Classic TV Sitcoms - Mount Rushmost - Construction Completed

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by frnk55

I totally agree!! God that show was horrible.

but at LEAST it had a great theme!

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Fine. Barney Miller in for WKRP even tho my heart knows KRP belongs.
and I know darn well KRP isn't 80s enough to win the 80s.

What about 3's company then?

That will also go into the 80's as a majority of it's run was then, 77-84.

[Suicane75]

Good Times was a show that I think I thought was supposed to be good, because it tackled issues, but when you really watch it, yeah, it just does not hold up, if it was ever good to begin with. It's hard to take the issues seriously when JJ is hamming everything up. The best episodes that stand out in my mind are when Florida is trying to get a loan, and the episode after JJ gets shot when James goes to the courthouse to confront the guy who shot JJ. They're both really good, and they both have nothing to do with JJ. It's like, try to imagine watching Roots and casting Red Fox as comic relief. Just don't work.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Suicane, brilliant analysis of what's happening...

growing up in a tiny midwestern town, it was like whoooooa....black people.
But you hit it on the nose. It's just damn funny and never really got into it at all except for the fact that it was really urban.

This exactly. There were like 3 or 4 black kids in my entire school, and as a kid you wonder and assess and it was like, OK, how are people different than me? What can I talk to them about? Do they do things different than me? Sure it sounds silly now, but as A kid, those are things you think about. What's Happening was the first show that really made me understand that, nope, it's all just people.

[laser]

All In The Family
The Jeffersons
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Happy Days
MASH
The Odd Couple
The Brady Bunch

[Solecismic]

Voting is open until 11:59 p.m. tonight.

[rowech]

Some of these shows I like having seen them years after they were on due to be being born in 1976. Others, I've never liked. Nevertheless, I shall vote for what I think are the top shows...

MASH -- don't understand. Never find it funny any time I see an episode. That said, it's one of the top two shows from the list.

All in the Family -- in my opinion one of the most important tv shows in history. I might be wrong, but it really pushed the line much more than any sitcom before and made tv a vehicle for America to really evaluate itself when it came to some touchy subjects.

Happy Days -- my favorite show from the list.

The Bob Newhart Show -- one of my parents favorite shows ever.

Mary Tyler Moore Show -- the heir to I love Lucy in terms of a female being able to be the clear lead character of a show.

The Brady Bunch -- it's not nearly as good of a show as the others but I do think it ended up being very influential to 80s tv as those people who had seen it and had grown up with it in syndication developed "innocent" sitcoms with basic family issues the focus that always worked out way too easily. In addition, the syndication of this show is on a level that I don't believe any of the other shows ever say and therefore, increases it's influence.

The Jeffersons -- I never appreciated this show when I was younger. I was sick one March a couple years back and watched episode after episode of this show. Cracked me up.

[Solecismic]

I have to agree that by the time you get into Winchester M*A*S*H, it had lost its edge and its sense of humor. Then it became a joke as people compared the length of the show to the length of the Korean war. But its first few seasons were really good.

Many shows are like that. I see it happening to The Big Bang Theory, which, believe it or not, seemed rather original in its first couple of seasons. Now it's just familiar characters who repeat their shtick, only a little more over the top each time.

[CrimsonFox]

hummmm I need a new 7th then since 3's company is out.

Sanford and Son and What's Happening and One Day at a Time are prime candidates for me.

Partridge Family gets a little look just because it was an actual music show too. It predated Fame too and spawned later singing kids shows.

I think I still have to go with a show I liked though.

Yeah I'll go What's Happening...especially based on what suicane and I were talking about.

So my 7 are

M*A*S*H
The Bob Newhart Show
Soap
Laverne and Shirley
The Jeffersons
Barney Miller
What's Happening

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I have to agree that by the time you get into Winchester M*A*S*H, it had lost its edge and its sense of humor. Then it became a joke as people compared the length of the show to the length of the Korean war. But its first few seasons were really good.

