The Song Fight Bulletin Board

(carried over from Seinfeld thread)

TOP 5 SITCOMS OF ALL-TIME:
1. Blackadder
2. Fawlty Towers
3. The Simpsons
4. Seinfeld
5. Get Smart

(Honourable mentions which just miss the list: The Office, Red Dwarf, The Young Ones and South Park)

Many of those I wouldn't qualify as sitcoms (i.e. animated).

But I would say...

1. Fresh Prince
2: Full House
3: Family Matters
4: Faulty Towers
5: F..... f.... fuck. I can't think of another sitcom that starts with an f. I'm probably missing something really obvious. Wait, Family Ties, was that a show?

But really:

1. I Love Lucy
2. Fresh Prince
3. Chef
4. The Honeymooners
5. Bill Cosby

Doesn't get any better than those.

The Sober Irishman wrote:Many of those I wouldn't qualify as sitcoms (i.e. animated).

.

I don't think it matters if they're animated - Simpsons and South Park can be catagorised as sitcoms quite validly IMO.

well if cartoons count...

1. family guy
2. south park
3. andy griffith
4. i love lucy
5. i can't think of #5.

I don't count cartoons.

1. Seinfeld
2. Strangers with Candy*
3. Soap
4. Cheers
5. Taxi



*yeahyeahyeah, you hate this show, I don't care

Definition from http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Sitcom:
A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a format in which there are one or more humorous story lines centred around a common environment, such as a family home or workplace.

...well from the above definition I don't see any reason why The Simpsons or South Park wouldn't be called a sitcom.

But both you guys wrote I Love Lucy!?! Seriously? I've never seen a more un-funny or annoying show in my life

hmmm. 'guest' is caravanray - i don't know what happened to my identity

1. the simpsons
2. seinfeld
3. the andy griffith show
4. all in the family
5. the mary tyler moore show

15-16 puzzle wrote:2. Strangers with Candy

I'd agree that it's a good show. It came on right after the fantastic Upright Citizens Brigade on Mondays. YES!

I might be killed after saying this, but I've never watched a full episode of The Simpsons, and it was only once that I saw part of one. Is this bad? From the looks of the some of the lists, it appears to be a pretty good show. Should I invest my time into watching The Simpsons? My friend has a couple seasons on DVD, so I just might borrow them.

I can't actually think of five sitcoms worth preserving, but then again I have proved time and again that I have no sense of humour

However - cartoon sitcoms - easy!

1. The Simpsons (overall still the biggest impact)
2. Futurama
3. Family Guy
4. King of the Hill
5. South Park

(that's not including Monkey Dust which is great.)

j$

Calfborg wrote:Should I invest my time into watching The Simpsons? My friend has a couple seasons on DVD, so I just might borrow them.

yes, it's certainly worth borrowing them, and checking it out. not much to lose, right? i'd suggest not starting with season 1, it was a little rougher back then, but some may disagree. my fiancee and i have been buying the seasons as they come out - up to season 4 now. fun!
-bill

HeuristicsInc wrote:

Calfborg wrote:Should I invest my time into watching The Simpsons? My friend has a couple seasons on DVD, so I just might borrow them.

yes, it's certainly worth borrowing them, and checking it out. not much to lose, right? i'd suggest not starting with season 1, it was a little rougher back then, but some may disagree. my fiancee and i have been buying the seasons as they come out - up to season 4 now. fun!
-bill

The animation was hard going (in retrospect) but not that hard. And if you miss season 1 you miss a lot of crackers - including the electro-shock therapy episode and the skateboarding over Springfield Gorge episode which has the best visual gag ever in the Simpsons (and quite possibly the rest of comedy too.)

j$

in no order, and this is not a legally binding document:

seinfeld
newhart (with the hotel in vermont)
cheers
curb your enthusiasm
mork & mindy

-craig

j$ wrote:...skateboarding over Springfield Gorge episode which has the best visual gag ever in the Simpsons (and quite possibly the rest of comedy too.)

Ah, yes. But they outdid themselves with Bart's shaken beer can prank on Homer. What season or episode was that? I still laugh just vaguely remembering it.

