I thought I'd see what a list of the best sitcoms and the like looked like if I just picked the best for each year (Not what I thought at the time, but what I rate from my lofty overview as still enjoying to me):

 

Part 1: Before You Were Born: the 50's and 60's (yes they had TV then! :o :o )

 

 

1951 I Love Lucy Why? Lucille Ball, the greatest female visual comedian; invented the sitcom ; world's most-popular show of the 50's.

1952 I Love Lucy

1953 I Love Lucy

1954 I Love Lucy

1955 The Phil Silvers Show aka Bilko aka You’ll Never get Rich Why? Phil Silvers, the ultimate sharp-talking conman; great scripts

1956 The Phil Silvers Show aka Bilko aka You’ll Never get Rich

1957 The Phil Silvers Show aka Bilko aka You’ll Never get Rich

1958 The Phil Silvers Show aka Bilko aka You’ll Never get Rich

1959 The Phil Silvers Show aka Bilko aka You’ll Never get Rich

 

 

1960 The Flintstones Why? Fantasy Stoneage genius; Hanna-Barbera; The Honeymooners in prehistory

1961 The Flintstones

1962 The Beverley Hillbillies Why? Loveable confused naive backwoods hillbillies characters face the modern world; social commentary

1963 The Beverley Hillbillies

1964 The Addams Family Why? Loveable dark fantasy cast and characters face the modern world; social commentary

1965 The Addams Family

1966 Green Acres Why? Loveable cast of zany fantasy characters break TV sitcom conventiions with invention and Simpsons-inspiring madcap fun

1967 Green Acres

1968 Green Acres

1969 Monty Python’s Flying Circus Why? Revolutionary format-playing UK sketch show, sporadically genius hit & miss

Part 2: The 70's

 

OK, there was Up Pompeii, Python, Morecambe & Wise, Fawlty Towers, Rising Damp, Porridge, Kenny Everett Video Show, Barney Miller, & The Two Ronnies, but these were patchy outside the classic sketches, or were quality but low-key endearing, or there just weren't many episodes made. 6 UK episodes just cant compete with 25 classy, brilliantly-written US shows. I'd also add that the American Shows have weathered changing social attitudes better than the British ones, on the whole.

 

1970 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Why? Pure class, great cast, women’s rights to work and not marry, top notch scripts

1971 The Mary Tyler Moore Show

1972 M*A*S*H Why? Great scripts & characters, war setting, no laugh track, no studio audience, dark but hilarious humanitarianism

1973 M*A*S*H

1974 M*A*S*H

1975 M*A*S*H

1976 M*A*S*H

1977 Soap Why? Pisstake of daytime soaps, madcap, manic, ground-breaking social issues like infidelity, being gay, and threw in fantasy, sci-fi, horror to boot, with an extended cast, great scripts and the precursor of Golden Girls

1978 Soap

1979 Soap

Lots of stuff I’ve heard of but not a lot I’ve actually seen. Flintstones was fun and still being shown when I was a kid… and the Addams Family was great. The recent Wednesday adaptation was good but I felt it shifted the focus from the original, in as much as the new one is quite magical and slightly Harry Potter where as the original was more just about a family of outsiders trying to fit in

Lots of stuff I’ve heard of but not a lot I’ve actually seen. Flintstones was fun and still being shown when I was a kid… and the Addams Family was great. The recent Wednesday adaptation was good but I felt it shifted the focus from the original, in as much as the new one is quite magical and slightly Harry Potter where as the original was more just about a family of outsiders trying to fit in

 

Thanks dandy, worth catching on Youtube or streaming, where available (most of them aren't available, Addams Family is free-streaming due to wednesday success, Python is on netflix, Soap on Youtube, Beverley Hillbillies early episodes is out of copyright and widely available on Youtube minus the great theme tune. Still has a charm about it and they were spot on about greedy bankers :lol: )

 

