Best Sitcom Ever

Back by popular demand, Dan sits in the debate chair again. But what's this? He's going up against the leader of ludicrous, Chris! Oh boy, this kind of stunt casting can only mean one thing, and that thing is sitcoms. So, which sitcom is the best in your minds? Is Urkle involved? Does someone yell "Dyn-o-mite" a lot?

And don't forget, if you don't understand our decisions or want to have more of our material to complete your shrines to us, Mondays feature a new written companion piece titled No Right Explanation. We dare you to make less sense!

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Community is not a choice, judge's ruling invalidated.
One point about Seinfeld's finale Dan, you're right about the clip show thing: "Oh look all these secondary characters that I love". True. But you know what characters I didn't give a shit about? The main cast. Good but they were SO selfish and shallow. Sure Joe getting his head stuck in a Turkey was ridiculous and about as likely to happen as a "black" man getting the Republican nomination for president, but at least I CARED about him. That episode with George and the eclair? This whole story-line in that episode was that he was trying to convince his girlfriend's parents that he wasn't white trash. The eclair was one of his strikes. You remember how he finally blew it? It turns out George has to take his shirt off when he uses the bathroom. And GUESS who's in the room when he comes out without his shirt? The eclair thing by itself would have been funny, but Seinfeld never met a joke that it didn't tie to a post and beat into mush.

And by the way, any show that has a Kramer on it should NEVER be classified as normal with a straight face.

*Scream*

Ahm.

Now with that out of the way. Between those two, I'd agree with Dan on Seinfeld being better than Friends, but adding my own I'd say That 70's Show, it's got a lot of funny jokes, interesting character arcs and what not.

Meh, don't think many good points came up there at all. And most of the points they both made are kind of applicable to both shows anyway.

Who shoves their head up a turkey? Mr.Beans

Clearly seinfeld's spiritual successor "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is the best situational comedy and Larry David on screen with J.B. Smoove is some of THE BEST COMEDY of all time.

I can't narrow it down to two sitcoms that might be the best. I love Seinfeld, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, That '70s Show and King of Queens equally. Also, I agree that no one in the Friends crew felt like a real human being and that made it difficult to enjoy.

Friends is obnoxious. Seinfeld is possibly the greatest thing ever. Dan won this one, hands down. He shouldn't have lost a point for "bad math"... incorrectly guessing the number of characters in a show isn't bad math, it just goes to show there are too many stupid characters to keep track of.

How I Met Your Mother is ok. It has its moments (mainly Neil Patrick Harris moments, sometimes Jason Segel moments), but Ted is horribly obnoxious. The things Ted and sometimes Lilly preach are bullshit, like how there is only one person out there for everybody and you'll never be happy until you find that person and marry them. Too many sappy, incorrect moral lessons. Seinfeld gets bonus points for never having moral lessons (at least not blatant ones).

Oh, FUCK yes. How I Met Your Mother is awesome. Well done, Kyle.

I've never been attracted to sitcoms, but Seinfeld has always managed to catch me when I'm channel surfing. Friends I can watch for very brief periods before it annoys me too much, kind of like two and a half men. How I met your mother on the other hand has never even registered as interesting.

See, the thing about sitcoms is, no one really knows if a comedy show should be classified as a sitcom or not.

For instance: no one's mentioned Arrested Development (which stole "show most boned by Fox" a while ago), which could maybe be classified as a sitcom? Who knows! And if cartoon sitcoms get to join the fun (Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy), all bets are off.

My vote? Big Bang Theory.

Jesus, how full was dans glass? That was just gone.

Anyway if i had to go between dan and chris, I have to give it to seinfeld. The show was funnier all the way through (maybe the first season was a bit rough), and I genuinely cared about the characters. the only person on Friends that I liked was Jennifer Anistans character. Plus friends gave us joey (the show and character) and thats just... thats just no.

...

You know, a good debate would have been between Full House and That 70s Show.

and to be more directly OT my pick for best sitcom is dharma and greg.

Dan is abusing his power through the amount of water he has to drink.

Pre-Watching: Oh god...they've actually touched that landmine.

Before you even go into US vs UK sitcom, they've touched THAT landmine.

Post Watching: Well, that wasn't 'that' bad...*cough* Frasier, Cheers, Flintstones, Golden Girls, Neighbours, Home and Away, The Good Life, The IT Crowd, Father Ted, The 70's Show, Alf, Family Ties, SOAP *cough*

But, still a missed opportunity:

If you're UK

If you're US

Next time: Try something less dangerous: Like Star Trek vs. Star Wars

Seinfeld's main cast were people I would hate in real life, they are just so self-centered and oblivious that it pissed me off, same with Everybody Love Raymond, King of Queens, etc.

