Greatest Ever Sitcom Voting Thread Round 1

[The Old Dark Navy's]

I guess it says alot about the level of intellect on this board when a B-grade (at best) cartoon scores more votes than the best sitcom of the last 10 years.

Either that, or the AD lovers were just too slow to vote on this thread (I voted for it 3 times in one post but not one of them were counted )

LOL. Well if the vote got close I might have had a raised eyebrow and a pang of sympathy but technically, I'm not sure you can vote for a matchup that hasn't been announced yet.

Thems the breaks I guess, win some, lose some.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I guess it says alot about the level of intellect on this board when a B-grade (at best) cartoon scores more votes than the best sitcom of the last 10 years.

Either that, or the AD lovers were just too slow to vote on this thread (I voted for it 3 times in one post but not one of them were counted )

AD isnt the best sitcom in the last ten years.



The Office (US and English), Spaced and Trailer Park Boys are all comfortably better.

 

[drew_j]

AD isnt the best sitcom in the last ten years.



The Office (US and English), Spaced and Trailer Park Boys are all comfortably better.

The only above even close is the Office UK. Trailer Park Boys was immature trash.

 

[Captain Sensible]

The only above even close is the Office UK. Trailer Park Boys was immature trash.

TPB had depths and shades that AD could only ever dream of.



Anyway bogans are funnier than yuppies.

 

[Hawkamania!]

The only above even close is the Office UK. Trailer Park Boys was immature trash.

Personally, I thought The Office UK was just Dilbert sans humour. I just couldn't get into it.

Trailer Park Boys was raw and offered something new on TV. It took a few episodes and then I was hooked.

 

[Rod Stroker]

AD isnt the best sitcom in the last ten years.



The Office (US and English), Spaced and Trailer Park Boys are all comfortably better.

From a writing, casting, and delivery perspective, nothing has come close to AD in the last 10 years. i.e since Seinfeld.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 51

Full House

Full House is a popular American television family sitcom that originally ran from September 22, 1987 until May 23, 1995.

Full House is set in San Francisco, where Danny Tanner is left to raise his three young daughters D.J., Stephanie and Michelle following the death of his wife, Pam. In Season 8 episode Under the Influence, it was revealed that she had died in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

Danny recruits his childhood friend Joey Gladstone and Pam's younger brother Jesse Katsopolis to live with the family and help Danny with the three girls. Many of the show's exploits revolve around the idea of three "swinging" bachelors trying to rein in the precocious antics of three girls, who frequently get the best of them. As is the case with many sitcoms, Danny's daughters ignore the rules, only to learn their lesson afterward. The episodes usually end with a hug or kiss and with the girls sometimes admitting their wrongs and working out a compromise with their father, Joey or Jesse. There is always a talk towards the end of the show with piano music playing in the background.

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8 Simple Rules

8 Simple Rules (originally known as 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from 2002 to 2005.

8 Simple Rules is about a married couple with three children, set in a Detroit, Michigan suburb. The father, Paul Hennessy (John Ritter, Three's Company), is a sportswriter who is prompted by his wife Cate's (Katey Sagal, Married... with Children, Futurama) return to nursing to take a more active role in raising their two teenage daughters, Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), and Kerry (Amy Davidson), and their son Rory (Martin Spanjers). He is soon overwhelmed by the responsibility of being the father of teenage daughters and misses being a sports writer. Paul begins writing a column from home about his struggles with his children and offers advice to people who are in his same position. His teenage daughters are dating, which sparks the use of the "8 simple rules for dating my teenage daughter".

 

[rupert pupkin 87]

Is Mother and Son included in this it deserves to be here a lot more than some other options

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 52

The Vicar Of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. The Vicar of Dibley aired from 1994 to 2007. In 2004, it came third in Britain's Best Sitcom.

Geraldine Granger (born 14 November 1964) is the female vicar, self-described as a "babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom" and also as a bon-vivant and a large, liberal woman who enjoys nothing more than a good laugh, much to the consternation of one David Horton.



vs

Happy Days

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC television network. The show presents an idealized vision of American life in the 1950s and early 1960s America.

