Since the dawn of television, the situation-comedy (sitcom) has been a staple of TV fodder. Yes, there are variety shows, dramas, and soap operas, but it’s often the sitcom which has the work water cooler crowd abuzz. Who can forget the days when you had to discuss the latest Seinfeld catch-phrase with your work buddies? About the only show talk comparable these days is out of the sitcom vein — Lost and American Idol chatter take the place of sitcom silliness.
I decided to reminisce and decide exactly which sitcoms were my personal favorites and why I loved them so. I thought it would be an easy task, but found it’s not so easy. Television has been a part of my life all my life and it’s scary to think how many years we’re talking about here!
My first favorite sitcom has to be Leave It To Beaver. That was the show I became addicted to as a child, imagining my older brother was a Wally-type. Hey, he had Lumpy-like and Eddie Haskell-ish friends! My own Dad looked a bit like Hugh Beaumont, the Beaver’s father. But the family resemblance ended right there and then. My mother didn’t wear pearls around the house and there were certainly a lot more upheavals on a daily basis in my home. But, the Beaver will always remain dear to my heart. My favorite episode was the time Beaver got stuck up in the soup billboard. I used to look at the animated signs of the times in New York City and imagine climbing up in them as a nod to the Beav.
Many sitcoms passed through during the sixties and sure, I watched them. But the ones which seemed to have a particular impact on me didn’t really occur until my high school and/or early college days at the end of the ‘60s and in the early ‘70s. Then a new sitcom day dawned.
Article comments
1 - Lisa McKay
Jackie, you sure hit a lot of high points here! Have to agree with your take on Mad About You -- a show ruined by parenthood!
I can remember watching reruns of I Love Lucy over and over again when I was very little, and another classic favorite of mine is The Dick Van Dyke Show.
I still watch Seinfeld. It's a perfect expression of modern times.
I never missed an episode of M*A*S*H, although the term sitcom doesn't really describe it very well. Nowadays, the only sitcom I think is worth my time is Scrubs, which is very M*A*S*H-like in its ability to make you laugh and weep almost simultaneously and has an awful lot of insightful stuff to say about the human condition.
2 - Bliffle
Of course, Lou Grants great aside was "I hate spunk".
"Alice" was a humdrum sitcom that gave birth to the much better "Flo's place", which was apparently too grownup for the US TV public and disappeared too quickly.
Carrol Conner saved Archie from being a one-dimensional object of scorn as the series went on. One of Archies great spoonerisms was "full noodle frontity".
3 - Joan Hunt
Congrats! This article has been placed on Advance.net
4 - larry
i am enjoying your blog. i had orgooten about mable being born ending the show,maad about you. other shows tried the late in life pregnancy.notably family ties and rosanne. you have the child born at the end of the season. next season the brat is running around the house. i think that is a vain attempt to try and salvage the show
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
"WKRP In Cincinnati": the episode I would definitely sit all the way through for just to get to the last line is the one where the advertising director, Herb, has what he thinks is a grand way to showcase Thanksgiving--by throwing a lot of live turkeys out of a plane throughout the city below. Of course, it turns out to be a PR nightmare and a bloody disaster and headline-making emergency city-wide --after which, a perplexed Herb offers the line: "Andy, I swear to God--I thought turkeys could fly!"
6 - gonzo marx
"oh the humanity"
great call Gordon...one of the best ever
WKRP trivia....the opening theme is sung by "Les Nessman" and the closing theme by "Andy Travis"
just wanted to share
Excelsior?
7 - Rodney Welch
Gordon -- agree totally. The turkeys episode of WKRP was a laugh out loud, all-time winner.
Here's another obscure classic: the "Zoo Animals on Wheels" episode of Chris Elliott's great lost classic Get a Life.
I'm not the only one that thinks so, by the way: TV Guide ranked it among their Top 25 or so funniest episodes in TV history. MSN offers a fine synopsis here.
Anyone else remember this masterpiece?
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Ok, the Jack Benny Show was before my time and it wasn't exactly a sit-com, but one particular joke goes in the record books as the longest laugh in tv history, at least for a very long time. It's a skit in which a robber is holding a gun on the notoriously cheap Benny:
Robber: "Your money or your life!"
Benny: (says nothing, stares into space)
Robber: "Look pal--your money or your life!!"
Benny: (still silent, hand on chin, staring off)
Robber: "I said, your money or your life!!!"
Benny: "I'm thinking it over!"
Maybe you had to be there, but I saw this years ago in a rerun, and it's hysterical in large part due to Benny's comedic timing, the pregnant pause, mannerisms, and blank deadpan expression held until he quickly snaps out the punchline. The studio audience howls and howls for a long, long time.
9 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
One more: From "Taxi" whean Reverend Jim is taking his written driving test at the DMV, getting "helped" by Alex and the gang sitting close by:
---"Pssst... what does a yellow light mean?"
---"Slow down"
---"Ok, what...does...a...yellow...light...mean?"
---"Slow Down!"
---"!!!...Whaaattt...doesss...aaaa...yelll--lowww...lighttt...mmeaaannn"?
This might go on for another round or two with increasing exasperation on both sides, until (I think) a DMV employee comes along and nabs them for cheating.
10 - Snarkattack
For me, Mad About You was all over when Paul couldn't get over the Jamie's "I kissed Doug Berkiss" confession. The very last episode, where a grown-up Mabel is played by Janeane Garofalo was most amusing. She did a great job of it.