Streaming Best sitcoms: How would you rank them?

[JHF1870]

I've been inspired to start watching some more complete seasons of sitcoms to see which ones I think are the best. Gonna start with Parks and Recreation.

TBH I haven't really watched any of the modern ones in full aside from Modern Family, The Middle, Malcolm in The Middle, Full House and some of the other 80s/90s sitcoms etc. Might be an opportunity for me to buy some more DVD box sets.


How would you rank, or rate them and what are the 'must watch' series.


I've always been fond of the ones aforementioned and some of the 80s and 90s sitcoms.

I'm thinking there are different genres and styles, from office/workplace, family and home, sport and social groups, school, crazy edgy and absurd, classic sitcoms (Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends), and Niche or cult classics.

I'd definitely rank Frasier higher than Seinfeld and Friends.

 

[Forward Press]

Anything by Michael Schur really. Parks and Rec, The Good Place, The Office (US) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all fine comedies from start to finish.

 

[Gralin]

Anything by Michael Schur really. Parks and Rec, The Good Place, The Office (US) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all fine comedies from start to finish.

Parks and Rec doesn't really hit it's stride untill season two and it works best if you act like it ended after season six

But those five seasons are bloody great

 

[JHF1870]

Anything by Michael Schur really. Parks and Rec, The Good Place, The Office (US) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all fine comedies from start to finish.

Theyve created a generation of memes.

I was a huge Full House fan in the day. Been meaning to get DVDS of Growing Pains

 

[Forward Press]

Parks and Rec doesn't really hit it's stride untill season two and it works best if you act like it ended after season six

But those five seasons are bloody great

All of those comedies you could argue had weaker seasons, but I'd argue they were still quality.

Difficult to find a long running comedy that never had a weaker season. Maybe Schitt's Creek?

 

[JHF1870]

All of those comedies you could argue had weaker seasons, but I'd argue they were still quality.

Difficult to find a long running comedy that never had a weaker season. Maybe Schitt's Creek?

I watched a bit of that one with the Turtle character who doesn't get cast in anything anymore. I couldn't get into White Lotus as much as Ross Lyon tried to promote.

Entourage

 

[Forward Press]

Scrubs is also extremely good - if you don't watch the spin off last season.

It is also resuming next month too.

 

[JHF1870]

Scrubs is also extremely good - if you don't watch the spin off last season.

It is also resuming next month too.

Most are on stan and or binge so good for me when have downtime

 

[Gralin]

All of those comedies you could argue had weaker seasons, but I'd argue they were still quality.

Difficult to find a long running comedy that never had a weaker season. Maybe Schitt's Creek?

I love parks and rec but season 7 really wasn't needed

And you could wonder what all the fuss is about if you never got past season one

Schitts Creek is phenomenal

 

[crafty_bernardo]

It's Always Sunny
Scrubs
Curb
How I Met Your Mother
Parks Rec

 

[Mr Meow]

Excluding dramedies (mostly) and animated comedies, my shortlist:

The Thick Of It
Veep
Blackadder
Frasier
Seinfeld
Malcolm In The Middle
Peep Show
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Spaced
Fawlty Towers
Only Fools And Horses
30 Rock
Scrubs
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The IT Crowd
What We Do In The Shadows
Louie
Cheers
Parks and Recreation
I'm Alan Partridge
Extras
The Office (UK and US)
Trailer Park Boys
Fleabag
Black Books
Schitt's Creek
Workaholics
Community
Arrested Development
Father Ted

A few others I watched in my younger years and can still probably enjoy, but not sure objectively they're actually that great.

Ranking them would be difficult. Maybe I'll do that later.

 

[dumb]

i like seinfeld, curb, fawlty towers. archer (my watching trailed off after about 7 seasons). red dwarf, the office (not yet seen US version)

 

[swingdog]

Archer - writing in first 4 seasons was chef's kiss
Fawlty Towers - amazing how well it holds up as comedic writing, 50 years later
Cheers - especially after Woody and Rebecca joined
Frasier - pretty much perfect until Niles and Daphne got together
Office (UK) - like Fawlty Towers, less is better, pretty much perfect from the get-go
Fleabag - brilliant and heat-breaking, went up a notch in second season
Brooklyn 99 - one of the few US comedies to do absurdity as well as the British
Simpsons - I only watch episodes up to season 10 and pretend the rest don't exist

 

[JHF1870]

I know this is going to be controversial but I'm working on my all time rankings for TV Sitcoms, got a lot to watch. A heap of shows I'll get through the first season. Some I'll flick through the best episodes to see if it's worth ranking further. (Only if its A or higher)

So here's my list, I'm sure this will be controversial but here goes.

A+ is the gold standard. Top of the list, top tier, and elite. Silver is for the next best, but just not quite top tier. The bronze is for the rest. Then the stuff I don't rate.

 

[JHF1870]

Stuff I need to get through.

I'm going to start with Parks and Recreation pilot and then watch whatever pilots I can find and then pick the one I want to watch the first season of. Be interesting to see which one piques my interest, and be interesting to see how I rate these.

Anything missing let me know.

Veep
The Golden Girls
Roseanne
Arrested Development
Scrubs
M.A.S.H
Are You Been Served
Dads Army
Black Adder
Only Fools and Horses
The Office
Parks & Recreation
The Inbetweeners
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Gilligan's Island
30 Rock
Community
New Girl
How I Met Your Mother
Ted Lassoo
Abbott Elementary
Superstore
Schitt's Creek
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

 

[Forward Press]

Stuff I need to get through.