Happy Days centers on the life of a middle-class family, the Cunninghams of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family consists of Howard, a hardware store owner, Marion, his homemaker wife, and the couple's teenage children, Richie (who has an optimistic if somewhat naïve outlook on life), Richie's sweet but feisty younger sister Joanie, and Richie's older brother Chuck (a character who abruptly disappeared during the second season). Most of the early episodes revolve around Richie (often with his best friend Potsie); as the series progressed, more and more stories were written to revolve around ex–New Yorker Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, who was originally portrayed as a local dropout but soon befriended Richie and family, and became a huge hit with viewers. The focus would also occasionally shift to other additional characters, such as Fonzie's cousin Chachi, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham. The long-running show also spawned several spinoff shows, many of which were highly successful in their own right, including Laverne & Shirley, Mork and Mindy, and others.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Is Mother and Son included in this it deserves to be here a lot more than some other options

Hmm good point.

I had Police Squad in there due to its cult status. Then noticed that there were 6 episodes only so it probably doesn't deserve a spot. Wasn't a true sitcom either I guess. Mother and Son can replace it.

 

[rupert pupkin 87]

Happy Days

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 53

Home Improvement

Home Improvement is an American television sitcom starring actor/comedian Tim Allen, which ran from 1991 to 1999.

The series centered on the antics of the Taylor family, which, along with Tim, included his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three sons: the popular and athletic Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), comedian and intellectual Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and the socially awkward youngest son, Mark (Taran Noah Smith). The show is set in Metro Detroit, as evidenced by the many references to the area in the show (especially local colleges, whose shirts are worn by Tim in the show).

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Just Shoot Me

Just Shoot Me! is an American television sitcom which aired for seven seasons on NBC from March 4, 1997 to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes produced.

The show followed the staff at the fictional fashion magazine Blush. The show starred Maya Gallo, a neo-feminist writer, who reluctantly takes a job at the glamour magazine, owned by her father, the Donald Trump-like Jack Gallo (who ironically has a rivalry with Donald Trump). The cast included womanizing (and usually over-sensitive) photographer Elliot DiMauro, and the heavy drinking and sexually promiscuous ex-model Nina Van Horn. David Spade was added to the cast after the show's original pilot for NBC, and proved to be the x-factor as smart-mouthed assistant Dennis Finch. While the show had been designed as something of a vehicle for San Giacomo, it quickly became Spade's ticket to stardom, also allowing for marked comebacks for the careers of Segal and Malick.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Full House
Vicar of Dibley
Just Shoot Me

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Full House - it was pathetic, but look what its up against
Vicar of Dibley
Just Shoot Me - close call

 

[Hawkamania!]

Happy Days
Just Shoot Me

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 54

Kingswood Country

Kingswood Country was an Australian sitcom that screened from 1980 to 1984 on the Seven Network. The series started on 30 January 1980 and was a spin-off from a sketch on comedy program The Naked Vicar Show that had featured Ross Higgins as a blustering bigot.

While some condemned its racist and sexist humour, this was often simply a plot device to show the bigotry of the main character, Ted Bullpitt (Ross Higgins) - a stereotypical white Australian conservative, bigoted, Holden Kingswood-loving putty factory worker and WWII veteran who recalls his difficult childhood in ever more exaggerated ways. He lives for three things: his beloved chair in front of the TV, his unsuccessful racing greyhounds and his worshipped Holden Kingswood car (late in the show's run Ted traded-in the Kingswood, which had gone out of production around the time the series began, for Holden's replacement mid-range family car, the Commodore). His long-suffering wife, the vague and dithering Thelma (Judi Farr), was cast as a traditional housewife trapped by Ted's conservative family views, but she often got her own back on Ted.

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Kath & Kim

Kath & Kim is a Logie Award-winning character-driven Australian television comedy series, created by Jane Turner and Gina Riley. It is about the family matters and relationships of the title characters, a dysfunctional mother and daughter.