Friends I enjoyed, mostly for Joey and Chandler, and That 70's Show and Scrubs are great

How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory win it all though

This was an interesting experiment this week. I was kinda curious how well Dan and Chris would debate considering how well they work together as color commentators. As it turns out...either not so much, or Dan just got tossed the 'emo ball' this week.

As far as the choices, I can't really object. The debate wasn't really 'most enjoyable sitcom', it was more 'what sitcom best epitomizes the Platonic ideal of sitcom' without actually just being about one f-ing family like I Love Lucy or something. For that, Friends and Seinfeld are about as typical as you're gonna get.

If this was M*A*S*H versus The Phil Silvers Show or Porridge versus Rising Damp, I'd buy into it. I can't make myself give a shit about either Friends or Seinfeld. I couldn't when they were first on, either. The golden age of sitcoms was before I was old enough to watch them.

Wow. Dan chugged that water hard. Still, my favorite Sitcom is Scrubs. I don't know if that's the best, but it's easily the one I like the most.

Seinfeld had Patrick Warburton in it. So Seifeld wins.

Haha, I almost just turned it off when I saw "Seinfeld vs Friends". Now when I got around to watching friends (co-ed college dorm with shared TV) it was pretty good, but does not compete with Seinfeld!

Or if you want to go old school, or the 'its a sitcom because of unreal situations', then I'd pick Married with Children. I mean come on, on a trip to England Al gets called out into a medieval joust by a British gentleman and walks onto the tiltyard in his high school football uniform? You just can't beat that!

I find Friends to be a series with either predictable or downright retarded episode plots. I find the characters to be obnoxious and the jokes often repetitive. I really have to go with Seinfeld with this one, although I enjoy its successor (Curb) even more.

The_root_of_all_evil:

Post Watching: Well, that wasn't 'that' bad...*cough* Frasier, Cheers, Flintstones, Golden Girls, Neighbours, Home and Away, The Good Life, The IT Crowd, Father Ted, The 70's Show, Alf, Family Ties, SOAP *cough*

The only things I disagree with you on are the two bolded ones. I found Frasier to be fairly amusing and it as one of the better sitcoms around. The IT Crowd however really is THAT bad and should be put with the likes of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory IMO.

Of course, when it comes to shittyness, nothing can compare to Dharma and Greg. I honestly can't understand how that show won any awards, let alone a golden globe.

the turkey scene with joey from friends was also in the UK Mr. Bean Christmas special(in my book, that nulifies that scene as a stand out moment).
while I enjoyed Friends, and actually recognizing certain traits of the characters in people I know, the same is applied to Seinfeld, even though the show fell off after the 4th season.
Why doesn't anyone mention Married with Children

vxicepickxv:
Does nobody remember Married With Children?

Yes, my vote, Married with Children, all the way

SpaceBat:

The IT Crowd however really is THAT bad and should be put with the likes of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory IMO.

I shall have to ask you to step outside for a game of Street Countdown.

And only one vowel.

Dan missed a huge opportunity in that debate: Seinfeld's lasting appeal. Seinfeld coined phrases that used in everyday life. That's how transcending this show is. You never even have to have seen Seinfeld, yet its impact on you would be unmistakeable. Terms like "man-hands" or "close talker" are all from Seinfeld. I could go on all day about this, but my point is that Friends didn't creep into our lives (hell, no show did), like Seinfeld.

I feel so old.

Leave it to Beaver
Gilligan's Island
Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Shows from when SitComs meant something. There was a challenge to trying to be the best, because there were dozens fighting for that honor every week.

But face it -- all of these choices are from the wrong continent.

Fawlty Towers. There were only 12 episodes, because every single one was perfect. Any more would have risked spoiling that record.

My Captcha includes the word "England." Even Captcha knows.

SpaceBat:
The IT Crowd however really is THAT bad and should be put with the likes of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory IMO.

People always complain about other people using IMO because "it's always your opinion blah blah blah.." but I bet that if you hadn't include it the next 4 or 5 pages would have been attacks against you

I'm afraid the correct answer is scrubs.

PeePantz:
Dan missed a huge opportunity in that debate: Seinfeld's lasting appeal. Seinfeld coined phrases that used in everyday life. That's how transcending this show is. You never even have to have seen Seinfeld, yet its impact on you would be unmistakeable. Terms like "man-hands" or "close talker" are all from Seinfeld. I could go on all day about this, but my point is that Friends didn't creep into our lives (hell, no show did), like Seinfeld.

Never heard any of those in real life.

Hitchmeister:
I feel so old.

Leave it to Beaver
Gilligan's Island
Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Shows from when SitComs meant something. There was a challenge to trying to be the best, because there were dozens fighting for that honor every week.

But face it -- all of these choices are from the wrong continent.

How so?