I agree Wednesday is very Harry Potter, where all the freaks/wizards are set apart in a school outside normal society. I do enjoy it though! Addams Family has the glorious Carolyn Jones (inspiration of Siouxsie Sioux) as classy matriarch and the wide-eyed manic John Astin as Gomez, just great pairing - his adopted son, Sean Astin, is in Lord Of The Rings/Stranger Things/Goonies helping keep the fantasy family thing going! The show featuring the Addams' sincerely believing their life was normal and it was the rest of the world that was weird but trying to fit in to be nice was a great premise! It's always great to look at one's own society through others eyes :lol:

Part 3: The 80's:

 

Comedy started to expand in the 80's and often formed the basis of great drama shows too, (such as Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting) and there's no room for great shows like Sledge Hammer! gun-toting TV cop parody show, The Golden Girls great Soap-inspired sharp scripts based around retired elderly women, The New Statesman Rik Mayall's tour-de-force, Yes Minister political sharpness, Comic Strip Presents sometimes very funny, sometimes not, Kenny Everett's Video Show sketch-based show with pop music, Night Court, Newhart (increasingly wacky show based around Bob Newhart) and much more - plus a little show that debuted in 1989 that is still running....

 

 

 

1980 M*A*S*H

1981 Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Why? adaptation of the funniest book ever, Douglas Adams was a genius. The show not quite in the same league but still good

1982 Police Squad! Why? Inspired the Naked Gun movies and is packed with gags

1983 Cheers Why? Classy, long-running, beautifully-scripted, witty bar comedy show with great characters and cast

1984 The Young Ones Why? Madcap, zany, cartoonish gang of students mix music, violence, politics & satire in the final series

1985 Cheers

1986 Blackadder II Why? Ben Elton scripts, Rowan Atkinson and a set of great actors in their prime having an Elizabethan ball. Total romp.

1987 Married: With Children Why? Politically incorrect before that was a thing, caricatures of a terrible moral-free family, no twee sloppy emotions, and Al Bundy is the ultimate loser. And it’s very funny insult comedy on the new Fox Network.

1988 Married: With Children

1989 Red Dwarf II Why? Sci-fi proves it can be a comedy setting; inventive scripts; great characters so good a TV channel for lads was named after Dave (Lister)

I have been enjoying Wednesday on Netflix (hence Jenna Ortega, albeit out of character, as my avatar on here at the moment) but I've never actually seen The Addams Family before :o so I was going in completely blind. I'll endeavour to change that this year though!

I have been enjoying Wednesday on Netflix (hence Jenna Ortega, albeit out of character, as my avatar on here at the moment) but I've never actually seen The Addams Family before :o so I was going in completely blind. I'll endeavour to change that this year though!

 

 

Good choice of Avatar, I say - trying to dance like Wednesday will make anyone stand out out in a club :D I tend to shift from one foot to the other with my fingers snapping in time to the music and singing and gyrating hips wildly stiffly. I like to think I give out the same vibes as Jenna :lol:

 

Worth catching the show (or the 2 movies, they are also great for Halloween), though it's very 60's with the canned laughter so be prepared....! It would work way better just as film...

Part 4: The 90's

 

There was some hot sitcoms in the 90's, in the UK Red Dwarf, Bottom, and Father Ted were doing great things for sci-fi, losers & Priests, all very different but great scripts, inventive, cartoon violence, fantasy rural, while in the USA Frazier spun-off from Cheers for Quality scripts for Professional educated folk, Married: With Children kept up the working class low-brow quality, Seinfeld topped the US ratings, and a little show called Friends dropped and is still probably the biggest sitcom in the world. In amongst these a forgotten Scottish gem called The High Life came and went quickly, set on a budget airline with a high camp ratio and future Hollywood Star Alan Cummings driving the show. Panel shows with comedians became a thing with Have I Got News For You and Whose Line Is It Anyway, which started in the UK and migrated to the USA when it became obvious the best at stand-up improv were the Canadians and Americans. At the start of the decade a little-known High-School ground-breaking sitcom paved the way for the 21st century sitcom style of sharp editing, fantasy-injection-cutaways, sound effects, rapid pace and was called Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Malcolm In The Middle took notes and learned ready for the 00's.

