So Vulture did a thingie on which sitcom is the greatest of all time: Follow the Ultimate Sitcom Smackdown. The last two were Cheers and The Simpsons. The Simpsons won. In the interview I saw the guy said they won because the show is timeless. In other words the characters never age, the surroundings never change and so on. FOCUS: Take a look at the link and brackets. Which would have been your pick and why? Coming down between those two, for myself, being a child of the 80's I'd have gone with Cheers. If I had to pick overall between them all I'd go Roseanne all the way. To this day if I see Roseanne is on I always stop down. Nevermind I've seen every episode (up until that fake ass shit after the lottery win) I'm still watching.
I would've chosen Cheers over the Simpsons, too. "Timeless" is not really a successful argument as the deciding factor, to me. Cheers is just as funny today, even if they look like they're in 'period' costumes. The jokes / writing are what made that show great, not the hairstyles. And, I watch and enjoy Community . . . but how in the hell is it even in that bracket? How I Met Your Mother, Murphy Brown, and even News Radio come to mind as easily ahead of it.
I pretty much agree with how they laid out the bracket. While some of the shows were before my time (never really watched Cheers, only caught a little of the Cosby Show) I definitely understand their importance in sitcom history. The Simpsons should win. Say what you will about the recent seasons, but season 3 through about 9 or 10 are still some of the best things to hit TV. They're classics, and when the episodes are rerun, I always sit and watch and laugh just as much as I did the first time. I fully intend on sitting my kids down one day and laughing with them.
I love Arrested Development. While it doesn't have the longevity of some of the others listed there, I feel like every time I watch it, there are parts that I missed the last time around. It was just a really smart comedy for how they connected everything throughout its run. I'm excited for the new season coming out, yet nervous that it won't live up to past seasons. Friends the earlier years was pretty good, didn't watch the last couple of seasons. And while I watched and enjoyed Cheers, I still quote The Simpsons occasionally. So I'd have to go with The Simpsons.
Don't disagree with the outcome, or the final four, but that's a pretty limited list to start with. I didn't realize Sex and the City was a sitcom. I love Arrested Development, but South Park should win just for quality longevity alone. Friends over Golden Girls? Buuullllshit.
While I don't watch that many Sitcoms (Community and South Park are the only things I check out off that list, pretty much) the bracket wins my immediate approval for not having The Big Bang Theory on it. Man, fuck that show. The first time I caught a bit of it flipping through channels I genuinely thought it was about a bunch of gay dudes struggling to come out. It's precisely what you get when a dumb guy tries to write about how he assumes smart people behave. I do think South Park should definitely be a lot higher than it is in the rankings, though. Yes, they have a couple howlers now and again but that show is ALWAYS topical and has pissed off more stuffy people than you'd think was possible. Also, Family Guy (even though it's gone almost completely down the toilet recently bar the Star Wars specials) probably deserves a place up there too.
How can King of the Hill not be on that list? I'd take Futurama over The Simpsons. I used to watch the Simpsons every day for years, but the show jumped the shark years ago. The only times I watch the Simpsons these days is the Halloween episodes. Futurama doesn't have to worry about staying relevant or realistic because it's set in the future. Great shows that weren't on the list: -TV Funhouse -The Upright Citizens Brigade -Mr. Show with Bob and David -Wonder Showzen -Kids in the Hall -It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Freaks & Geeks, Archer, Everybody Loves Raymond all come in ahead of Community. Hell, I think Will & Grace is ahead of Community, right now. Not hating on Community, as I like it - I just think there were a LOT more choices to be considered before putting it on the bracket.
Married with Children should definitely be in over 30 Rock. I love Community but I agree with some that it shouldn't be included in an all-time best list. Although How I Met Your Mother deserves it even less. That show is shit and I will never understand its wide appeal. King of the Hill deserves consideration, although you needed to be in the right mindset to fully enjoy it. And I would've put It's Always Sunny in over SATC.
Live audience/laugh track sitcoms are monstrously overrated and always pandered for the neat tie-up. The "Steve" years of Married with Children broke that rule and brought blissful non-PC jokes to tv. Always Sunny and Family Guy make me laugh the hardest, also Venture Bros.
