Favourite sitcom of all time

[StittsvilleJame]

Simple question, thread title really says it all.

Is it Friends, Seinfeld, or Mad About You? Maybe Married with Children or Mash? How about Night Court? Fraser? Gilligans Island? The Fresh Prince perhaps? Or maybe you just want to go where everybody knows your name (and they're always glad you came...I bet the song is playing in your head now, isn't it?)

I watched an episode of Seinfeld the other day, and barely cracked a smile. I didn't realize how much a show like that, brilliant in it's time, seems to have aged, for me anyways.

But, on the other hand, I'm watching friends right now. Not one of the first season or two before the characters were fully fleshed out, but a later one (Ross is planning his wedding with Emily....), and I still find it funny.

So, what about you people? Which is your favourite, why, and have you watched it recently to see how well it has stood the test of time?

 

[scherbchen]

Friends. the only one where I every laughed out so spontaneously that beer came out of my nose. still does well in re-runs.

"pivot!"

(not that moment btw but I still find it hilarious)

 

[Communisto]

 

[dannyshenanigan]

I never liked Friends. It's really a soap opera masquerading as a sitcom. I usually like my sitcoms without sappy sentimentality.

Seinfeld is completely devoid of any sentimentality and I love it for that. I often watch the reruns and think it hasn't aged at all. I used to watch it as a young teenager when it was still running and I loved it. Now that I'm older I get references that I missed when I was younger.

 

[warpus]

I don't understand how Mad about you made it into the OP

Does "It's always sunny...." count as a sitcom?

 

[StittsvilleJame]

I don't understand how Mad about you made it into the OP

Does "It's always sunny...." count as a sitcom?

I suppose it could, but I was really shooting for the laugh track / live studio audience type of sitcom. alot of now-a-days 'sitcoms' are going the no audience / laugh track route eh? Community, It's always sunny in philly, the Office, etc etc...

Is the laugh track / live audience days behind us (except for the rare shows like how i met your mother..)?

 

[scherbchen]

I never liked Friends. It's really a soap opera masquerading as a sitcom. I usually like my sitcoms without sappy sentimentality.

soap opera? if you said rom-com I'd aggree. but soap opera? unless you think that Dr Drake Ramoray was a "real" character on that show. if anything it makes fun of soap operas.

and if we are talking about sentimentality, really, the genre you are looking for is romantic comedies. soap operas are about evil twins and devious plots to kick down the heroine a couple of flight of stairs so that she loses Ramon's baby which really isn't his but his stepfather's because he artificially insaminated her while she was drugged because of a drink given to her by Ramon's mother who does not think our heroine is good enough for her son. of course Ramon is in a coma at the moment so our poor heroine is left defenseless. or is she? and who is that weirdly familiar fella with the eyepatch who never talks?

if you are into things devoid of sentimentality there are some hilarious computer versus computer chess videos I happen to have a link to. beware, though, that bishop looks kinda shifty and he has an eyepatch....

 

[_random_]

I suppose it could, but I was really shooting for the laugh track / live studio audience type of sitcom. alot of now-a-days 'sitcoms' are going the no audience / laugh track route eh? Community, It's always sunny in philly, the Office, etc etc...

Is the laugh track / live audience days behind us (except for the rare shows like how i met your mother..)?

I hope so. I like HIMYM, but they really need to learn that laugh tracks are unnecessary and just annoying at this point. In terms of traditional sitcoms, you can't get much better than The Andy Griffith Show.

 

[Cutlass]

Married with Children = best ever.

 

[Azale]

Friends. the only one where I every laughed out so spontaneously that beer came out of my nose. still does well in re-runs.

"pivot!"

(not that moment btw but I still find it hilarious)

I found that THE funniest moment in the whole series. I laugh hard every time I see it.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire is probably the sitcom most capable of making me laugh consistently though.

 

[_random_]

Arrested Development...by a mile.

This totally escaped my mind for some reason.

 

[bob_page]

A Canadian show entitled The Newsroom. I don't think it's very well known outside of Canada (or inside, for that matter).

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I can never decide on one favourite this or that, so I'll name a couple of shows.
I really liked Married with Children when it was ongoing, but obviously I was much younger at the time...
I didn't really get Arrested Development when I saw it on TV but it was much better on DVD because it relied a lot on contiuity and the German dub was..well...it was competent but not as funny as the original.
I'd also like to thank our British friends for Coupling and Blackadder.
Finally, I know it's really plebeian to list relatively new and still ongoing things as "greatest of all time" but The Big Bang Theory is probably the funniest show I have seen in a decade

 

[Communisto]

Big Bang is one of my favorite guilty pleasures

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Spaced is probably my favourite, if it counts. Black Books gets honourable mention.

 

[Virote_Considon]

This one!

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Peep Show these days I think.

Although both The Young Ones and Fawlty Towers were excellent.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Peep Show these days I think.

How could I forget Peep Show ?
Yeah, it's definitely one of my top 10.
"I made a psycho call to the woman I love, I've kicked a dog to death and now I'm about to pepper spray an acquaintance. What's happening to me ?"

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Peep Show is a good call. The final episode of season 3 was beautiful.

"So you're going to get married to her...out of embarrassment?"

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I still think series 2 was the best.