Many shows are like that. I see it happening to The Big Bang Theory, which, believe it or not, seemed rather original in its first couple of seasons. Now it's just familiar characters who repeat their shtick, only a little more over the top each time.

I think with M*A*S*H it was the departure of some of its creators. Creator Larry Gelbart left in season 5 I think and others changed jobs throughout. Kind of like the SImpsons really. It had its brilliance and settled into repeat mediocrity of ideas. Sweet spot for me is seasons 4-8. The Potter/BJ/Frank seasons and the first two Potter/BJ/WINchester years.
The early seasons had a lot of humor but it's kind of empty now. Rogers wasn't a great actor and altho Henry was hilarious it doesn't hold up as much. I liked Winchester a lot and the later seasons have a few great episodes amidst the watered down stuff. I swear it's like they went out of their way to make us think they were on an indoor set in those later seasons. It all seemed so fake.
I also have a BJ mustache theory. BJ without mustache good, BJ with mustache bad. It's similar to Burt Reynolds' movie career.

[Solecismic]

Our first seven inductees:

The Jeffersons (13)
M*A*S*H (13)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (13)
All in the Family (12)
The Bob Newhart Show (11)
Happy Days (11)
The Brady Bunch (9)

Three of the 16 ballots had all seven of these.

Also receiving votes:

Barney Miller (7)
Soap (5)
Good Times (4)
The Odd Couple (3)
Sanford and Son (3)
What's Happening!! (3)
five shows with one vote

I was a little surprised by the Brady Bunch push, but a lot of us were kids in the '80s and those 117 reruns were on non-stop. For a show that never placed in the top 30 in the Nielsen ratings, it was a trend-setter and had a huge impact in reruns.

[CrimsonFox]

Forgive me for sucking away the next few hours of your life playing with this...

Graph TV

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I was a little surprised by the Brady Bunch push

More than a little surprised here. I thought this was supposed to be a Rushmore, not an IWS.

#JustDamn

[thesloppy]

Yeah, I was certainly aware it was a shitty show, even at the time, but I watched (and semi-enjoyed?) literally 10 times as much Brady Bunch as anything else on that list....probably just thanks to timing, The Brady Bunch would always be on right after school, whereas nobody was targeting All In The Family at 8-12 year olds. It may have been the first piece of culture I learned to enjoy with some irony, if nothing else. I'm not exactly proud of it, but can't pretend it wasn't very influential and omnipresent.

[CrimsonFox]

It(Brady Bunch) was definitely funny to me as a kid and I definitely watched the hell out of it.
I can also say that about many others on this list. However, due to time, datedness, the way humor changes and the fact that I've seen all these so many times before I no longer even consider most of these funny and definitely wonder how I ever did.

Sanford and Son, Happy Days, Brady Bunch, all those...just very dated humor.

I'm not totally mad that Brady Bunch is on the list as I could easily say that about any of them.

It's funny how Mary Tyler MOore and All in the Family are always on magazines and websites as the greatest shows ever.

Sure they were great shows but they aren't that orgasmically great to me compared to other things. Did those 2 just have like 50% neilsen shares during their whole run or what?
I know MASH didn't. It was going to be cancelled after each of the first couple seasons but it was the network's wife that talked her husband into keeping it on and then the reruns finally caught up the rest of the public to give it good ratings.

[Solecismic]

I've tried to watch various shows on rerun in the last few years. Some hold up, some don't. The shows that are about people seem to hold up. The shows that are about comedy and catch-phrases seem to grow stale.

I thoroughly enjoy Mary Tyler Moore as much as anything. It's just a well-written show. The Brady Bunch is a kids show, so it's harder to judge. I think it had classic elements. I remember reading that Sherwood Schwartz kept refusing the kids' requests to wear more modern clothing because he had this idea that the show would last for generations in reruns and didn't want it to appear dated (funny, though, that their kitchen has become part of an actual definition of describing dated kitchens from the '60s and '70s).

