10. “M*A*S*H” (1972-1983)
Robert Altman’s spiky, innovatively chaotic, anarchic Korean war comedy “MASH” doesn’t at first seem like it would be an obvious candidate for TV translation. But Larry Gelbart’s 11-season-strong show did a remarkably good job in retaining the tragicomic, melancholy vibe of the movie while being recognizably sitcomish. Following the doctors, nurses and other staff of a Surgical Hospital during the Korean conflict in the 1950s (most notably Alan Alda’s Hawkeye), it has the peaks and troughs of any show that lasted 250 episodes, but as a whole really pushed the TV comedy on, with a darkness, seriousness of purpose and sharpness that network shows still mostly shy away from.
9. “The Office” (2001-2003)/“The Office” (2005-2013)
You can crap on the bulk of his subsequent work all you like (Lord knows we have), but Ricky Gervais created something near-perfect with “The Office,” a mockumentary about a paper-sales company in Slough that built on influences including Christopher Guest and ‘Larry Sanders’ to show a fascinating comic monster with his fair share of pathos, and the more likable figures around him. Few shows can claim to be flawless, but the original UK take comes damn close. The American remake doesn’t get there, but it’s still a remarkably good translation, taking the core of Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s concept, keeping what made it special, but building and extrapolating its world to make a warmer show with a deeper bench that’s nearly as enjoyable as the original. Just for God’s sake, avoid “David Brent: Life On The Road.”
8. “30 Rock” (2006-2013)
We probably took “30 Rock” for granted when it was on the air. Tina Fey’s show, set behind the scenes at an SNL-style sketch show, felt like the underdog at first, hitting the air opposite Aaron Sorkin’s more hyped, similarly premised “Studio 60,” and maintained such a strong level of quality that it just felt effortless. But on our countless rewatches since, it’s become clearer and clearer that, while there have been better sitcoms, that haven’t been many that are as purely funny: Fey’s gag rate across the seven seasons is a formidable thing, her creations, from Jane Krakowski’s unfathomably vain Jenna to Tracy Morgan’s bonkers Tracy to, of course, Alec Baldwin’s corporate titan Jack Donaghy, all indelible, the fast-paced cartoon vibe so dense with jokes that we still find new ones.
7. “Taxi” (1978-1982)
Tone is all-important in all genres, but especially comedy: the comic world you creates needs a consistency to it, and dropping a surreal “30 Rock”-type gag in the midst of a more realistic show will throw your audience off. Few shows mastered tone better than “Taxi,” which followed the employees of the Sunshine Cab Company in Manhattan. In some ways a social-realist look at working-class life, in others a broad-enough show that it could feature Andy Kaufman’s Latka (who would eventually get multiple personality disorder too), “Taxi” could have been a mess, but it always felt coherent and controlled. As good as the writing and direction always was, it was the extraordinary cast, full of present and future stars — Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Kaufman, Carol Kane — that put it firmly in the hall of fame.
6. “Fawlty Towers” (1975-1979)
It’s easy to joke about British sitcom work ethic when some of the best comedies the country ever produced barely made it to a dozen episodes. But at the same time, we’d take 12 episodes of “Fawlty Towers” over 12 seasons of “The Big Bang Theory” any day of the week. The greatest contribution to comedy from John Cleese (and he was in Monty Python, so you know that means something), the show, co-created with then-wife Connie Booth, sees the star play the uptight, ever-tense owner of a seaside hotel. Plotted and executed with the intricacy of clockwork, it has little on its mind beyond a desire to make you laugh to the extent that you fall off the couch, and yet manages to be near-definitive about class and snobbery in Britain too.
5. “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957)
Lucy Ricardo is a TV icon that few can compete with — it’s telling that the first time we met the god of Media (Gillian Anderson) in the excellent “American Gods,” she was dressed as the central character from “I Love Lucy.” The pioneering CBS comedy saw Lucille Ball’s Lucy hoping to make it showbiz while her husband (Desi Arnaz) is increasingly tested by her. It’s featherlight stuff in its plotting, but pulled along by the great writing by Jess Oppenheimer and others, and principally by Ball’s performance. She was unquestionably one of the greatest comic actors we’ve ever had, and even the weaker episodes turned into joy in her hands. The history of television comedy looks very, very different without “I Love Lucy.”
4. “Seinfeld” (1989-1998)
It’s so odd that “Seinfeld” became the biggest show on TV. It, famously, was the “show about nothing,” it had no high-concept premise or shiny selling-point, it’s characters were often highly unsympathetic, and it didn’t even perform that well in the ratings to begin with. But the show, created by stand-up Jerry Seinfeld with Larry David, eventually turned into a behemoth of the sort that has rarely been seen in television. And it could only be because of how good it was. It was the archetypal hang-out show, as Jerry and his three friends (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards) are put through the wringer by modern life, and there’s just a strange alchemy that comes out when they’re given the writing by David & co. that turns it into a series that’s far, far greater than the sum of its parts.