1) Simpsons
2) Taxi
3) Newhart II
4) Cosby Show
5) All in the Family
6+) Soap, Cheers (w/ Shelly Long), Newhart I, Dr. Katz/Home Movies*

Also, there is a special class of inane sit-com; ones which have no real creative, innovative value but solidly do what sit-coms are supposed to do. They're hard to rank, but my list includes Mel's Diner (the distilled essence of sit-com form), Fresh Prince, Benson, The Nanny, Cheers (w/o Shelly Long), Three's Company, Family Ties, Night Court...

I'll stop for fear of embarrassing myself.

*Science Court, which wasn't really a sit-com, but should have been.

j$ wrote: And if you miss season 1 you miss a lot of crackers - including the electro-shock therapy episode and the skateboarding over Springfield Gorge episode which has the best visual gag ever in the Simpsons (and quite possibly the rest of comedy too.)

j$

The Springfield Gorge episode was in Season 2, which is the season I recommend you start with. That one's got some of my personal favorites, such as that episode, the one with Homer's half-brother, and the one where Marge takes up painting (the one with Ringo in it! Yeah!). Mmm mmm.


My top six sitcoms (not in order, and I don't count cartoons):

1. The Dick van Dyke Show
2. Taxi
3. The Odd Couple
4. Get Smart
5. MASH
6. The Bob Newhart Show (the first one, where he's a psychiatrist)

Yeah, I watched a ton of Nick at Nite when I was younger. There are many shows I've heard great things about but never seen, though, such as The Honeymooners.

Oh, and I totally agree with J$'s list of cartoons.

Generic wrote:

j$ wrote: And if you miss season 1 you miss a lot of crackers - including the electro-shock therapy episode and the skateboarding over Springfield Gorge episode which has the best visual gag ever in the Simpsons (and quite possibly the rest of comedy too.)

j$

The Springfield Gorge episode was in Season 2, which is the season I recommend you start with.

Oh yeah, my bad. The animation was too smooth to be season 1. Ah, still makes me smile just half-remembering it. Yeah, season 2. Go there.

I'm still trying to think of any sitcoms that I would get excited over. When I was younger, I loved 'The Young Ones'. Oh, actually, so obvious I completely forgot ...

1. Spaced.
2. Spaced.
3. Spaced.
4. Spaced.
5. Spaced.

If you get a chance to see it (i would imagine it's made it to the States) watch it. Made by the people who made 'Shaun of the Dead'. Just perfect.

j$

1. Seinfeld, no contest
2. All in the Family, changed television and popular culture forever
3. The Wonder Years, why isn't that on anyone else's list?????
4. Mary Tyler Moore Show, like a neverending fountain of impeccable craft
5. Simpsons

Runners-up
6. Frasier
7. Cheers
8. I Love Lucy
9. Dick van Dyke Show
10. Leave It to Beaver
11. Friends (first five years)
12. Bob Newhart Show (original)
13. Soap

Five most inexplcably popular sitcoms of all time:
1. Welcome Back Kotter
2. Will & Grace
3. That 70's Show
4. Murphy Brown
5. Golden Girls

Jim of Seattle wrote: 3. The Wonder Years, why isn't that on anyone else's list?????

because it's a dramedy

I thought of another one, possibly better than Spaced, even. Peepshow. Another channel 4 product. If it's broadcast ova there check it out. Sheer genius. The episode with the humanist funeral possibly tops even Spaced's genius '24 hours of playing Resident Evil/ridiculous Performance Art' episode.

Of course I'm pretty much covered in that you'll have to take my word for it unless the other UK songfighters wade in ....

I also quite liked Married with Children before Steve went and it became the proto auidence participation comedy.

J$

I've got 4. INPO.

Simpsons, Cheers, Soap, MASH.
I'm sure I can come up with another sometime.
-bill

it's funny. jim and i share 4 of 5 but i'm more of an andy griffith fan and he's more a wonder years fan.

i think the andy griffith show is possibly the most underrated best comedy sitcom of all time. not the color ones (the mayberry RFD ones pretty much stunk) but the black and white ones, with ernest t. bass, floyd the barber, otis, and the genius of barney fife. and aint bee.

Live action sitcoms:

1. Seinfeld
2. All in the Family
3. Taxi
4. The Honeymooners
5. I can't think of #5. I'm sure Mary Tyler Moore and Dick van Dyke and those are good and all, but I never got into them. Maybe the Jeffersons? Maybe Cheers? Maybe MASH?

Cartoon sitcoms:

1. Simpsons
2. South Park
3. Futurama
4. King of the Hill
5. Family Guy

Hmm, they kinda line up pretty nicely.