I'm not angry with the Brady Bunch inclusion (angry would be silly anyway). A little surprised. But in its way, it was a pioneering show. Schwartz focused it on all nine actors, and they all had to be competent. I don't think any show before it placed that kind of burden on so many kids. Andy Griffith had Ron Howard, but it was an adult show with one kid. Other shows with kids didn't put much into the kid selection (the kid from the Dick Van Dyke Show who screamed all his lines, for example). The Brady Bunch changed the rules. They weren't phenomenal kids, but they held up for 117 shows. So I'd defend the selection.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

More than a little surprised here. I thought this was supposed to be a Rushmore, not an IWS.

#JustDamn

If I was just voting based on quality, Brady Bunch wouldn't crack my top 100. But I was considering a variety of factors, including cultural impact and staying power. Brady Bunch easily makes it in under that consideration.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

If I was just voting based on quality, Brady Bunch wouldn't crack my top 100. But I was considering a variety of factors, including cultural impact and staying power. Brady Bunch easily makes it in under that consideration.

Yes.

[CrimsonFox]

What REALLY surprised me was that Jeffersons came in first

I wish Soap had made it. I'd trade most of em for Soap.
Glad Bob Newhart was on there. Always felt that was more a cult classic.
A more intelligent brand of humor that didn't play down to the audience the way the audience seems to like its sitcoms.

[Solecismic]

I don't know. I think if we all sat down and watched a couple of episodes of Soap, we'd struggle with it. It was a parody above all else. It was very specific to its time and to its spoof of that era's soap operas. It gets points for its pioneering use of gay characters, but we might find it cloying the way some of the black characters were in very early shows. It really took until Will and Grace for gay not to be so stereotypical, and Will and Grace was a very political show (and a couple of years too late to be included in this exercise) that took on this issue head-on.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

I don't know. I think if we all sat down and watched a couple of episodes of Soap, we'd struggle with it. It was a parody above all else. It was very specific to its time and to its spoof of that era's soap operas. It gets points for its pioneering use of gay characters, but we might find it cloying the way some of the black characters were in very early shows. It really took until Will and Grace for gay not to be so stereotypical, and Will and Grace was a very political show (and a couple of years too late to be included in this exercise) that took on this issue head-on.

Vehemently disagree. I think if anything, the fact that it's parodying soap operas makes it more timeless than dated. Soap Operas really haven't changed that much. Hell, Greys Anatomy, HTGAWM, etc.. They're all essentially soaps. They try to pretend they're serious drama, but...

[Suicane75]

One of the things that surprised me was the lack of Odd Couple love. I have a few friends just a couple of years older than me who swear by it, thought it might have had more support, but perhaps it's a little early for most of us.

[thesloppy]

Soap was the one that I put on my list with the most hesitation. In honesty I didn't watch much if it at the time or later, but I put it on because I felt it was rather groundbreaking as a television parody, and I see it's influence in modern television comedies. "Arrested Development" for example, is something I find a million times more entertaining, but likely couldn't exist without Soap's influence. Even something like "Archer" seems like it arguably owes its existence to Soap's version of meta-comedy/parody.

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

One of the things that surprised me was the lack of Odd Couple love. I have a few friends just a couple of years older than me who swear by it, thought it might have had more support, but perhaps it's a little early for most of us.

It was a good show. It didn't have longevity or popularity, though. It was a solid vehicle for a pair of top-notch actors. I think it would have made it with a larger cutoff, like 12.

Soap is like Arrested Development in terms of smaller numbers of ardent supporters. I found AD relentlessly smug and never made it through a single episode. I watched Soap a few times in the initial run and it just didn't grab me. Maybe shows that rely on making fun of other shows cease to be about people and are more about our feelings about people.

[cuervo72]

I personally loved The Odd Couple, but didn't vote for it for those reasons (Bob Newhart suffered from that some too, but that show was just too damned good IMO).

[CrimsonFox]

We definitely need to do dramas next
we'll be arguing all over the place about the detective shows

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

One of the things that surprised me was the lack of Odd Couple love. I have a few friends just a couple of years older than me who swear by it, thought it might have had more support, but perhaps it's a little early for most of us.

