Caroline Aherne
Mrs. Merton
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Jun 26, 2024 · Some of the greatest comedies in contemporary television are arguably not comedies at all, but find moments of levity between nonstop tension and heartbreaking drama.
- Ben Travers
- Jeremy Urquhart
- 18
- 2 min
- 'The Golden Girls' (1985 - 1992) Creator: Susan Harris. Many sitcoms over the years have centered on young and/or middle-aged characters, but The Golden Girls is perhaps the best sitcom to focus on older (let's say "past middle-aged") characters.
- 'Modern Family' (2009 - 2020) Creators: Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. It's impressive to look back on Modern Family and realize it was on the air for the entirety of the 2010s (and one year either side of the decade, for good measure).
- 'Parks and Recreation' (2009 - 2015) Creators: Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. Parks and Recreation is certainly a show that ended better than it started, with a very brief first season that ran for just six episodes while feeling like a warm-up for what was to come.
- 'Veep' (2012 - 2019) Creator: Armando Iannucci. Veep is a hilariously vulgar political comedy that serves as one of many shows that demonstrate how fun it can be to watch bad people do bad things on a TV screen.
- Oliver Lyttelton
- “Broad City” (2014 – present) It could have been taken, at first glance, as a cheap cash-in on the thinkpiece-inspiring success of “Girls.”
- “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” (2005 – present) The slow-burning success of “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” has almost no precedent in TV history.
- “Silicon Valley” (2014 – present) He was an animation king thanks to “Beavis And Butt-Head” and “King Of The Hill,” but live-action success long eluded Mike Judge, with films like “Office Space” and “Idiocracy” failing to find audiences despite their obvious brilliance.
- “Everybody Hates Chris” (2005-2008) Chris Rock was hardly the first stand-up to put out a show drawing on his own experiences growing up, but the utterly charming “Everybody Hates Chris” wasn’t quite what anyone was expecting — owing more to “The Wonder Years” than to most family shows, it saw the young Chris (Tyler James Williams) growing up in Bed-Stuy, with an authentically working-class vibe that’s too hard to find on TV, then or now; a nicely nostalgic reconstruction of the 1980s; and a pleasingly functional, if often bickering, family (including a breakout turn by Terry Crews as his dad).
- Marc Chacksfield
- Only Fools And Horses - Del Boy Falls Through The Bar. Watch now on YouTube. Episode: ‘Yuppy Love’ (Series 6, Episode 1, 1989) Written by: John Sullivan.
- Blackadder - A Bout Of ‘Insanity’ Watch now on YouTube. Episode: ‘Goodbyeee’ (Series 4, Episode 6, 1989) Written by: Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. This scene perfectly encapsulates how this season of Blackadder dealt with difficult topics like death and war-related mental illness.
- Fawlty Towers - “Don’t Mention The War!” Watch now on YouTube. Episode: ’The Germans’ (Series 1, Episode 6, 1975) Written by: John Cleese and Connie Booth.
- Father Ted. Watch on YouTube now. Episode: ’A Christmassy Ted’ (Christmas Special, 1996) Written by: Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. Again another Irish sitcom on the list made by a British company (hence its inclusion), Father Ted always ranks high in the 'best sitcoms of all time' list - and for good reason, it's a joy (as long as you can separate creator from creation)!
- Ready for a laugh? Sitcoms are the comfort food of entertainment, the things we turn to when we need a boost or a smile. Unlike other genres of the best TV shows—like, say, crime shows, which we need to be in the mood to watch—we are always ready for a few laughs.
- Frasier (1993–2004) Famous catchphrase: “Off you go!” Kelsey Grammer starred as Frasier Crane, a role that originated during season three of Cheers, when he joined the show as a love interest for the snooty, intellectual barmaid Diane Chambers (Shelley Long).
- Designing Women (1986–1993) Memorable episode: “The Beauty Contest” Designing Women premiered in 1986, almost one year to the day after The Golden Girls premiered (don’t worry, we’ll discuss those ladies later), and while its formula featuring four outspoken and hilarious women certainly rode on the shoulders of its predecessor, it was a much different show.
- The Good Place (2016–2020) Memorable episode: “Michael’s Gambit” The Good Place is unique in that it combined a sitcom about “dirtbag human beings” with deep philosophical teachings.
Aug 22, 2023 · The 50 best TV comedies since 2000. From mega-hits like How I Met Your Mother to cult favorites like The IT Crowd, we're counting down the shows that made us laugh the most so far this century. By.
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2 days ago · Vote for your favorite sitcoms of all time and see how they rank among the 275 funniest and best shows ever made.
