Didn't realize Married with Children was that popular. Just an annoying show to me. Just like Rosanne. Not disgraceful shows but not top quality.
That 70s Show, Friends, Big Bang Theory are all in a tier right below the best. Still quality shows. Rely on very similar jokes over and over.
Everybody Loves Raymond is among the best. Unlike other greats like The Office and Seinfeld, almost everything that happens on Raymond includes simple and realistic situations and they make you laugh by doing more than just making characters do really stupid things. These few shows are among my favorites. They don't rely too heavily on dirty jokes either.
I really liked Man Seeking Woman also. Some people didn't like it because the first couple episodes were the weirdest of the bunch. It felt like it ran it's course after 3 season.
I feel like the first season of You're the Worst is up there for one of the best season of a comedy. It was hard for it to live up to how high of a bar they set. I feel like season 5 which is the last will feel the same as man seeking woman where everyone will feel it ran it's course. Season 4 just didn't seem to have the magic but its still a very watchable show.
Everybody Loves Raymond is better than Friends. Let's fuckin' fight.
Honestly though, Friends has its moments and is among the biggest and most iconic shows of all time, but the last 5 or so seasons are pretty much crap and the whole show is fairly corny. It doesn't even sniff the top spot. But that's just my opinion... And I will admit they nailed the finale.
Anyway, I fuckin' love sitcoms, especially the single-cameras that emerged from the early aughts and on.
@Jack Brickman is right on the money (IMO). Arrested Development is my favorite show of all time, especially if limited to those first 3 seasons. Some shows have more heart and develop their characters better, but no show has been a better and more pure comedy delivery system. Seinfeld is #2 for me, as it has the largest library of iconic comedic moments, even if it.s
I'm surprised that no animated shows have been brought up. For me it's hard to rate them, almost apples and oranges. But if you're gonna bring Sunny and Curb into the mix, we might as well add them.
Some of the greats (to me, no particular order):
Seinfeld
The Simpsons
South Park
Frasier
30 Rock
The Office
Parks and Rec
Happy Days
Curb Your Enthusiasm
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Peep Show
Everybody Loves Raymond
Friends (this is below Everybody Loves Raymond on purpose)
[Going through this, I realize just how white my tastes are...]
Personal loves:
3rd Rock
Community
The Drew Carey Show
That 70s Show
Scrubs
Fresh Prince
King of the Hill
Bojack Horseman
Rick and Morty
Family Matters
Malcolm in the Middle
Silicon Valley
Barry
And it's not really on of my shows, but no mention of Modern Family yet.
*one of the biggest shows ever, but yeah...
Part of it is that I didn't grow up with it, but HOT TAKE TIME: Married With Children is overrated. It's a celebration of trash and does that job very well, but it's still trash.
Also, Full House to me was like my generations Brady Bunch, as iconic as it was shitty.
EDIT: HOLY SHIT I FORGOT ALL IN THE FAMILY. I won't add them to the list I'll just give them this edit to themselves.
This is probably one of the better lists I've seen in terms of my personal favourites. I have taken out the shows I'm not into though.
And then to add some more of my favourites, Happy Endings (deserved more time in the spotlight but much like Community kind of got killed by the popularity of the Big Bang Theory), You're the Worst, Wrecked, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Bob's Burgers, Archer, Atlanta.
Have not watched "You're the Worst" or "Wrecked" but I've seen a bit of Happy Endings. Seems like an enjoyable show that isn't quite my vibe, kinda like New Girl, which is easy to watch but isn't a personal favorite.
Those last four are all great. Love 99 especially of those. Bob's Burgers is quite good but I feel like some of its fans overrate it. I haven't caught up on Atlanta but it's really well done. At the moment I prefer Baskets to it, but again my tastes are pretty white.
Wrecked is basically a LOST parody. There's something about it I really enjoy with super awkward humour. It kind of has that Scrubs type humour without the real life situations thrown in. You're right about Happy Endings in a way. It's very much a similar style but less PG and less Zoey... Better writing and less romcom-y.
Brooklyn 9 9 to me is one of the best shows of the last 5 years, along with Silicon Valley. I'm not going to put them at the level of the Office just yet, but I can easily rewatch them (and have), which I find an important quality. I think the early seasons of Bob's Burgers were amazing. It got a lot more repetitive since like season 3, but it's still enjoyable.
I watched a few episodes of Baskets. Might have to give it another try but I'm not a fan of clowns, haha.
I've been watching a few non-American shows recently just because I feel like I need to add some variety. W1A (British) and Utopia (Australian show called Dreamland Internationally) are funny with that workplace where pretty much everyone outside of two people are incompetent. I also like Detectorists, though it's very slow I enjoyed the show. I'm probably going to watch the Windsors and Upper Middle Bogan next.
Happy Ends was so specifically targeted toward people in their 20s that if you weren't that age you just didn't completely get the show. I'm not sure it will age well because of all the pop culture references. If you lived or spent time on the north side of Chicago, the show was even funnier. Basically the things they were doing were the things I did with my friends everytime I would go to Chicago. It was my favorite comedy during the time it aired but I think it was prime demographic for the show.
Wrecked is basically a LOST parody. There's something about it I really enjoy with super awkward humour. It kind of has that Scrubs type humour without the real life situations thrown in. You're right about Happy Endings in a way. It's very much a similar style but less PG and less Zoey... Better writing and less romcom-y.
Brooklyn 9 9 to me is one of the best shows of the last 5 years, along with Silicon Valley. I'm not going to put them at the level of the Office just yet, but I can easily rewatch them (and have), which I find an important quality. I think the early seasons of Bob's Burgers were amazing. It got a lot more repetitive since like season 3, but it's still enjoyable.
I watched a few episodes of Baskets. Might have to give it another try but I'm not a fan of clowns, haha.
I've been watching a few non-American shows recently just because I feel like I need to add some variety. W1A (British) and Utopia (Australian show called Dreamland Internationally) are funny with that workplace where pretty much everyone outside of two people are incompetent. I also like Detectorists, though it's very slow I enjoyed the show. I'm probably going to watch the Windsors and Upper Middle Bogan next.