I'm going to start with Parks and Recreation pilot and then watch whatever pilots I can find and then pick the one I want to watch the first season of. Be interesting to see which one piques my interest, and be interesting to see how I rate these.

Anything missing let me know.

Veep
The Golden Girls
Roseanne
Arrested Development
Scrubs
M.A.S.H
Are You Been Served
Dads Army
Black Adder
Only Fools and Horses
The Office
Parks & Recreation
The Inbetweeners
Brooklyn Nine Nine
Gilligan's Island
30 Rock
Community
New Girl
How I Met Your Mother
Ted Lassoo
Abbott Elementary
Superstore
Schitt's Creek
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The Good Place is a must imo. I also had lots of fun with The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. But otherwise you've got solid opinions and a good watch list.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy Scrubs (sans last spinoff season), Brooklyn Nine Nine and Schitt's Creek, I have so many great memories from watching them and I still fondly remember key scenes and episodes from those series.

 

[JHF1870]

Im on first ep of Brooklyn Nine Nine as I couldnt use binge. Love the comedy and flashbacks

 

[JHF1870]

Brooklyn Nine Nine two eps in and Im penciling in for at least A- at worst

 

[Norwegian Blue]

All of those comedies you could argue had weaker seasons, but I'd argue they were still quality.

Difficult to find a long running comedy that never had a weaker season. Maybe Schitt's Creek?

I thought the last season of Schitt's Creek was much weaker than what had gone earlier. The whole 'getting rich again by starting a motel chain' plotline was boring. Still better than 90% of other comedies though.

For me, the best sitcoms tend to be the shorter ones that don't drag on well past their use-by date. E.g. Fawlty Towers only ran for twelve episodes and is still regarded as a classic. If it had gone on for 7 seasons and 100 episodes, not so much.

Red Dwarf is another example. Seasons 1 through 6 were genius. Seasons 7 and 8 had their moments, and anything after that is fairly forgettable.

The best for mine are (mostly) British shows that didn't drag:

Fawlty Towers
Blackadder, acknowledging that S1 was inferior to what followed.
The Goodies
Yes Minister / Prime Minister
Men Behaving Badly
Coupling
The Young Ones
Mum
Bottom
Schitt's Creek, noting what I said earlier about the last season
Ted Lasso (looking warily at the revival)

Of the Americans, there are many that started well and then just kept going and going and going, to the point they get cancelled rather than go out on a high.

Becker (the last season blowed, once half of the main cast had left)
Just Shoot Me
Married With Children
Roseanne (possibly the worst last season and finale of any sitcom. Ever.)
Superstore (once America Ferrara left, it was never the same)
Mad About You

I can't think of any Australian sitcoms that are even good, let alone mentioning in a 'best of' thread. For some bizarre reason we do drama well but not sitcoms.

 

[JHF1870]

I thought the last season of Schitt's Creek was much weaker than what had gone earlier. The whole 'getting rich again by starting a motel chain' plotline was boring. Still better than 90% of other comedies though.

For me, the best sitcoms tend to be the shorter ones that don't drag on well past their use-by date. E.g. Fawlty Towers only ran for twelve episodes and is still regarded as a classic. If it had gone on for 7 seasons and 100 episodes, not so much.

Red Dwarf is another example. Seasons 1 through 6 were genius. Seasons 7 and 8 had their moments, and anything after that is fairly forgettable.

The best for mine are (mostly) British shows that didn't drag:

Fawlty Towers
Blackadder, acknowledging that S1 was inferior to what followed.
The Goodies
Yes Minister / Prime Minister
Men Behaving Badly
Coupling
The Young Ones
Mum
Bottom
Schitt's Creek, noting what I said earlier about the last season
Ted Lasso (looking warily at the revival)

Of the Americans, there are many that started well and then just kept going and going and going, to the point they get cancelled rather than go out on a high.

Becker (the last season blowed, once half of the main cast had left)
Just Shoot Me
Married With Children
Roseanne (possibly the worst last season and finale of any sitcom. Ever.)
Superstore (once America Ferrara left, it was never the same)
Mad About You

I can't think of any Australian sitcoms that are even good, let alone mentioning in a 'best of' thread. For some bizarre reason we do drama well but not sitcoms.

Nothing of interest to me in Australia. All shows fade. Rick and morty have peaked. Simpsons pre s8, futurama s5, family guy 7 or so, south park although the specisls work. Although not sitcoms continuum faded post season 2, counterpart overran its worth, westworld etc

I give Frasier higher than Seinfeld as its less chaotic, more grounded, warm and the jokes are much well thought out and have better pay off.

 

[JHF1870]

2 eps of Brooklyn 99 and 2 of Parks snd Recreation.

Both completely different comedic styles. I'm invested in both. Ive got brooklyn over Patks at this eatly stage

 

[Forward Press]

2 eps of Brooklyn 99 and 2 of Parks snd Recreation.

Both completely different comedic styles. I'm invested in both. Ive got brooklyn over Patks at this eatly stage

Parks and Rec S1 is slow going and they become much better once they ditch a character and elevate another. I am sure you can soon figure out who.

B99 is more consistent.

 

[JHF1870]

Parks and Rec S1 is slow going and they become much better once they ditch a character and elevate another. I am sure you can soon figure out who.

B99 is more consistent.

Adam Smith right

 

[Forward Press]

Adam Smith right

Adam Scott? Then yes.

Ditching Mark was also what I was alluding to.

 

[JHF1870]

Adam Scott? Then yes.

Ditching Mark was also what I was alluding to.

Yeah. Adam Scott. Way better tbh

Also. The casf is being carried by Poehler, Offerman and Ansari. Pratt is underwhelming