It suffered similarly as a first run series, never cracking the top 25 despite multiple Emmy nominations for the performers.

I think it suffered with me personally for feeling as though the show should have been better than it was with the talented cast it had.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It suffered similarly as a first run series, never cracking the top 25 despite multiple Emmy nominations for the performers.

I think it suffered with me personally for feeling as though the show should have been better than it was with the talented cast it had.

It couldn't live up to the movie?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by rowech

It couldn't live up to the movie?

I'm not sure I even consciously compared the two. I just think about the show & feel like it somehow should have been ... more.

There were moments as I recall, but the average of the show wasn't quite what I think it coulda/shoulda been.

[thesloppy]

Some of the '60s dreck that crept into my childhood was fucking horrible. Why did I watch Family Affair? Even when I was like 5 years old I knew that show was worthless and hated all of the characters, but I still watched it for some reason. Gomer Pyle is another show that had no business being repeated. There were of course plenty of good ones, but I was just looking at a list of '60s sitcoms and snorting over the crappy ones I'd forgotten I'd wasted time watching, simply because nothing else was on. I didn't even remember The Flying Nun's existence until seeing it written it down right now....but I definitely watched me some of that, though I can hardly imagine when or why.

[cuervo72]

Shows like that were the staple of my UHF-watching afternoons as a kid. Gomer Pyle, The Flying Nun, Gidget, McHale's Navy, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Mister Ed, My Favorite Martian, I Dream of Genie, Batman, The Monkees...

You know, now that I really think about it I probably watched as much 60s TV - if not more - than I did 70s TV. Thanks, Channel 48.

[thesloppy]

I totally watched all that same junk. Some of that I can give credit for just being ridiculous or visually/musically stimulating. Mr. Ed? God, it was soooooo bad. But it was a talking horse, it has to get some credit versus something like Gilligan's Island which seemingly every kid in the world watched but you just wanted an asteroid to smash down on that island after 3 episodes.

[Suicane75]

Sunday morning, I looked up at my TV and saw the intro for a show that I heard of, but never really gave two thoughts to. And..it..blew..my..ever..loving..mind. My Mother The Car. What the holy hell kind of drugs were behind the creation of that show? I mean, at least Mr. Ed was cute.

[Solecismic]

Mount Rushmost - The '80s

We will chose another seven sitcoms to cover the 1980s. Eligibility is limited to network sitcoms that primarily aired during the 1980s. To determine the decade, I took the midpoint season of the series during its original run. In case of a tie, I moved the show to its starting decade.

Listed are the first 35 nominees. This is not an exhaustive list, but I'd be surprised if we strongly considered anything not on this list.

Sitcoms are listed in order of first-run household impressions. The average number of households that saw a first-run episode multiplied by the number of original episodes. For shows that didn't place in the top 30 in the Nielsens for a season, I used a number equal to 80% of the 30th show's ratings as an estimate.

Show (Year began-Year ended), Impressions, Seasons, Episodes, Peak Season Average Viewers (NA means never in the top 30).