 

But these were the best on an annual basis:

 

1990 The Simpsons Why? Greatest sitcom of all-time. Nuff said.

1991 The Simpsons

1992 The Simpsons

1993 The Simpsons

1994 The Simpsons

1995 The Simpsons

1996 The Simpsons

1997 The Simpsons

1998 Third Rock From The Sun why? Madcap sci-fi aliens try to fit in and understand American culture and humans; great cast & dialogue

1999 Futurama why? The Simpsons best writers join Matt Groening's 2nd Project 1000 years in the future

That 80s list is quite nostalgic for me - obviously not from having seen them when they aired (I was between negative 17 and negative 7 in those years :lol:) but those are some of my parents' faves so I was exposed to them a lot as a kid, especially The Young Ones and Red Dwarf. Also love anything related to the Hitchhiker's franchise in general although I haven't actually seen any of the TV version as far as I remember, loved the books though and heard bits of the radio series + I remember going to see the 2005 film version too. Douglas Adams was really a genius <3

 

The Simpsons' early episodes are great as well of course. I don't think the more recent episodes are as bad as some people make them out to be from the occasional times I've been exposed to them but they definitely lack the magic of the early days. Also love a bit of Futurama. I don't think I realised that started in the 90s!

That 80s list is quite nostalgic for me - obviously not from having seen them when they aired (I was between negative 17 and negative 7 in those years :lol:) but those are some of my parents' faves so I was exposed to them a lot as a kid, especially The Young Ones and Red Dwarf. Also love anything related to the Hitchhiker's franchise in general although I haven't actually seen any of the TV version as far as I remember, loved the books though and heard bits of the radio series + I remember going to see the 2005 film version too. Douglas Adams was really a genius <3

 

The Simpsons' early episodes are great as well of course. I don't think the more recent episodes are as bad as some people make them out to be from the occasional times I've been exposed to them but they definitely lack the magic of the early days. Also love a bit of Futurama. I don't think I realised that started in the 90s!

 

Thanks Bre, Your parents have great taste :D Glad you rate Douglas Adams so highly, and The Simpsons must have some appeal still to be on air so long - and they can still pull the odd gem out, such as the movie, but the golden years were the 90's, that's when everything was sharp, new and inventive :)

I know I'm biased but I think Seinfeld was slightly better than The Simpsons between 1991-1994. I'd say Frasier was better than both from 1996 onwards as well tbh.

 

Not that there's anything wrong with The Simpsons dominating the '90s...

I know I'm biased but I think Seinfeld was slightly better than The Simpsons between 1991-1994. I'd say Frasier was better than both from 1996 onwards as well tbh.

 

Not that there's anything wrong with The Simpsons dominating the '90s...

 

There's certainly a good case to be made for both shows, both in terms of ratings at the time and critical acclaim, but seasons 2 through 8 of Simpsons are just so inventive for me, as an animated show they can get away with more stuff that would get other shows sued (copyright issues dont apply to animated parody in the USA). Plus, I'm biased :lol:

There's certainly a good case to be made for both shows, both in terms of ratings at the time and critical acclaim, but seasons 2 through 8 of Simpsons are just so inventive for me, as an animated show they can get away with more stuff that would get other shows sued (copyright issues dont apply to animated parody in the USA). Plus, I'm biased :lol:

 

Seinfeld and The Simpsons peaked at the same time so it is hard to separate them, and you're right that animated shows can get away with a lot more. Seinfeld did get away with a fair amount of stuff for a NBC mainstream show though.

Edited January 4, 20232 yr by The Glasses

The 00's:

 

 

2000 Futurama

2001 Futurama

2002 Futurama

2003 Futurama

2004 Malcolm In The Middle why? Great cast, great guests, fast pacing, smart scripts, free from sitcom sentimental perfact family cliches

2005 Family Guy why? Third-time-lucky after 2 Fox cancellations; scripts inventive, fantastical, boundary-breaking, parodying, social commenting, sci-fi fanbased

2006 Family Guy

2007 Family Guy

2008 Family Guy

2009 Family Guy

I would go with the Vicar of Dibley and Dinnerladies in the 90s.

I would absolutely include both of those also, Dinnerladies is a work of sheer genius