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Rank 'Em - TV Sitcoms post 1980

Raising Heel

Hall of Famer
Aug 31, 2008
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A van down by the river
Ranks these 13 shows from best to worst. Had to leave out a few classics that began prior to 1980 but ran well into the next decade.

Cheers
Everybody Loves Raymond
Frasier
Friends
Married... with Children
Scrubs
Seinfeld
The Big Bang Theory
The Cosby Show
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
The Office
The Simpsons
That 70s Show
 
Admittedly, I didn't watch very much of some of these that are listed, too often I was having to work late in this era . . I'll list my favorites though.


Seinfeld

Cheers

Friends

Everybody Loves Raymond

Simpsons

That 70s Show

Cosby

Married w/ Children

The Office

Scrubs

Big Bang Theory

Fresh Prince of Bel Air
 
Strong list but kinda lengthy. You should leave these Rank Em Threads to the professionals.

Seinfeld- undisputed king
The Simpsons- 25+ years and going strong
Married with Children- ok until you are married w children, then gets exponentially better.
Cheers- just a classic
The Office- hits close to home for some of us
That 70s Show- always makes me wish I had been in high school in the 70s
Frasier- only spinoff to be in the same bracket as the original. Dr Crane is an all time favorite TV character, and as good as he was on this show, he was better on Cheers
Raymond- the parents are just so good
Big Bang- Sheldon is excellent and nerds are funny, especially ethnic ones.
Friends- the original Big Bang, but the characters never resonated with me.
Cosby- was funnier then than now (nothing to do with Cosby being an accused rapist)

Fresh Prince and Scrubs- never really watched.
 
Cheers--only one I watched with any regularity.









Everyone else but Seinfeld
















Seinfeld --just never thought it was funny. Except for the Soup Nazi.
 
Originally posted by UNC71-00:
Strong list but kinda lengthy. You should leave these Rank Em Threads to the professionals.
Really! But 5 star thread, nonetheless.


Seinfeld - just barely beats out my #2. But it was just so innovative and creative.

Frasier - That kind of humor just registers with me. I too think I'm above everyone else.

The Simpsons - like 71 stated, 25 f***ing years!

The Office - Just inane and retarded...in the best possible way.

Cheers - Funny but not as funny as most have made it out to be since its ending.

Married With Children - Kind of sophomoric but who doesn't like that sh*t sometimes?

Fresh Prince - Without Carlton, that show doesn't exist.

Cosby Show - not really all that "funny" but still entertaining.

Friends - I mean, it was fun to look at Jennifer Aniston for 30 minutes every Thursday.

That 70s Show - meh

Scrubs
- never saw it but it has to be better than the last two.

Raymond
- The dad and the brother were funny. The show should have starred them and Ray Ramano should have been an extra.

Big Bang - awful
 
Originally posted by UNC71-00:
Strong list but kinda lengthy. You should leave these Rank Em Threads to the professionals.
Sorry this was such a taxing intellectual exercise for you. Probably had to take off your shoes (yuck, yuck).

---------------------

Seinfeld - Captured everyday minutiae and human nature in darkly hilarious fashion.

Cheers - Possibly the best cast of characters ever in a sitcom (definitely in this era).

The Office - Another great cast and a painfully relatable backdrop. Ran a couple seasons too long though.

Simpsons - Being a cartoon allows them to push irreverence to the limits.

Friends - My guilty pleasure...goofball humor with hot girls.

Frasier - I did it for the condescension. This show has also aged surprisingly well.

Scrubs - Sometimes tried to hard, but for the sake of challenging the boundaries of what a sitcom should be.

Cosby Show - A boyhood staple for me, and actually provided some teaching moments.

That 70s Show - The kids are hilarious, but the parents steal almost every scene.

Everybody Loves Raymond - I have no idea why I find this show as funny as I do.

Married with Children - Funny, but the schtick seemed the same in every episode.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air - Entertaining, but never really resonated with my white middle class existence.

Big Bang Theory - I've tried. I really have.
 
Had to add a few, assuming PG-13 sitcoms are allowed...

Arrested Development
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
South Park
The Big Bang Theory (it clicks with me. I was probably part of that group in High School--without the 180 IQ.)
The Office (like Big Bang, the characters were likeable.)
Seinfeld
Cheers
The Simpsons
Fraiser (guessing here because I didn't watch it.)
Friends (like was said earlier -- mostly to watch Aniston.)
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Married with Children (a bit of a one-trick show, but funny)
The Cosby Show
Scrubs (Didn't watch it until later on but it was kind of quirky good.)
...
...
...
Everybody Loves Raymond
That 70s Show
 

Overall No. 1 seed: Seinfeld

it's hard to believe it's been off the air for over 15 years, but hardly a day goes by that I don't make a Seinfeld reference... still the best, IMO; it sits atop the mountain with no equal.


#2 seeds
Everybody Loves Raymond - the chemistry between the characters was fantastic; great show
Cheers - classic! Had some of the best characters ever
The Office - great until Steve Carrell left
Frasier - the best sitcom spin-off ever

#3 seeds
The Simpsons - used to watch this religiously, but the longevity of it has sort of worked against it, IMO
Scrubs - I really loved the first few seasons of Scrubs, but it went out with a whimper
Friends - Jennifer Aniston.... enough said
The Big Bang Theory - I came on board slowly with this show, but my wife & son love it, and it's grown on me

#4 seeds
That 70s Show - only watched the first season or so; thought it was good, but lost interest
Married... with Children - it was unique when it first hit the airwaves, but quickly devolved into meh for me
The Cosby Show - I never really watched Cosby Show, but the bits I saw were ok
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - used to catch the reruns on Nickelodeon and thought it was funny


A couple of others that I liked...
Roseanne
Newhart
 
Pre dvr days i judged a show by whether or not i planned my day around making sure i saw it. The only ones on that list that met that criteria:

Seinfeld
Office
Everybody loves raymond
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
The Raymond episode I found the funniest was when the old man was passing Halloween candy for ray and Deborah. He ran out of candy so he looked in the cabinets. Found a bowl of rubbers thinking they were chocolates. Passed all of them out. Ray came home hot and ready. Deborah sent him back out in the neighborhood to find one of the kids with the rubbers. God that was funny
 
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