I'M STUCK IN A BASEMENT, SITTING ON A TRICYCLE, GIRL GETTIN' ON MY NERVES. I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND, I THOUGHT SHE WAS FINE, DON'T KNOW IF HER BODY IS HERS. Fresh Prince relegated to the undercard... Fuck that shit.
Right here, asserting Winslow/Urkel dominance over the Lambert/Foster clan http://www.vulture.com/2013/02/comedy-undercard-family-matters-vs-step-by-step.html
Roseanne was a ritual in my house, John Goodman truly immortalized the working class father as Dan. I especially loved the Halloween episodes, and Martin Mull was awesome as Rosie's gay boss. Fun fact: that was Traci Lords as Rosie's hot-but-dumbass cafe waitress
and The list of actors and actresses that appeared on that show over the years is very impressive. This is just a snippet of one season.
I cannot believe that Modern Family wasn't on the original list. Wow. A great ensemble cast and decent writing AND no fucking laugh track. I want to laugh myself, not hear some canned audience shit. There also seems to be no love for Californication or Nurse Jackie (though those may be in the sub-class of "fucked-up funny"). The Big Bang Theory, while a good show, would do SO much better with no goddamn laugh track - it would raise the Awkward by 1000% at least. The only show I laugh at more than Modern Family is South Park, though I haven't seen a new episode of SP for some time. Roseanne wasn't consistently aired here. Cheers was funny, but it doesn't match Modern Family in my opinion. EDIT: Forgot to add Spin City and 3rd Rock From The Sun. Both were consistently funny. Lithgow was excellent in 3rd Rock and Barry Bostwick always brought the funny/ridiculous to Spin City.
Shegirl: Here's the episode when Mark and David fight over Traci Lords while she's working at the Lunch Box .
I am glad that The Simpsons won. I consider its golden age to be seasons 3-8. I can watch 90% of the episodes from those seasons and not get tired of them. If I could have only included one animated show other than The Simpsons for the bracket then I would have had King of the Hill over South Park. I totally respect what Trey and Matt have done with the political incorrectness, but I feel like the show went downhill around the time that Isaac Hayes left. The episodes' plots used to be more character driven, with the four main characters getting into ridiculous situations but still keeping an innocence about them and learning a life lesson. But now they have made the characters way too eccentric, and most of the episodes are one joke affairs. Not every episode was gold, but King of the Hill was consistently good for 13 seasons. It didn't have as many great characters as The Simpsons, and as a result a lot of the episodes repeated themes (Bobby taking up some new venture that embarrasses Hank, Bill taking up a venture that gives himself a feeling of self worth, Dale taking up a crazy venture, etc.), but it was still funny and provided so many great lines that I still quote. That '70s Show would have definitely been in my bracket. It had six seasons that were consistently hilarious. And I thought that Step by Step was pretty funny up until the Codeman left the show. I saw reruns of Family Matters about 4 years ago and found that it held up pretty well, too.
This; Married With Children is my all-time favorite sitcom, and its a classic. How it wasn't even put on the bracket in the first place is beyond me. Same goes for M*A*S*H, some might say it became more drama than sitcom at times, but due to its longevity and popularity it should have gotten a place somewhere on the bracket. I can list several more sitcoms that should have gotten a place on the bracket; like The Beverly Hillbillies, Mama's Family, and Frasier; but that might be my own preferences. I will admit that I'm not pleased with the bracket either since it includes animated sitcoms with live-action sitcoms. On one hand I'm cool with The Simpsons beating out The Cosby Show, because I could get into Bill Cosby's style of humor. On the other hand however, trying to compare what you can do with cartoons with what human actors are capable of is like comparing a moped to a semi-truck; totally different in my book. So... Animated Sitcoms: with only two on the bracket, I'm gonna choose South Park over The Simpsons any day. The Simpsons are just stale; they might've been great at one time, but I can't recall the last time I even cracked a smile over something Bart Said or Homer did. South Park consistently makes me laugh, so it beats out The Simpsons. Live Action Sitcoms: Knocking The Simpsons out of the way it comes down to Sienfield against Cheers. Sienfield wins this easily; granted I've never watched many episodes of Cheers, although I've always enjoyed Kelsey Grammer. I will admit that I'm going with what I'm familiar with on this.