Television

I agree with @waruv on how difficult a list like this is. Defining 'sit-com' is tricky.

Married with Children is a definite snub. And yeah, Three's Company maybe should sneak in too. John Ritter was fantastic. I'd maybe lobby for Laverne and Shirley, as it was superior to Happy Days and Mork & Mindy...but I can't find episodes of it anywhere to see if it is as good as I remember.

Also, I know it's not great, but Brady Bunch would be in my top 10. I adored it as a kid and now it's just stuck in there as an all-time favorite for me.
 
I’m not seeing Family Matters, Step by Step, Dharma & Greg, Two Guys A Girl and a Pizza Place, or Happy Endings but it could just be that Rolling Stone’s website is glitchy and keeps crashing on my phone.

I also think there’s an element with sitcoms of how well they speak to the time that they’re airing in and those kinds of things might not age well or make sense out of context. I feel like dramatic shows are naturally more timeless [love and death will always be interesting], whereas comedies have to be fresh to work well because the jokes have to meet the audience where they’re at in order to land. Superstore is a pretty funny show but it’s the way it jokes about and connects to things going on in America specifically in the past handful of years that sucks you in.
 
Ericj32 said:
I’m not seeing Family Matters, Step by Step, Dharma & Greg, Two Guys A Girl and a Pizza Place, or Happy Endings but it could just be that Rolling Stone’s website is glitchy and keeps crashing on my phone.

I also think there’s an element with sitcoms of how well they speak to the time that they’re airing in and those kinds of things might not age well or make sense out of context. I feel like dramatic shows are naturally more timeless [love and death will always be interesting], whereas comedies have to be fresh to work well because the jokes have to meet the audience where they’re at in order to land. Superstore is a pretty funny show but it’s the way it jokes about and connects to things going on in America specifically in the past handful of years that sucks you in.
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I can't speak to the other shows, but Family Matters and Step by Step might be nostalgia obscuring your memory of those shows. Where Fresh Prince of Bel-Air holds up, Family Matters and Step by Step are very difficult to watch.
 
ranbalam said:
Here's a fun list...

www.rollingstone.com

100 Best Sitcoms of All Time

From classic romcoms to workplace mockumentaries, cringe comedies to antihero showcases, some shows that defy definition, greatest sitcoms.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
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Glad to see a lot of my favorites on here. So many others missing - The IT Crowd, Black Books, Archer, Silicon Valley, Trailer Park Boys, The Boondocks, My Name Is Earl, Boy Meets World come to mind.

Really glad to see Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, Bojack, 30 Rock, Roseanne, and Curb above The Office. I fully endorse this decision.

Cool to see some kids shows that follow the sitcom format on here as well, didn't expect that.

Futurama (personal #1, see avatar) at 74 is a crime though. I always thought it was better than Simpsons.
 
Fillip J Phry said:
Glad to see a lot of my favorites on here. So many others missing - The IT Crowd, Black Books, Archer, Silicon Valley, Trailer Park Boys, The Boondocks, My Name Is Earl, Boy Meets World come to mind.

Really glad to see Parks and Rec, Arrested Development, Bojack, 30 Rock, Roseanne, and Curb above The Office. I fully endorse this decision.

Cool to see some kids shows that follow the sitcom format on here as well, didn't expect that.

Futurama (personal #1, see avatar) at 74 is a crime though. I always thought it was better than Simpsons.
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The actual order of these shows seems unimportant. They don't actually think some cartoon named Bluey that I've never heard of is a better comedy than Schitt's Creek, do they?
 
Max Sterling said:
The actual order of these shows seems unimportant. They don't actually think some cartoon named Bluey that I've never heard of is a better comedy than Schitt's Creek, do they?
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As someone who has seen Bluey, but not seen Shitt's Creek, I have to agree with their decision at present.

Shitt's Creek's on the list to watch though, so that will (likely) change someday.
 
Max Sterling said:
I can't speak to the other shows, but Family Matters and Step by Step might be nostalgia obscuring your memory of those shows. Where Fresh Prince of Bel-Air holds up, Family Matters and Step by Step are very difficult to watch.
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I didn’t realize they’re both on Hulu and I just watched the first episode of Step by Step and I thought it was fine. Looks like episode 2 is a crossover featuring Steve Urkel.

what makes them difficult to watch for you?
 