Kath & Kim stars Jane Turner as Kath Day-Knight, a cheerful 50-something divorcee currently in a happy relationship with her fiance/husband, the effeminate Kel Knight, deals with her spoilt, ever complaining 20-something daughter Kim Craig, Kim's unlucky second-best friend, neighbourhood girl Sharon Strzelecki, Kim's estranged husband Brett Craig and their baby daughter Epponnee Rae Craig. The show is well known for Kath's famous catchphrase, "look at moiye!". The series is set in the fictional suburb of Fountain Lakes, in Melbourne, Victoria, however the series is primarily filmed in Patterson Lakes, Melbourne.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 55

Spin City

Spin City is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1996 to 2002 on ABC, and was created by Gary David Goldberg & Bill Lawrence, based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Michael J. Fox as Mike Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York.

The series focuses on the Mayor of New York City, Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick), and his staff as they run the city — although the main person in charge is Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Michael J. Fox). Mike is excellent at his job, dealing with spin and lies, but not so good with his personal life, which he often neglects. Other members of staff at City Hall include press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind), the office cheapskate, suck-up, and noted coward, who has a habit of being a loudmouth and is often kept in the dark about things; assistant deputy mayor Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck), who loves the ladies and is often very sexist; head of minority affairs Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman), who is a gay black man who owns a suicidal dog named Rags. Despite their overwhelming personal differences, Stuart and Carter actually become roommates and the best of friends; speech writer James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin), who is easily led and quite naive; Mike's secretary Janelle Cooper (Victoria Dillard); and his assistant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton). Janelle later became the mayor's secretary and Stacy Paterno (Jennifer Esposito) joined the show as Mike's. Each of them has to help run City Hall, improving the Mayor's image and cover for his frequent gaffes, while sorting out their personal lives.

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The Flying Nun

The Flying Nun was a sitcom produced by ABC based on the book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios. The sitcom ran for three seasons, and produced 82 color episodes from 1967 until 1970.

Developed by Bernard Slade, it centered on the adventures of a group of nuns in the Convent San Tanco in Puerto Rico. The comic elements of the storyline were provided by the flying ability of a novice nun, Sister Bertrille, played by Sally Field. She could be relied upon to solve any problem that came her way by her ability to catch a passing breeze and fly (attributed to her small stature and heavily starched cornette—the headgear for her habit). Her flying talents caused as many problems as they solved. She once explained her ability to fly as, "When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly."

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 56

The King of Queens

The King of Queens is an Emmy nominated, American comedy series that ran for nine seasons, from 1998 until 2007.

Blue-collar couple Doug and Carrie Heffernan (Kevin James and Leah Remini) share their home in Rego Park, Queens, New York with Carrie's oddball dad, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller). Doug, who makes a living as a parcel deliveryman with the fictional IPS (pun to UPS) often has to scheme to find time alone with Carrie, who works as a secretary for a law office. This is complicated by Arthur, who can be quite a handful — so much so that they hired a dog-walker, Holly (Nicole Sullivan), to look after him. When he is not working, clashing with Arthur, or nesting with Carrie, Doug hangs with his advice-giving buddies Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams), Spence Olchin (Patton Oswalt), and his cousin Danny Heffernan (Gary Valentine).

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Soap

Soap was an American sitcom that ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.

The show was a weekly half-hour long primetime comedy and its format was similar to that of a daytime soap opera. It aired for four seasons and 85 episodes, some episodes of which were one hour long. (The hour-long episodes were later split in two, yielding 93 half-hour episodes for syndication.)

Soap was among the earliest American primetime series to include a regular gay character (Jodie Dallas). Soap was a parody of daytime soap operas presented in a primetime sitcom. Like soap operas, the show's story was presented in a serial fashion and included melodramatic plot elements such as amnesia, alien abduction, demonic possession, murder, and kidnapping.

The cast included former soap opera actors. Robert Mandan (as Chester Tate) previously appeared on Search for Tomorrow as a leading man for Mary Stuart,and Donnelly Rhodes (as Dutch Leitner) who played the first husband of Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless.

Soap is set in the fictional town of Dunns River, Connecticut, and each episode begins with a shot of two women chatting over lunch as announcer Rod Roddy intones, "This is the story of two sisters: Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell".