Cheers (1982-1993), 4.85b, 11, 270, 23.8m
The Cosby Show (1984-1992), 4.52b, 8, 202, 30.5m
Alice (1976-1985), 3.18b, 9, 202, 19.3m
The Golden Girls (1986-1992), 3.15b, 7, 180, 21.4m
Three's Company (1977-1984), 3.13b, 8, 172, 22.6m
Who's the Boss (1984-1992), 3.09b, 8, 196, 19.2m
Family Ties (1982-1989), 2.94b, 7, 168, 28.6m
Night Court (1984-1992), 2.77b, 9, 193, 20.3m
Newhart (1982-1990), 2.68b, 8, 184, 17.0m
The Facts of Life (1979-1988), 2.66b, 9, 209, 15.4m
Growing Pains (1985-1992), 2.59b, 7, 166, 19.8m
Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986), 2.47b, 8, 189, 16.5m
Designing Women (1986-1993), 2.08b, 7, 163, 15.9m
Benson (1979-1986), 1.92b, 7, 158, 15.7m
Webster (1983-1989), 1.86b, 6, 150, 14.4m
Kate and Allie (1984-1989), 1.82b, 6, 122, 18.2m
Too Close for Comfort (1980-1987), 1.70b, 6, 129, 18.4m
Archie Bunker's Place (1979-1983), 1.64b, 4, 97, 17.6m
Head of the Class (1986-1991), 1.63b, 5, 114, 15.5m
Taxi (1978-1983), 1.62bm 5, 114, 18.6m
Perfect Strangers (1986-1993), 1.62b, 8, 150, NA
227 (1985-1990), 1.60b, 5, 116, 16.5m
Gimme a Break! (1981-1987), 1.58b, 6, 137, NA
Amen (1986-1991), 1.50b, 5, 110, 17.0m
Valerie/The Hogan Family (1986-1991), 1.43b, 6, 110, 15.5m
ALF (1986-1990), 1.43b, 4, 99, 16.7m
Mork and Mindy (1978-1982), 1.38b, 4, 91, 21.3m
Silver Spoons (1982-1987), 1.33b, 5, 116, NA
Mr. Belvedere (1985-1990), 1.32b, 6, 117, NA
WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982), 1.16b, 4, 90, 15.8m
9 to 5 (1982-1988), 1.03b, 5, 85, 16.1m
My Two Dads (1987-1990), 0.98b, 3, 80, 14.9m
House Calls (1979-1982), 0.96b, 3, 57, 17.9m
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, 0.76b, 5, 65, 14.3m
My Sister Sam (1986-1988), 0.58b, 2, 44, 15.2m

Emmy Nominations, Best Comedy

Cheers 11 (4 wins), The Golden Girls 6 (2 wins), Taxi 5 (3 wins), Family Ties 4, The Cosby Show 3 (1 win), Night Court 3, Designing Women 3, WKRP in Cincinnati 3, Newhart 2, Kate and Allie 2, Three's Company 1, Mork and Mindy 1.

Emmy Nominations, Major Acting Awards (both Lead and Supporting)

Cheers 52 (11 wins), The Golden Girls 22 (4 wins), Newhart 16, Taxi 15 (7 wins), Benson 10 (2 wins), Night Court 9 (4 wins), Family Ties 7 (3 wins), Alice 6, Kate and Allie 5 (2 wins), The Cosby Show 5, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd 5, Designing Women 4, WKRP in Cincinnati 4, Three's Company 3 (1 win), Archie Bunker's Place 3, 227 2 (1 win), Who's the Boss 2, Gimme a Break! 2, Mork and Mindy 1, The Facts of Life 1, Perfect Strangers 1, 9 to 5 1, House Calls 1.

No, the 52 acting nominations is not a typo. It's the most of any sitcom all time (The Mary Tyler Moore Show has the record for wins).

[Suicane75]

I had no idea what the hell 9 To 5 was so I hit Wiki. Show ran for like 7 years and I have never heard tell of it.

[Solecismic]

Throwing some thoughts out there...

It's hard to ignore Cheers.

Cosby was a fairly formulaic show that led off the biggest viewership block in television history. Do you avoid voting for it because of the star's off-camera behavior? Reasonable question. This is our Mount Rushmost and we set the rules.

Alice was decent for a long time, but I can't remember it being all that funny. Ms. Tackleberry was sometimes funny, but they spun her off for one of the worst shows ever made. I guess it was slightly better than Joanie Loves Chachi. Alice was very watchable.

The Golden Girls was high quality, decent writing, and three leads who could flat-out act. I think it holds up well even today.

Three's Company was the show people protested. It led the way for a lot of really terrible shows, and some that weren't so bad. It was one comic genius surrounded by mediocre writing and pretty actresses who struggled, though Suzanne Somers was very good in her role and the show died after she left. For its huge audience, it received almost no critical acclaim.