Ericj32 said:
I didn’t realize they’re both on Hulu and I just watched the first episode of Step by Step and I thought it was fine. Looks like episode 2 is a crossover featuring Steve Urkel.

what makes them difficult to watch for you?
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They are cheesy bad TV in a “Too Many Cooks” kinda way. That being said. I love bad 90s sitcoms and me and the SO have rewatched quite a few of these. Based on Urkel’s ubiquitousness across the TGIF line-up you could say that Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Step By Step, and Full House all took place within the same TGIF universe. Urkel appeared on Step By Step twice (once teaching his dance “The Urkel” to the cast) he also would show up on an Episode of Full House as DJ’s friend’s annoying cousin. While there he helped Stephanie Tanner cope with getting glasses. He never appeared on Perfect Strangers but Family Matters was a spin off of Perfect Strangers where Harriett Winslow was the wise-cracking Elevator Operator in Balki and Cousin Larry’s building. Good stuff. I haven’t recently watch Dinosaurs, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, or Sabrina The Teenage Witch to see if any of them fit into the Urkel-verse but It wouldn’t surprise me.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
They are cheesy bad TV in a “Too Many Cooks” kinda way. That being said. I love bad 90s sitcoms and me and the SO have rewatched quite a few of these. Based on Urkel’s ubiquitousness across the TGIF line-up you could say that Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Step By Step, and Full House all took place within the same TGIF universe. Urkel appeared on Step By Step twice (once teaching his dance “The Urkel” to the cast) he also would show up on an Episode of Full House as DJ’s friend’s annoying cousin. While there he helped Stephanie Tanner cope with getting glasses. He never appeared on Perfect Strangers but Family Matters was a spin off of Perfect Strangers where Harriett Winslow was the wise-cracking Elevator Operator in Balki and Cousin Larry’s building. Good stuff. I haven’t recently watch Dinosaurs, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, or Sabrina The Teenage Witch to see if any of them fit into the Urkel-verse but It wouldn’t surprise me.
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Dinosaurs too. If you remember there was an episode where Steve built a time machine and accidently went back to dino time. It was one of those "very special episodes" where they used his appearance to teach the baby about diversity.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
They are cheesy bad TV in a “Too Many Cooks” kinda way. That being said. I love bad 90s sitcoms and me and the SO have rewatched quite a few of these. Based on Urkel’s ubiquitousness across the TGIF line-up you could say that Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Step By Step, and Full House all took place within the same TGIF universe. Urkel appeared on Step By Step twice (once teaching his dance “The Urkel” to the cast) he also would show up on an Episode of Full House as DJ’s friend’s annoying cousin. While there he helped Stephanie Tanner cope with getting glasses. He never appeared on Perfect Strangers but Family Matters was a spin off of Perfect Strangers where Harriett Winslow was the wise-cracking Elevator Operator in Balki and Cousin Larry’s building. Good stuff. I haven’t recently watch Dinosaurs, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, or Sabrina The Teenage Witch to see if any of them fit into the Urkel-verse but It wouldn’t surprise me.
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I just watched the second episode of Step by Step and saw him teaching everyone how to do “the Urkel”.

I think I love how these shows own their cheesiness and don’t try to pretend like they’re doing anything other than trying hard to make you laugh. I laughed out loud more to those two episodes than I usually do when watching other shows. A lot of it is probably nostalgia for these characters, but i love the cheesy music, the theme song, and the outfits, too.
 
Lord Diaper Baby said:
Dinosaurs too. If you remember there was an episode where Steve built a time machine and accidently went back to dino time. It was one of those "very special episodes" where they used his appearance to teach the baby about diversity.
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Like this is sounds both completely absurd and completely plausible at the same time based on other “inventions” and absurd plots contrived to fit Urkel into certain shows. I am pretty sure if I recall, his first “visit” to the Step By Step house he literally fell out of the sky after some jet pack he invented failed which is pretty amazing that he managed to rocket from the South side of Chicago to southern Wisconsin uninjured and though he was like 12 he just stayed with the Step By Step gang for the weekend.