In the very first opening sequence, the announcer says that the Tates live in a neighborhood known as "rich". The wealthy Tate family employs a sarcastic butler, Benson DuBois, played by Robert Guillaume, who is perhaps the only "normal" character on the series. In a long running gag, Benson looks up lugubriously whenever the doorbell rings and, as everyone stares expectantly at him, he remarks, "You want me to get that...?" In 1979, Guillaume's character was spun off into his own series, Benson. In Soap the name DuBois is never mentioned, and there are several suggestions that Benson is his surname. This seems to have only been changed for his spin-off series, a clear example of the Fonzie syndrome.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 57

The Young Ones

The Young Ones was a popular British sitcom, first seen in 1982, which aired on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. Soon after, it was shown on MTV in its early days, being one of the first television shows to appear on the fledgling channel when it wasn't showing music videos.

The programme revolved around four undergraduate students sharing a house: violent punk rocker Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), pompous anarchist Rick (Rik Mayall), long-suffering hippie Neil (Nigel Planer), and the mysterious and diminutive Mike (Christopher Ryan). It also featured Alexei Sayle, who played the quartet's landlord, Mr Balowski, and other members of the Balowski Family.

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My Three Sons

My Three Sons was a situation comedy that ran from September 29, 1960 to August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of an aeronautical engineer and widower Steve Douglas, played by Fred MacMurray, and his three sons. This seemingly simple premise was a huge hit and a cornerstone of the CBS lineup in the 1960s. With 380 episodes produced, it is second only to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as television's longest running (live-action) family sitcom. The show began on ABC in black-and-white, but moved to CBS for the 1965–66 season after ABC would not commit to the expense of producing the program in color.

Along with the change in networks and the transition to color, other changes happened during 1965: William Frawley (who had played Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy in the 1950s) played "Bub" the boy's maternal grandfather until he was declared too ill to work by Desilu Studios and the producers could no longer find insurance for him. They took a gamble on Frawley for half a season, until a suitable replacement could be found. He was replaced by William Demarest who played his brother Charley. According to Frawley's biography Meet the Mertzes, he was never pleased with being written out of the show. He would frequently return to the studio and criticize William Demarest's performances. Frawley died a short while later. Tim Considine, who had worked with MacMurray on The Shaggy Dog, played oldest son Mike and did not renew his contract. Considine was into car racing, which his contract forbade. The character was written out with Meredith MacRae who had played his fiance and (in his last episode) new wife.

To keep the show's title plausible, Tim Considine wrote a storyline where youngest brother Richard (better known as Chip - and played by Stanley Livingston) had an orphaned friend named Ernie Thompson (played by his real-life brother Barry Livingston) who was awaiting adoption. When Steve tries to adopt Ernie, he faces trouble as a widowed parent, until Uncle Charley (Demarest) comes to the rescue. (In the storyline, the law requires a woman to live in the home of an adoptee. The judge determined that the intent of the law was to make sure a full-time caregiver would be present; with Uncle Charley meeting that role, he assents to a legal fiction declaring him "housemother" to the Douglases.)

 

[AdelUniCrowFan]

53. Home Improvement
54. Kingswood Country
55. Spin City
56. King Of Queens

 

[Captain Sensible]

From a writing, casting, and delivery perspective, nothing has come close to AD in the last 10 years. i.e since Seinfeld.

Writing's good but the characters never develop, direction is confusing, performances are really good but a show needs more than that to make it great.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 58

Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from 1986 through 1993 on ABC. The show was moved around in the prime time lineup and eventually landed on Fridays as part of TGIF. It is about Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker), a high-strung Chicago resident, sharing his apartment with his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), a shepherd from the (fictional Greek-style) island nation of Mypos. Balki is naive, idealistic, and new to America; he often misunderstands the culture (with humorous results). Many episode plots involve Larry's schemes getting the better of him, causing him to subsequently need Balki's rescue (or vice versa). The series is rich in slapstick physical comedy based on Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello-like situations.

Although Balki's home country of Mypos is discussed as an independent nation on the show, it is evident that it is based on the Greek isles. The Myposian accent Pinchot performed in the series was originally based on a Greek accent. Balki's catch phrase is, "Of course not, don't be ridiculous!" (usually said in response to having been found out for something he did). Larry's catch phrase is, "I have...a plan," usually with Balki injecting "Oh, God" during the pause. Balki and Larry occasionally celebrate good fortune by dancing the "Dance of Joy," a silly cross between a Dosado and the Hokey Pokey.

vs

My Name Is Earl

My Name Is Earl is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom created by Greg Garcia. It is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. It is currently in its third season.

