SitComs Old and New.

[drew]

There's lots of threads about specific shows, but none dedicated to the fine art of situation comedy.
What are some of your fav's? Hated?

I find that with a few exceptions nearly any SitCom from the nineties on wasn't worth watching.
THere are a couple of half decent ones this year.
-Everybody hates Chris
-The war at home

Some of my fav's include
WKRP
Cheers
Night Court
Married with Children

Some of my hated ones are
-Home Improvements
-Murphy Brown
-Friends/Mad About You/Will and Grace/Caroline in the City (I found these were all pretty much the same show with similar looking actors, and identical jokes)
_________________
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time

[Fist and Faith]

All in the Family
Barney Miller
The Bob Newhart Show
Boston Common
Cheers
Cybill
F-Troop
Family Ties
Get Smart
Happy Days
Hogan's Heroes
The Honeymooners
Mad About You
Mary Tyler Moore
M*A*S*H
Night Court
The Odd Couple
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Seinfeld
Soap
Taxi
3rd Rock
WKRP

Honorable Mention (of which there are certainly more, but for now):
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Head of the Class
Home Improvement
I Love Lucy (Yeah, so sue me, it's not one of my top fav's.)
Unhappily Ever After
Wings

Little known and/or short-lived shows that I really liked:
Best in the West
The Gregory Hines Show
It's Like, You Know
Pearl
Quark
_________________
We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD

All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

[drew]

Best in the West was awesome, as was Parker Lewis.

One short lived show that I really liked was called Nearly Departed;
It was about this older couple who died, and continued to haunt their old home.
_________________
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time

[Fist and Faith]

Odd that I don't remember hearing about an Eric Idle show. But I guess it was done in England? Anyway, it reminds me to add The Ghost and Mrs. Muir to my list. I don't remember enough specifics to put it in the top, but definitely HM. (It was also a great movie.)
_________________
We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD

All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

[Worm of Despite]

All in the Family and Andy Griffith are my two favorite 'old' sitcoms. New would be Simpsons and Buffy, though the latter is drama. I just lump them all under 'shows.' Haven't watched a TV show all year, I think. Heh. Just use the tube for movies.

[dlbpharmd]

I never watch sitcoms anymore. Some that I've liked in the past include:

Cheers
Andy Griffith
Sanford and Son
M*A*S*H
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[Cail]

It's Like, You Know was a teriffic show that no one got. I thought WKRP was one of the funniest shows ever, especially the Phone Cops episodes. The first two seasons of Parker Lewis Can't Lose were excellent due to their innovation; practically a live action cartoon. I think Scrubs is the best one out now by far.
_________________
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________

[Fist and Faith]

WKRP was awesome. And it had one of my funniest moments from all tv lore. They were doing something for the homeless, and had a bunch of homeless folks around Jennifer's (Loni Anderson) desk. One particularly scraggly, old guy gives her a wink, and says, "You know, I'm not as old as I look." She replies, "Oh? Are you any richer than you look?"

I just added Cheers to my list. Don't know why it wasn't there in the first place. SO much craziness over the years. I especially liked the first years. Started off great, with a discussion of the sweatiest movie of all time.
What about Cliff on Jeopardy?
The "Ew"s Diane and Frasier got when they revealed their relationship.

Another of my funniest moments of all tv lore is from the final episode, when Sam and Norm are alone at the end, talking about the important things in life:
Norm: Sammy, I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but... you know what I think the most important thing in life is? It's love. You wanna know what I love?
Sam: Beer, Norm?
Norm: *checks his watch * Yeah, I'll have a quick one.

And some great Norm quotes:
cheers.tvheaven.com/norm.html
My favorites from there:

Norm: Evenin', everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Sam: Tell us what you know, Norm.
Norm: God's in his heaven, and something, something, something.
Sam: How about a beer?
Norm: Yeah, that's it.

Rebecca: Have you ever thought what it would be like to be without Vera for 20 years?
Norm: Oh my God!
Rebecca: You see? You'd miss Vera!
Norm: Oh! I thought you said "beer!"

