though)

I've recently started watching My Family from the beginning having never seen it before. On series 7 now, but I don't think I'd consider it a classic/best of all time just yet.

Posted by: Cody Scobell 25th March 2024, 09:25 PM

Is it bad that I would have said anything from Disney Channel before any of the ones in the poll?

Posted by: darrens94 26th March 2024, 07:22 PM

Still Game (Series 1 - 6, the later series were hit and miss)
The Royle Family (Series 1-3, not so much the specials)
The Office UK
Only Fools and Horses
Extras
The Inbetweeners
Phoenix Nights
Car Share
Gavin and Stacey
Two Doors Down

Posted by: Anita Hanjaab 26th March 2024, 09:00 PM

Nobody even mentioning poor Dharma and Greg!

Posted by: Linds. 17th April 2024, 08:46 PM

My holy trinity is Brooklyn Nine Nine, Schitts Creek and Modern Family. I haven't even seen all of Modern Family (I was working on it then Cameron cancelled his Disney+ subscription that I was sponging from ) but I love it a lot already and I've seen a lot of clips from it as well that confirm it never dipped in quality.

Brooklyn Nine Nine was the first sitcom I was OBSESSED with, I used to watch sitcoms as time fillers really rather than shows to be invested in but that changed the game completely. I think it encapsulates millennial humour perfectly and it's the kind of show you can watch a million times and still find it as funny as it was the first time around. The key to a good sitcom is having a solid group of amazing characters and B99 does that, there's not a single weak link in the cast.

Schitts Creek is another major comfort show for me, I rewatch is a lot, especially these days because again it's just never not funny. I guess you could say it's millennial humour but a more niche off branch like it's just silly but that's so up my street. Name a more iconic character than Moira Rose???

For the most influential show I was torn between Friends and the Simpsons but went with Friends because it really is the blueprint for how to make a good sitcom, it's still funny today despite it's age. How I Met Your Mother is literally just a replica but a non funny replica with even more unlikable characters. The only real unlikable characters in Friends is Ross but he kinda has to be I guess Ted in HIMYM is supposed to be this nice guy who's just unlucky in love but he's awful, I might be wrong but it's clear to me he was written by a man who was trying too hard to appeal to the female gaze but didn't have a clue what that was beyond the version he had in his head

But yea I didn't put the Simpsons as influential because it's essentially untouchable, people have tried with the likes of Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama etc but they're no where near the level the Simpsons is at. I think probably the most recent animated series that comes close is maybe Big Mouth but I've not seen all of that so idk

Posted by: Linds. 17th April 2024, 08:51 PM

Outnumbered and Friday Night Dinner are the best British sitcoms also btw

OH NO DERRY GIRLS!!!!!

Posted by: Dexton 21st April 2024, 05:15 AM

Modern Family dips a little in the final few seasons imo. It’s still fun to watch but they recycle a lot of old jokes and cliches, the same situational comedy where people are having a conversation about two different things but think they’re talking about the same thing happens at least every other episode. It’s funny but once you’ve seen the start of the series it’s kinda the same thing towards the end. Plus some plot lines are rushed and character development feels forced at times (and lacking at other times).

I still highly rate it but it struggles to stay fresh after a few years - as the majority of shows that go for over 7-8 seasons do

Posted by: Calum 21st April 2024, 09:22 PM

What plots/characters? that's one criticism I've never really personally had of Modern Family, but it's interesting to hear different perspectives.

I've just recently finished it (waited what felt like 84 years for season 11 to finally be added to Disney+), and I think my only real critique of the show to that point is the random re-introduction of Dylan and forcing the relationship with Hayley, them having children, etc.