Who's the Boss became Alice in a different situation with the sexes all reversed.

Family Ties had a solid set of actors and was probably one of the best of the family-with-teenagers sitcoms of its time, but it fell too much in love with Michael J. Fox, leading to that weepy run of shows that showed off his talents, but really wasn't comedy.

Night Court had its moments, but I wonder if it would have lasted without its lead-in. John Larroquette deserved his many awards.

Newhart was as good as his last show, and survived a complete retooling after its first season. One of the truly original shows out there.

Taxi won a lot of acclaim, and was brilliantly acted - a throwback to shows a decade earlier. I just had trouble liking it. Would the whole Latka/Simka thing work, or was it just a catch-phrasey mess? Who would work for Louie? Would the constant harassment of Nardo date the show too much? It didn't last long in rerun.

Too Close for Comfort was utter dreck. Made the mistake of picking up the first season on DVD on an extreme sale and... wow, that was unbearable.

Mork and Mindy was another show that didn't do well in reruns, partly because it didn't last that long. But also because every episode was Robin Williams being a great comedian and pretty much nothing else of value. They tried all sorts of things - a local restaurant, Jonathan Winters as a baby, a disapproving dad - and we tuned in to see Williams and then we had our fill.

WKRP in Cincinnati is an intriguing choice. It had only 90 episodes, in part because CBS screwed the show over in scheduling. It holds up well, even today. The acting was surprisingly good and the situation was compelling. Plus one of the better theme songs ever made. And there's Turkeys Away...

The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd was way ahead of its time, and Blair Brown was fantastic. But it just doesn't have the numbers.

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

I had no idea what the hell 9 To 5 was so I hit Wiki. Show ran for like 7 years and I have never heard tell of it.

Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin made a hit comedy movie, so someone decided to make a television show without Parton, Fonda and Tomlin. Ditto Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin and not Goldie Hawn.

[Suicane75]

Oh yeah, I'm familiar with the movie, think it was one of the first films I actually saw in a theater (drive in actually), but I had no idea about the TV show, and it aired right in my wheelhouse.

Looking down the list it's going to be hard for me to whittle down 2-7 from about 15. Cheers is a no brainer, but after that it gets mighty murky. A ton of shows of varying worth but all with shortcomings.

[CrimsonFox]

yup there was a lot of ****ing awful TV in the 80s (and I watched it ALL!)

[thesloppy]

WHERE MY DUKES OF HAZZARD? Is that not considered a sitcom? Wikipedia has it listed as a Action/Adventure Family Comedy-Drama.....which almost seems to give it too much credit.

Man, I watched all that '80s crap, and yet running down the list almost can't bring myself to vote for ANY of it, based on any metric, save for like WKRP and Newhart. Three's Company was personally remarkable because it would always ratchet the misunderstandings up to a level that would trigger some serious anxiety that I literally couldn't watch as a kid....and I wanted to so badly!

[CrimsonFox]

Cheers followed the MASH route brillantly...replace departers with someone different. Altho Woody was a "young coach" at least he was young. The additions of Frasier and Lilith helped things through late years and I thought Rebecca was hysterical. Solid ensemble cast and they could write a story about anyone and it would work.

Night Court - Pure genius farce at its best. Loved this show to pieces and Larroquette and ANderson and the endless stream of dying bailiffs got it big laughs. It allowed for so many big gags thanks to its subject matter. Only courtroom show i ever liked.


Cosby - People can say it was a brilliant show and it was through 3-4 seasons then it was ALL about cuteness factor and how big can we make this family. after they changed the intro the 2nd (of I think 9 times) it really sucked. It led to a ton of family shows that sucked...Charlie and co, 227, just every show that came after it.

Taxi - As I said before unique and very dark comedy. blue collar workplace as opposed to the more preppy cheers. Got better as it went on. Very very dated however . Another oddball workplace show of many. You couldn't rely on every one of the cast to be good...but a handful of amazing stars in Hirsch, Devito, Kaufman, Lloyd.