The series stars Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Eddie Steeples, and Nadine Velazquez. Lee stars as Earl J. Hickey, a petty crook with occasional run-ins with the law, whose newly-won $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car. While lying in his hospital bed after the accident, he develops a belief in the concept of karma when he hears about it during an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. He decides he wants to turn his life around and makes a list of all the bad things he's done. After a few good deeds, his $100,000 ticket comes back to him. He sees this as a sign and, with his new lucky money, he proceeds to cross items off that list, one-by-one, by doing good deeds to atone for them.

Suplee plays Earl's simple but kind-hearted younger brother, Randy Hickey, who is his sidekick as Earl seeks to atone for his past transgressions. Pressly plays Earl's ex-wife Joy Darville. The show also stars Steeples as Joy's husband Darnell Turner, whom Earl calls "Crabman", and Velazquez as Catalina Aruca, a good-hearted and beautiful jumping stripper/illegal immigrant/maid at the motel where the Hickey brothers live.

 

[Captain Sensible]

Home Improvment
Kingswood Country
Soap
Young Ones
My Name Is Earl

 

[Cousin Jed]

Kath & Kim
The Young Ones

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Match 59

Barney Miller

Barney Miller was a comedy television series set in a New York City police station that ran from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982.

Captain Miller tries to remain sane while running a police station manned by pessimistic nearing-retirement Philip K. Fish, naive Polish-American Stanley "Wojo" Wojciehowicz, suave African-American Ronald Nathan Harris, philosophical Japanese-American Nick Yemana (who makes awful coffee every day), diminutive (and obsequious) detective-wannabe Officer Carl Levitt and old-school, rambling superior Chief Inspector Franklin Luger. Neurotic Puerto Rican Detective Chano Amanguale was replaced by soi-disant intellectual Arthur P. Dietrich from the third season on.

The show's focus was split between the detectives' interactions with each other and with the suspects and witnesses they detain, process, and interview. Some typical conflicts and long running plotlines included Barney's frustration with red tape and paperwork, his constant efforts to maintain peace, order, and discipline, and his numerous failed attempts to get a promotion; Harris's preoccupation with the writing and publication of his novel, and his inability to remain focused on his police work; Fish's incontinence and reluctance to retire; Wojciehowicz's impulsive behavior and love life; Luger's morbid nostalgia for the old days with partners Foster, Kleiner and Brown; Levitt's (eventually successful) quest to be promoted to detective; and the rivalry between the precinct's resident intellectuals, Harris and Dietrich.

vs

Benson

Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979 to April 19, 1986 on ABC. The character of butler Benson DuBois, played by Robert Guillaume, had originally appeared on the soap opera parody Soap.

In the show, Benson had been hired to be the head of household affairs for scatterbrained and widowed Governor Eugene Gatling (James Noble), and his daughter Katie (Missy Gold); the state Gatling was governor of remained unidentified. Governor Gatling was cousin to Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond), a character on Soap. In spite of his somewhat off center personality, Governor Gatling proved to be a very capable and commanding figure when a crisis arose.

Benson's housekeeping dilemmas, his fights with the German housekeeper Gretchen Kraus (Inga Swenson), and his interactions with the governor's chief of staff, John Taylor (Lewis J. Stadlen, who would be replaced with Rene Auberjonois as Clayton Endicott after the first season), made up the bulk of the stories each week. In spite of their adversarial relationship, Benson and Kraus eventually became good friends.

Benson worked his way up the ladder during the series, going from butler to head of the Governor's household staff, to state budget director, and eventually was elevated to the position of Lieutenant Governor. During the final episodes of the 1985-1986 season, Benson ran for governor against Gatling. Kraus proved to be Benson's biggest supporter during this time as well. So much so, that he made her his personal assistant and campaign manager.

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The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was a long-running American television series, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. The series starred Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson (née Hilliard), and their young sons, David Nelson and Eric aka Ricky. The series attracted large audiences, although it was never a top-ten hit, it became synonymous with the 1950s ideal American family life. It is the longest running "live-action"/ non- animated sitcom in US TV history.