One and a Half Men... this fail on CBS

[Mellema]

except Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom of all time and made it possible for pretty much every awesome sitcom currently around to even exist. And if you don't see that you're a dumb american.

While I will agree that Seinfeld was a very influential show, and many do consider it one of the better all-time sitcoms, I would say this is also biased by your age. I would say that The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Honeymooners, and All in the Family set the standards and made modern sitcoms possible.

As far as "Greatest Sitcom", of course that's opinion and everyone's will be different. I'd be hard pressed to decide my all time favorite, but my top 5 would be MASH, All in the Family, Cheers, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons(1st 10 years at least).

As for Two and a half Men, it's not a "Great" show to me, but it is funny, so I still watch it.

[Demosthenes]

Family guy, bottom of the list. Right there beneath homeboys in outer space.

[Silenka]

I really liked 2 and a half men when it started playing - it was funnier before the kid grew up. It's kind of trite and overdone now, in my opinion.
As for Seinfeld, I never really understood why so many people like it. I've watched quite a few episodes of it and it almost never managed to make me laugh. I'm not sure where the humor is.

Now Malcolm in the Middle... there's a show I miss watching. Shit was hilarious.

[Correction]

The sheer amount of material Seinfeld introduced into the cultural lexicon means it more than meets your 'pushed the envelope' criterion. A cast of characters who had you alternately rooting for and against them, often in the same episode, while wreaking the kind of destruction on bystanders not seen since Fawlty Towers, means the show was more than Larry David/Jerry Seinfeld doing standup for 20 minutes. This was some of the sharpest comedy writing and acting of that entire decade. Folks don't get it now because it's been relentlessly copied ever since, and the impact of just how different Seinfeld was from everything else being produced in the 90s is lost on newer audiences.

[ZarakiKujata]

Clearly haven't watched Seinfeld if you don't think it pushed the envelope or confronted real life. Watch The Chinese Restaurant, The Parking Garage, The Subway and the entirety of Season 4 of Seinfeld and you'll get why it pushed the envelope (The Contest and The Outing as prominent examples for the series and season 4 in particular by focusing on masturbation and everybody thinking Jerry is gay).

Also, liking Malcolm in the Middle and not Seinfeld? You realize Commandant Spangler and Hal only got the roles BECAUSE of their memorable Seinfeld characters? Again, I reiterate S3-7 of Seinfeld are the crowning achievement of sitcom writing in the 1990s if not of the entire 20th century.

[ZarakiKujata]

Yeah.

[Priran]

The best sitcoms are the ones which pushed the envelope in some way towards confronting real life.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...nfeldIsUnfunny

[Grey Jorildyn]

You guys forgot Growing Pains and The Cosby Show wtf! Great sitcoms.

Wait. Seinfeld was funny? Dammit.

[pahnphoenix]

I never even implied Seinfeld wasn't funny. I have no qualms with agreeing to the statement that they made every sitcom writer during and after step up their game and revolutionized how we insert pop culture into media. They did plenty of things that hadn't been done on TV before and made an indelible stamp on our culture.

But if you are trying to say that Seinfeld used humor to approach issues of the same level as All in the Family or M.A.S.H., then you are incorrect.

even though i agree with you, i suspect that some would suggest that seinfeld is exactly as topical and challenging as the shows you name, but that it's dealing with some kind of postmodern "end of culture" nonsense, or putting on display the meaninglessness and moral bankruptcy of everyday life in america/NYC. sure, seinfeld didn't invent moral bankruptcy or meaninglessness on television, but the writers often juxtapose the show's narcissistic main characters with relevant issues and modern anxieties. i mean, the main characters aren't morally bankrupt b/c the writers don't know any better or they're trying to push an ulterior agenda like selling cars or gundam models or something. the whole point of the show is that these people are, more or less, sociopaths.

(like i said, i think that's all kind of bullshit and that seinfeld is, really, just a well-written feel good comedy romp, but i can at least see the potential for the argument)

edit: by the way, as a special sidenote for anyone who thought my post made sense, i will further opine that i think it is literally impossible to use weird, ironic, "postmodern" media to approach real world issues more effectively than by using more traditional, sincere storytelling methods. melodrama and sentimentality may suck, but sincerity is more powerful than irony in almost every respect. the sad truth is that the latter is simply easier to do well.

[volcanicweather]

I hate 2 and a half men just because it has quite possibly the worst intro song in the history of TV. Every time I hear it I want to rage.

[Dimmauk]

How many shows have spawned a holiday? Seinfeld is easily the best sitcom ever.

[Qalbert]

btw, I am too lazy to look for who said it, but I just watched due date, so props to whoever mentioned itsrainingtwoandahalfmen.com

[jinkazama]

no Home improvement on the list of greatest sitcoms? ._.

it may not have been a full blown sitcom, but I enjoyed Spin City with Michael J.. that sucked once charlie came on board.

inb4 MJF+JACKHAMMER = earthquake in Haiti shit.

[archibaldcrane]

no Home improvement on the list of greatest sitcoms? ._.

holy shit no

Home Improvement was THE most formulaic sitcom in history. Every single show hit the same points - Tim would miscommunicate with his wife, she'd get pissed, he'd receive sage wisdom from the next door neighbor, he'd misunderstand that, and everything would be back to point A again.

IT'S SO WACKY AND JUST LIKE MY LIFE OH BROTHER

[Kerberoz]

Can't we all just agree that Everybody Loves Raymond was the worst sitcom?

[archibaldcrane]

(and others, like Just Shoot Me, which inexplicably kept getting renewed).

Hey now, my current producers were writers on Just Shoot Me.

[ZarakiKujata]

Can't we all just agree that Everybody Loves Raymond was the worst sitcom?

I think people fall into two camps w/ Raymond. They either get it b/c their Mother/Father or Grandmother/Grandfather (depending on age) are exactly like that, or they don't b/c they have a less dysfunctional family. It's nothing groundbreaking though, just a funny look at dysfunctional jewish/italian families.

Also lol @ Home Improvement. It owes everything to The Cosby Show/All in the Family, and even then the father knows best style sitcom goes back to a show named Father Knows Best lol.

[Kerberoz]

I think people fall into two camps w/ Raymond. They either get it b/c their Mother/Father or Grandmother/Grandfather (depending on age) are exactly like that, or they don't b/c they have a less dysfunctional family. It's nothing groundbreaking though, just a funny look at dysfunctional jewish/italian families.

It has nothing to do with the families. Imagine Ray and his bitch wife were genderswapped, and how quickly that shit would get pulled off the air for being offensive. All sitcoms tend to play into double standards but that one was in a class of its own.

edit: well, it wasn't funny, either, but that's standard

[ZarakiKujata]

To each his own, again, I think getting the humor has to do w/ knowing old people like his parents. Everyone I know w/ a jewish or italian grandmother finds the show funny. I didn't really care about Ray/Deborah, his family is what made the show watchable b/c my grandparents are nailed to a T.

And, isn't Married w/ Children a bit of a genderswap for the spouses? Lazy wife and Put upon husband vs Put upon wife and Lazy husband?

[Kerberoz]

Yeah, the family bits were decent, just the "main" characters were insufferable.

Anyone else grow up watching this daily?