Basically, what I am saying is that if you did make up this Lord you really missed your calling as a 90s Miller-Boyett TV writer.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Like this is sounds both completely absurd and completely plausible at the same time based on other “inventions” and absurd plots contrived to fit Urkel into certain plots. I am pretty sure if aI recall, his first “visit” to the Step By Step house he literally fell out of the sky after some jet pack he invented failed which is pretty amazing that he managed to rocket from the South side of Chicago to southern Wisconsin uninjured and though he was like 12 he just stayed with the Step By Step gang for the weekend.

Basically, what I am saying is that if you did make up this Lord you really missed your calling as a 90s Miller-Boyett TV writer.
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Sorry, sorry. This is awkward and my bad. In my excitement to join in on one of my favorite topics - the golden age of television aka TGIF Classic - I characterized what I was talking about as an "episode". My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true; but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. While I think of it as an episode, it would probably not fit with your definition of "episode".

I was actually referring to the TGIFF series I produce. That is, "Thank Goodness It's Fan Fiction" - which is fan fiction I make within the various TGIF properties. I actually thought I've mentioned it enough in this thread to give it context but maybe not.

I've got the storyboard panels all drawn up and the script hashed out. That one actually took me a while. I wanted to present the "very special episode" dealing with diversity but I didn't want to be heavy-handed. So, I had the baby discriminate against Steve being a nerd. For older viewers (or readers), it would be an obvious surrogate for race and for younger audiences it would hopefully work as a deployable stand-in and create a perspective agnostic of a specific issue.
 
Lord Diaper Baby said:
Sorry, sorry. This is awkward and my bad. In my excitement to join in on one of my favorite topics - the golden age of television aka TGIF Classic - I characterized what I was talking about as an "episode". My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true; but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not. While I think of it as an episode, it would probably not fit with your definition of "episode".

I was actually referring to the TGIFF series I produce. That is, "Thank Goodness It's Fan Fiction" - which is fan fiction I make within the various TGIF properties. I actually thought I've mentioned it enough in this thread to give it context but maybe not.

I've got the storyboard panels all drawn up and the script hashed out. That one actually took me a while. I wanted to present the "very special episode" dealing with diversity but I didn't want to be heavy-handed. So, I had the baby discriminate against Steve being a nerd. For older viewers (or readers), it would be an obvious surrogate for race and for younger audiences it would hopefully work as a deployable stand-in and create a perspective agnostic of a specific issue.
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I’d watch that. Disney has plenty of money and needs content for Disney+. It sounds like a no brainer to me.

It sounds like it would fit right in with some other Dinosaurs very special episodes…
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I’d watch that. Disney has plenty of money and needs content for Disney+. It sounds like a no brainer to me.

It sounds like it would fit right in with some other Dinosaurs very special episodes…
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Yup! I remember that one. Can we also acknowledge how dark the ending of Dinosaurs was?
 
Lord Diaper Baby said:
Yup! I remember that one. Can we also acknowledge how dark the ending of Dinosaurs was?
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I feel like everything about that show creeped me out. I remember watching it and feeling really weird about it. I remember that episode about the steroids and feeling really unsettled that that one dude had a box of live animals that he was eating alive, and not really getting why the son turned into a monster. Freaked me out.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I’d watch that. Disney has plenty of money and needs content for Disney+. It sounds like a no brainer to me.

It sounds like it would fit right in with some other Dinosaurs very special episodes…
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BTW, I love these Funny or Die videos of 90s shows. The Zack Morris is Trash series is one of the best.

TBH, the evidence is pretty damning....Zack Morris is trash
 
Lord Diaper Baby said:
BTW, I love these Funny or Die videos of 90s shows. The Zack Morris is Trash series is one of the best.

TBH, the evidence is pretty damning....Zack Morris is trash
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100%. I spent several slow Saturday’s at work wading my way through both series. Hilarious shit! If I recall, I think the guy that produces the series actually was brought in as a writer on the Save By The Bell relaunch.
 
Ericj32 said:
I didn’t realize they’re both on Hulu and I just watched the first episode of Step by Step and I thought it was fine. Looks like episode 2 is a crossover featuring Steve Urkel.

what makes them difficult to watch for you?
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To me the writing is bad, the laugh track over used, the jokes forced, the acting over done. I tried watching them out of nostalgia a while back and cringed more than laughed. Same thing with the original Ninja Turtles Cartoon, they just don't hold up to me.
 
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