Norm: So, ah, what kinda punnishment ya get?
Frazier: Oh, I'm not getting any.
Norm: Oh, you got off easy.
Frazier: No. I'm not getting any..
Norm: No. You're getting off easy..

Norm: Evenin', everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Coach: What's shakin', Norm?
Norm: All four cheeks and a couple of chins, Coach.

Norm: Afternoon, everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Woody: Hey, Mr. Peterson, can I pour you a beer?
Norm: Well, O.K. Woody, but be sure to stop me at one. Ah, make that one-thirty.

Norm: Afternoon, everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Coach: What'll it be, Normie?
Norm: Just the usual, Coach. I'll have a trough of beer and a snorkle.

Sam: What time is it?
Norm: How many beers have I had, Cliff?
Cliff: Ah...eleven.
Norm: 8:05

Norm: Mornin' Sammy
Sam: Norm! What brings you in this time of day?
Norm: Same thing that always does.
Sam: Little early for a beer, isn't it?
Norm: So, float a cornflake in it.
_________________
We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD

All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

[I'm Murrin]

Green Wing.
Black Books was good, too.
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Inspiration Struck.

Mod of the General Fantasy/Sci-Fi Forum

[CovenantJr]

Black Books was great. Does Father Ted count as a sitcom?

I like some of the older ones too, like Ever Decreasing Circles.

[Cail]

Gotta add Arrested Development to my list.
_________________
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________

[dlbpharmd]

Normisms - yeah, that was the best thing about Cheers.
_________________

[drew]

Norm: Women, can't live ith 'em...........Pass the beer nuts.
_________________
I thought you were a ripe grape
a cabernet sauvignon
a bottle in the cellar
the kind you keep for a really long time

[Fist and Faith]

Harry (3rd Rock): Women, can't live with 'em...........yet, they're everywhere!
_________________
We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD

All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

[danlo]

I agree with alot of these-F Troop, Get Smart, Night Court, M*A*S*H, Cheers and WKRP of course among many of the good oldies, old goodies (**damm Fist I'm still peeing my pants here! **) speaking of that and ROTLFMAO with my mother when Fawlty Towers first hit PBS somewhere around '77-'78. (right now, not much My Name is Earl, Two and 1/2 Men).

[CovenantJr]

Hmm, Cheers. I seem to be the only person on earth who found Cheers both dull and unfunny. Meh, maybe I only saw bad episodes.

[danlo]

The first two years, or so, are much better.

"So how do we get to the Hekawi camp?"

"First, you make a left at the big rock that looks like a bear, then you make a right at the big bear that looks like a rock."

[lucimay]

sheesh...you guys left out

Chico and the Man and Welcome Back Kotter!!!!


Fist!!! i LOVED F-Troop!!!!!

and i'm partial to the really goofey ones too...like

The Munsters
The Adams Family


and i was a huge Lucy fan and watched ALL incarnations of that show!!!

so i naturally LOVED Lavern and Shirley!!!!

and don't forget The Odd Couple!!!

also my two favorite newscasters of all time...

Les Nessman and Ted Baxter!!!

and where oh where is GRANNY???? JETHRO? ELLIE MAY? JED?

come on people...how COULD you leave out The Beverly Hillbillies???

and um...i must admit a fondness for Gilligan's Island AND Leave It To Beaver!!
_________________
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies


i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio


a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~

[Fist and Faith]

F-Troop was great right from the get-go. First episode we find out the Hekawi don't have a war dance, so Agarn (I saw Larry Storch on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun! ) teaches them one. You see a second of that in the opening credits.

And, it had one of the great running jokes in tv history, right up there with Archie Bunker's "Reverend Fletcher" "Feltcher" "Whatever." Whenever they were trying to figure out how to solve some peoblem, and Agarn came up with a good idea, O'Rourke would say, "I don't know why everybody says you're dumb." And hours later, when they're sneaking through an enemy camp between the sleeping enemies, Agarn suddenly realizes what O'Rourke said, and, much too loud, says, "Who says I'm dumb!"
_________________
We are not required to save the world. We are required to stand up as truly as we can for what we love. -SRD

All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon

[dlbpharmd]

How did I forget "All in the Family?" Great comedy, there.
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