Alice - I watched it all. Loved Tayback and Lavin but the show wasn't funny really. Hallowed was good. Flo got all the attention. meh....so average and got worse as it went. One Day at a time was a much better version

Mork and Mindy - Utter brilliant whimsy with Robin at his coke-headed best. I loved this show. It really was kind of a kids show and the format of Mork telling Orson at the end what he'd learned that episode was an echo to other kinds of satire from Futurama to My Little Pony. However The endless stream of coke meant robin could not be harnessed in and once Jonathan Winters joined the cast there really was no story. Just 2 goofballs improvising for 30 minutes (without points)

Perfect Strangers - Loved this show. I can't say it was good. But it was another farce which I was already prone to like. The two (Linn-baker and Pinchot) were great physical actors. Laughed at this a lot. There were not enough physical shows like this. However the revolving door of supporting actors and settings from year to year kinda was obvious. Maybe they were just trying to mix it up. I did like Mr Twinkeseti the boss (Pumbaa from Lion King).

Golden Girls is hard to fault but also hard to give too many kudos. Yes top notched leads across the board. It's funny that Bea almost turned it down because she didn't want to do the same things they all did in the 70s on Maude and Mary Tyler Moore. Great characters but a bit too nice sometimes. This was a Susan Harris (from Soap) dish .

Who's the Boss - utter crap. Tony Danza sold his soul for a career. only way to explain it. Katharine Helmond is good at whatever she does but she couldn't save this teenybopper turd.

Silver Spoons - Hilarious...in a bad way. Go alphonso Ribeiro and his magic break dancing. The best thing on this show (and most noteworthy) was it was Jason Bateman's first show. He was a recurring brat rival of Ricky's. I liked it as a kid. Was excited that he had a Dragon's Lair in his living room. . But really total crap (except...Erin Gray was supercute)

Benson - Continued where soap left off. Loved this show. LIked that they fixed the cast of it after a season to bring in heavy hitter Rene Aubernojois. Great cast.

Alf - WHo's the boss with a puppet. great muppet stuff. Alf (the character) was hilarious but the rest of the family was not.

Newhart - Not enough good things to say about this show. brilliant every bit of it. Getting Tom Poston was a stroke of genius and Peter Scolari and Julia Duffy as well. And Larry and Darrell and my other brother Darrell. It really became like a slow farce instead of a fast one. And of course had the best closing moment in all of TV.

WKRP - Loved this show completely. Great workplace comedy, lots of different types of characters. LEd to great things like Newsradio and probably Murphy Brown.

Murphy Brown - BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOring

Molly DOdd - Fantastic! A very controversial show before those really became the norm. Blair Brown was indeed fantastic.

It's Garry Shandling's Show - Why is that not on here??? Brilliant and lightyears ahead of its time! Great that he constantly broke the fourth wall during the show. Precursor to things like Bernie Mac show and even Seinfeld.

Head of the Class - Johnny Fever got a REAL job. Pleasant enough but I wouldn't say funny.

Family Ties - Rode Cosby's coattails. Fox was indeed a star. I can't say it was ever funny. I liked it. Great premise and very strong cast. Like the character, very conservative.

Valerie / Hogan Family - Liked this show a lot. ANOTHER Jason Bateman sighting. Loved the resurgence of Sandy Duncan. This was one of the more fun stories of hollywood. How the network fired Valerie and wrote her off the show and even renamed it. She sued and won . So this is like precursor to Two and a half men? hahaha. Fun little show. Nothing to see here...


Two Close for comfort - I agree...stale and unoriginal. But it had a guy named Jm

Designing Women/A Different World - Both were Very very preachy all the time. I can't say as I found either funny or even fun to watch altho I melt at Dixie Carter's accent. Altho hold a sec...Jean Smart and Annie Potts are both amazing...however the writing and the Delta vs Dixie fights were always center stage. Different World had Dwayne Wayne and his flip shades and an early Marisa Tomei sighting but really was bad.

