30. “Review” (2014-2017)
Recently wrapped up for good after a truncated third season, “Review” (a remake of an Australian show of the same name) proved that there was life in the mockumentary format yet in its show-within-the-show, in which Forrest MacNeil (Andy Daly) reviews life experiences from drug addiction and going to prom to being Helen Keller and being struck by lightning, to usually disastrous consequences even from the more benign-sounding ones. Daly’s complex, quietly insane performance is the heart of the show, but its genius is in the gradual accumulation of chaos that comes as Forrest refuses to throw in the towel.
29. “Spaced” (1999-2001)
It’s difficult to overstate the impact of seeing “Spaced” as it hit UK TV as a 13-year-old comedy fan and movie nerd. The high-concept premise of Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson’s series (directed by Edgar Wright) felt like a familiar one: two strangers pretend to be a couple in order to land a flat. But the execution was anything but: a dazzlingly cinematic, surreal, joke-packed half-hour that referenced everything from “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” to “Tomb Raider,” but never felt like it was lazily name-checking. TV comedy was never quite the same.
28. “Girls” (2012-2017)
It’s not that Lena Dunham’s era-defining comedy, only just recently ended after six seasons on HBO, didn’t deserve criticism — it could be blinkered, self-regarding and narrow in its view of the world. But so were its characters, pointedly, and the extent to which the show attracted haters and thinkpieces was vastly out of sync with its quality, which was remarkably high across the whole run. Smart, funny and wise beyond its years, or most people’s years, and bringing an unusually poetic quality to the half-hour comedy, it’ll likely be remembered long past the attacks as, if not the show of its generation, at least a show of a generation.
27. “Parks And Recreation” (2009-2015)
What began in development as a spin-off to “The Office” swiftly (after its not-great first season) turned into something else entirely, a show that used a similar mockumentary format to build a surprisingly expansive universe (few since “The Simpsons” have populated a town with this many memorable characters with such consistency). Greg Daniels and Michael Schur’s examination of the parks and rec department of a small Indiana town, led by the ever-upbeat Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), could match almost anything else on the air for density of jokes, but also proved in some ways to be the defining TV show of the Obama era, with a sunny, optimistic take on civics that, just two years since it wrapped up, feels more badly needed than ever.
26. “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (1976-1977)
We tend to know what to expect from Norman Lear shows — warmth, politics, light provocation, family. But one of his greatest creations, often overlooked today, took a rather different approach, with the syndicated soap-opera parody “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” Aired almost daily and racking up 325 episodes over a little more than a year, the show starred the extraordinary Louise Lasser as the title character, in a biting, absurdly plotted satire of consumerism and capitalism that remains influential on everything from “Girls” (in which Lasser had a small role) to “Mad Men.”
25. “Roseanne” (1988-1997)
Set to return to the air in 2018 as part of the all-consuming TV nostalgia, “Roseanne” probably remains the last truly great working-class American sitcoms. A vehicle for stand-up Roseanne Barr (while also helping introduce the world to co-stars John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf), the show followed a blue-collar Illinois family with a warmth, compassion and wit that made it the biggest show of its time. It petered off towards the end, but hopefully it’ll recapture the magic once it returns to screens next year.
24. “NewsRadio” (1995-1999)
The “Community” of its time, “NewsRadio” was outshone and outrated by some its NBC stablemates, and subject to frequent battles between creator Paul Simms and the network (its timeslot was moved 11 times in five years), yet still somehow managed to make it to nearly 100 episodes. A workplace comedy set among the eccentric cast of a radio station, but often kicking against or subverting any attempt at formula, it was inventive, consistently hilarious and beautifully performed by a cast of ringers including Dave Foley, Maura Tierney, Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Vicki Lewis, Khandi Alexander and, best of all, Phil Hartman (who was tragically killed by his wife at the end of its fourth season).
23. “Transparent” (2015-present)
The streaming era has led to a new run of ostensible comedies that don’t necessarily have the pressure to be funny all the time, and “Transparent” likely stands at the head of that pack. Jill Soloway’s semi-autobiographical Amazon show (likely still the best thing any streaming service has yet produced) follows a dysfunctional Jewish family in the aftermath of their erstwhile patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) announcing that she’s transitioning genders. Gorgeous-looking and -sounding in a way that would have been unthinkable for TV 10 years ago, it’s an ambitious, spiky (and yet, often very funny, even if it leans towards drama) series that’s infused with compassion, taking a brace of unsympathetic characters and making you love them like they were your own family.
22. “The Andy Griffith Show” (1960-1968)
It’s hardly cool to love “The Andy Griffith Show” — your grandparents or parents probably watched it growing up, it’s rarely dropped as a reference by hip Netflix creators, and it exemplifies a certain kind of nostalgic conservatism in many ways. But the show, created by Sheldon Leonard and starring Griffith as a widower sheriff in North Carolina, remains a delight nearly 60 years on for the chemistry between its stars (most notably Griffith and Don Knotts), for its loose comic rhythms, and for its sheer likability.
21. “Good Times” (1974-1979)/“The Jeffersons” (1975-1985)
Though never directly related, these two landmark African-American sitcoms have always sat side-by-side in our mind: they debuted less than a year apart on CBS, were both from the Norman Lear factory and formula, and were spun off from “All In The Family” (actually, technically “Good Times” was a spin-off of “Maudie,” which was a spin-off of “All In The Family”). And both looked at black American family life, albeit in different socio-economic worlds: the working-class Chicago projects vs. middle-class Manhattan. We probably prefer “Good Times,” which had a shorter and less uneven run, and more grit and substance to it. But both shows and the 400-odd episodes they produced between them remain templates for how to do a truly popular family sitcom.
