Yeah, but it ran into the sixties. I think better cases for shows that need to be listed under different decades are The Facts of Life and Coach, which spent only one year in the decade they are listed under. (not trying to nitpick )
I think every generation has some great shows. I can't pick one. But I do love TV Land. I love a lot of shows from every decade you put up there Bobo. Can't really pick one.
I thought for sure you would point out how I missed YOUR favorite sitcom of ALL-TIME... WHAT'S HAPPENING
f4p, just wondering what age group you're in. I've never run across anyone who was at least a teenager during All In The Family's time on TV that didn't think that show was great. My daughter, now 23, has watched that show in re-runs since she was a teen and I find myself having to explain to her the significance and humor in some of their bits. Like you, she thinks it's funny, but it doesn't necessarily hit home with her. I think it may be that you had to live in those times to really "get" and fully appreciate the genius of that show and what it revealed to us about ourselves and the people around us. An example of that today is how easy it is to identify with the characters on Raymond and see some of yourself(especially husbands) or someone around you who thinks, says, or does what the Barones do. That was the brilliance of Raymond and All In The Family. It's us on the TV screen, for better or worse.
while i can probably never appreciate the significance, i get it. it's just that i don't find the jokes to be that funny most of the time. i'm not saying it sucked, b/c there was one episode i was laughing pretty damn hard at and even dvr'd and watched later, but on the whole it doesn't stand out to me. i could pretty much do w/o gloria even being on the show and it sometimes almost feel like they're a parody of a show about the issues of the 70's the way they seem to hit you over the head with them. i know that's its schtick, but i get tired of it sometimes. i mean archie says something and then meathead has to tell us how wrong he is and how oppressed whatever archie just offended is or how bad the government is (you have to question the government just seems so cliche but maybe it was fresh back then) and then gloria has to chime in and i wanna stab her. so like i said, it's not that i hate it, it just does nothing for me the way a lot of 90s sitcoms do. The Mary Tyler Moore show is probably my favorite show from that decade.
I voted 90's, because that's what I grew up with, and because of Saved By The Bell and Boy Meets World.
Bingo, you pretty much hit it on the head f4p! The late 60's and 70's was the huge generation gap you read about today in your history books, but reading it and living it are two different things. The gap was WIDE, much more than today, for instance. You still see that today, young and old think their way is right. Liberals and conservatives think their way is 100% right. But you don't have anywhere near the polarization or turbulence today that was present then.
And That 70's show should really be 2000's. If one wanted to start a 2000's list...are some decent one's this decade so far...Scrubs, That 70's show
90's. Why? Seinfeld. That's all that needs to be said. Also, The Simpsons belongs in the 90's, not the 80's. The era of best television shows (all types) is the 00's. The 00's The O.C. Nip/Tuck 24 Alias Family Guy Lost Curb Your Enthusiasm Scrubs Desperate Housewives Simpsons are still going Conan O'Brian is still going
I say 90's... partially because I grew up on the decade (more than the 80's). The Simpsons Ellen Will and Grace Friends Seinfeld Full House Roseanne Fresh Prince Ren and Stimpy Home Improvement Frasier Saved by the Bell Everybody Loves Raymond Married with Children Beavis and Butthead Murphy Brown Step by Step South Park Family Matters Sabrina Boy Meets World Hangin w/ Mr. Cooper The Nanny King of the Hill Coach Wings ...nuff said (though I have to make clear I don't like all these shows)
it's the nineties hands down for me. i could watch seinfeld and newsradio all day. also a number of your eighties sitcoms basically started in 89 and ran mostly in the 90's. roseanne, murphy brown, coach and the simpsons are definitely more 90's i'd say.
Gawd, I hated Family Matters...damn Cosby Show ripoff. Step By Step sucked, too. That was basically an updated ripoff of the Brady Bunch... Where the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is NIGHT COURT...easily the most underrated sitcom ever...
gotta go with 70s, followed closely by a tie betwen 60s and 80s. every decade has great shows....but the 70s had more of them.
I put 70's mainly based on the list in the initial post. Dukes of Hazzard, MacGyver, Ren and Stimpy and shows like that were not sitcoms. They wouldn't be on this list. There are plenty of other great shows out there, like The Ben Stiller Show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, etc. which weren't sitcoms but were terrific programs. Other sitcoms that were missing were Get a Life which is a big bonus for the 90's and might cancel out some of the awful strikes against the 90's. It is hard to vote for any decade that has Dharma and Greg, plus Will and Grace, and The Nanny.