3. “Cheers” (1982-1993)
‘A man walks into a bar,’ goes one of the most famous joke set-ups possible. And it’s a joke so durable that it essentially formed the basis of 11 seasons of what you could certainly argue is the most consistently great sitcom ever shown, “Cheers.” It has almost the most basic premise imaginable: the staff and regulars of a bar in Boston just kind of hang out together. But James Burrows, Glen Charles and Les Charles’ show excelled because of the great characters that it put together in its particular melting pot — former baseball star Sam, grad student Diane, Coach, Carla, Norm, Cliff, Frasier, Woody and co. — who can play off each other in endless combinations or as an ensemble (and few shows have ever done ensemble shows better). Right from the beginning, you know that you’d happily spend 275-odd episodes with them.
2. “The Simpsons” (1989 – present)
It’s a testament to the cumulative greatness of “The Simpsons” that for at least half of its 28-season run, it’s only been so-so in quality, and yet it still places this high, and could have easily threatened to place on top. Matt Groening’s creations aren’t quite what they once were (though if you haven’t watched in a while, it’s still more enjoyable than probably 85% of network comedies), but for a decade or more near the beginning, it was legendary: a generation-defining, ever-inventive, ever-surprising universe of LOL, with not just characters but entire jokes and quotes that have passed into pop-culture lore. Chances are that you know at least one episode by heart (“Cape Feare,” for us), and probably a few hundred lines or gags, so patchy 14 seasons be damned, this is where it deserves to be.
1. “The Larry Sanders Show” (1992-1998)
Finding a top pick here was a tough job — almost everything in at least the top 10 had a convincing argument behind it, and on another day we might have gone for a different choice entirely. But it was possibly Garry Shandling’s sad passing last year that solidified the idea that the HBO comedy that he created with Dennis Klein would be the one. Almost every show you’ve loved in the last two decades, from “The Office” to “30 Rock,” owes the series, which looked at the behind-the-scenes world of a late-night talk show, an enormous debt. Indeed, as the first major premium cable comedy, freed up to handle more adult material, it essentially created a genre that takes up half of what’s on the air. Formally speaking, it pioneered the walk-and-talk that “The West Wing” and “E.R.” would later make hay with. And it gave birth to the careers of, among others, Judd Apatow and Bob Odenkirk. But more than that, it’s just breathtakingly funny, whether in the subversive, sharp cameos from everyone to Dana Carvey to Jerry Seinfeld, or the petty work rivalries, or in the vanity and insecurity of Shandling’s Larry. And it was never not funny. The more we think about, the more we feel that this was the only choice we could have made.
We capped our list off at 50, but even then there were plenty of other shows we would have loved to include, but didn’t quite make the cut. Perhaps the most notable omission might be “The Cosby Show.” An iconic and beloved show to be sure, and one that many of us grew up, and on one hand, it’s unfair to tarnish the work of those who worked so hard on it with the alleged crimes of the man whose name is on it. On the other hand, fuck Bill Cosby.
We also strongly considered the James L. Brooks-produced “WKRP In Cincinnati,” pioneering HBO comedy “Get A Life,” Mike Judge’s animated “King Of The Hill,” the classic “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” Steve Coogan showcase “I’m Alan Partridge,” uproarious faux-’80s-horror-comedy “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace,” and long-running dating fave “How I Met Your Mother.”
There was also “Daria,” “Girlfriends,” “Sports Night,” “Scrubs,” “Will & Grace,” “Father Ted,” “The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air,” “The Golden Girls,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Blackadder,” “The Young Ones,” “Extras,” “The Three Stooges,” “The Abbott And Costello Show,” “Martin,” “Reno 911,” “Married…With Children,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Boondocks,” “A Different World,” “Barney Miller,” “The Wonder Years,” “Family Ties,” “Mad About You,” “Happy Days,” “Family Guy,” “Bewitched,” “Murphy Brown, “Get Smart,” “Spin City,” “The Wayans Brothers,” “Night Court,” “The Comeback,” “Dad’s Army,” “Absolutely Fabulous,” “Futurama,” “The Game,” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”
And of course, more recent favorites which, with the test of time, could well break into that top 50: shows like “Master Of None,” “Atlanta,” “Fleabag,” “Catastrophe,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Fresh Off The Boat,” “Happy Endings,” “The Last Man On Earth,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Search Party,” “Baskets,” “You’re The Worst,” “Rick And Morty,” “Chewing Gum” and “Party Down.”
Any others we might have missed? Let us know in the comments.