Facts of Life - One of the better bits of chemistry came from this show. It was great that they wrote off all the excess characters and focused on the 4 that really had something going. All four were great and Charlotte Rae was always a star. By the time the George Clooney years hit it was basically finished.
Little known fact that Jo from this show and Tommy from Alice were brother sister and had competing shows.

Gimme A Break - Great early seasons which survived on lots of fat jokes and some good support from Thelma Hopkins (one of Tony Orlando's "Dawns")
Another family show. Early Joey Lawrence show...(whoa...)

Growing Pains - total crap. Alan Thicke is as wooden as they come. Kirk Cameron was the only energy on the show but really it was blah. And if Kirk is the best one you know you have problems.

Webster - a tragedy about hollywood. Originally was going to be an intelligent husband/wife vehicle for real life couple Karras/Clark...until the network execs insisted they adopt a kid then renamed and retooled the show around the Gary Coleman clone. Yuk.

Diffrent Strokes...speaking of which... had good cast and people like Baine and Rae...the kids were great and funny but the catch phrases took over. And then they decided (just like cosby did) that the younger kids weren't cute anymore so they had to bring in ANOTHER cute kid in Danny Cooksey (who later grew up to be Bobby Buttnik on Salute your shorts and montana max in Tiny Toons). Yeah they retooled this a bunch of times. The theme of tolerance and acceptance was there...but again...the catch phrase took over.

House Calls - I liked it and it had some hollywood elite in it like David Wayne and Lynn Redgrave. Wayne Rogers was just not good enough tho. good enough ensemble. speaking of which AfterMASH was also not very good.

[CrimsonFox]

9 to 5 was no where near as good as the movie. Tambor and Moreno could not save it.

My Two Dads was a great GREAT start for Paul Reiser and he perfected his wit and timing for Mad About You

227 and Belvedere were some of the worst crap on TV.

but Leon Redbone singing the theme!

[CrimsonFox]

Right now I'm at...

Cheers (a must!)
Three's Company
WKRP in Cincinnati
It's Garry Shandling's Show
Newhart
Night Court
Taxi

lotsa competition...will probably discuss more...

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

I had no idea what the hell 9 To 5 was so I hit Wiki. Show ran for like 7 years and I have never heard tell of it.

lol it wasn't on for 7 years.

it was on for 1 year and then was canned then 5 years later they brought it back. Yeah Jeffrey Tambor was fired from it to bring in Peter Bonerz (from Bob Newhart)
Rita Moreno was the only good casting...well Dolly Parton's sister :P

but really the movie had a succinct point. The series did not and it basically kinda wandered in "general office comedy" land without strong characters

[CrimsonFox]

re three's company I agree that somers replacements were no where near as funny as Chrissy...but by that point the utter dumb jokes had mostly run its course. Bringing in Don Knotts was actually a good fit for both him and the show and gave the show a little more stamina. Agree it was Ritter's show but I always liked Dewitt too. Another good farce really doors and sex and overheard conversations and all.

[CrimsonFox]

well here's the info on Garry Shandling...It's Garry Shandling's Show - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not sure if it qualifies. Didn't realize it was a showtime show that was reboardcast on FOX.

Such a funny show

[Suicane75]

Jeez, can't believe Shandling slipped my mind. Yeah, it's on my list for certain. I think a majority of the people who watched it, watched it on Fox.

[Suicane75]

Night Court makes my list as well. I often let the later seasons were it got absolutely awful cloud my view of it, but in it's prime seasons, nothing made me laugh harder.

[Suicane75]

Not getting the hate for Two Close For Comfort. Maybe it's a guilty pleasure but I love that show. And it's not just memories either, I watched it religiously as recently as a year or two ago.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm pretty sure it won't matter much but ... My Sister Sam may or may not even be eligible for consideration.

They filmed 56 episodes according the show's Wiki page ... but only 44 aired. The show tanked so badly that they left a dozen episodes in the can unaired.