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SitComs Old and New.

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 7:41 pm
by drew
There's lots of threads about specific shows, but none dedicated to the fine art of situation comedy.
What are some of your fav's? Hated?

I find that with a few exceptions nearly any SitCom from the nineties on wasn't worth watching.
THere are a couple of half decent ones this year.
-Everybody hates Chris
-The war at home

Some of my fav's include
WKRP 8O
Cheers :beer:
Night Court :D
Married with Children

Some of my hated ones are
-Home Improvements :Z:
-Murphy Brown :crazy:
-Friends/Mad About You/Will and Grace/Caroline in the City (I found these were all pretty much the same show with similar looking actors, and identical jokes)

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 9:07 pm
by Fist and Faith
All in the Family
Barney Miller
The Bob Newhart Show
Boston Common
Cheers
Cybill
F-Troop
Family Ties
Get Smart
Happy Days
Hogan's Heroes
The Honeymooners
Mad About You
Mary Tyler Moore
M*A*S*H
Night Court
The Odd Couple
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Seinfeld
Soap
Taxi
3rd Rock
WKRP

Honorable Mention (of which there are certainly more, but for now):
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Head of the Class
Home Improvement
I Love Lucy (Yeah, so sue me, it's not one of my top fav's.)
Unhappily Ever After
Wings

Little known and/or short-lived shows that I really liked:
Best in the West
The Gregory Hines Show
It's Like, You Know
Pearl
Quark

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 9:12 pm
by drew
Best in the West was awesome, as was Parker Lewis.

One short lived show that I really liked was called Nearly Departed;
It was about this older couple who died, and continued to haunt their old home.

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 9:20 pm
by Fist and Faith
Odd that I don't remember hearing about an Eric Idle show. But I guess it was done in England? Anyway, it reminds me to add The Ghost and Mrs. Muir to my list. I don't remember enough specifics to put it in the top, but definitely HM. (It was also a great movie.)

Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 9:56 pm
by Worm of Despite
All in the Family and Andy Griffith are my two favorite 'old' sitcoms. New would be Simpsons and Buffy, though the latter is drama. I just lump them all under 'shows.' Haven't watched a TV show all year, I think. Heh. Just use the tube for movies.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 8:04 am
by dlbpharmd
I never watch sitcoms anymore. Some that I've liked in the past include:

Cheers
Andy Griffith
Sanford and Son
M*A*S*H

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 3:11 pm
by Cail
It's Like, You Know was a teriffic show that no one got. I thought WKRP was one of the funniest shows ever, especially the Phone Cops episodes. The first two seasons of Parker Lewis Can't Lose were excellent due to their innovation; practically a live action cartoon. I think Scrubs is the best one out now by far.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 3:21 pm
by Fist and Faith
WKRP was awesome. And it had one of my funniest moments from all tv lore. They were doing something for the homeless, and had a bunch of homeless folks around Jennifer's (Loni Anderson) desk. One particularly scraggly, old guy gives her a wink, and says, "You know, I'm not as old as I look." She replies, "Oh? Are you any richer than you look?"

I just added Cheers to my list. Don't know why it wasn't there in the first place. SO much craziness over the years. I especially liked the first years. Started off great, with a discussion of the sweatiest movie of all time.
What about Cliff on Jeopardy? :LOLS:
The "Ew"s Diane and Frasier got when they revealed their relationship.

Another of my funniest moments of all tv lore is from the final episode, when Sam and Norm are alone at the end, talking about the important things in life:
Norm: Sammy, I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but... you know what I think the most important thing in life is? It's love. You wanna know what I love?
Sam: Beer, Norm?
Norm: *checks his watch * Yeah, I'll have a quick one.

And some great Norm quotes:
cheers.tvheaven.com/norm.html
My favorites from there:

Norm: Evenin', everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Sam: Tell us what you know, Norm.
Norm: God's in his heaven, and something, something, something.
Sam: How about a beer?
Norm: Yeah, that's it.

Rebecca: Have you ever thought what it would be like to be without Vera for 20 years?
Norm: Oh my God!
Rebecca: You see? You'd miss Vera!
Norm: Oh! I thought you said "beer!"

Norm: So, ah, what kinda punnishment ya get?
Frazier: Oh, I'm not getting any.
Norm: Oh, you got off easy.
Frazier: No. I'm not getting any..
Norm: No. You're getting off easy..

Norm: Evenin', everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Coach: What's shakin', Norm?
Norm: All four cheeks and a couple of chins, Coach.

Norm: Afternoon, everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Woody: Hey, Mr. Peterson, can I pour you a beer?
Norm: Well, O.K. Woody, but be sure to stop me at one. Ah, make that one-thirty.

Norm: Afternoon, everybody.
Everybody: Norm!
Coach: What'll it be, Normie?
Norm: Just the usual, Coach. I'll have a trough of beer and a snorkle.

Sam: What time is it?
Norm: How many beers have I had, Cliff?
Cliff: Ah...eleven.
Norm: 8:05

Norm: Mornin' Sammy
Sam: Norm! What brings you in this time of day?
Norm: Same thing that always does.
Sam: Little early for a beer, isn't it?
Norm: So, float a cornflake in it.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:24 pm
by I'm Murrin
Green Wing.
Black Books was good, too.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:38 pm
by CovenantJr
Black Books was great. Does Father Ted count as a sitcom?

I like some of the older ones too, like Ever Decreasing Circles.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 5:25 pm
by Cail
Gotta add Arrested Development to my list.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 5:45 pm
by dlbpharmd
Normisms - yeah, that was the best thing about Cheers.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 10:17 pm
by drew
Norm: Women, can't live ith 'em...........Pass the beer nuts.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:22 pm
by Fist and Faith
:LOLS:

Harry (3rd Rock): Women, can't live with 'em...........yet, they're everywhere!

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:45 pm
by danlo
I agree with alot of these-F Troop, Get Smart, Night Court, M*A*S*H, Cheers and WKRP of course among many of the good oldies, old goodies (**damm Fist I'm still peeing my pants here! :biggrin: **) speaking of that and ROTLFMAO with my mother when Fawlty Towers first hit PBS somewhere around '77-'78. (right now, not much My Name is Earl, Two and 1/2 Men).

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:46 pm
by CovenantJr
Hmm, Cheers. I seem to be the only person on earth who found Cheers both dull and unfunny. Meh, maybe I only saw bad episodes.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 11:57 pm
by danlo
The first two years, or so, are much better.

"So how do we get to the Hekawi camp?"

"First, you make a left at the big rock that looks like a bear, then you make a right at the big bear that looks like a rock."

Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 6:50 am
by lucimay
sheesh...you guys left out

Chico and the Man and Welcome Back Kotter!!!!


Fist!!! i LOVED F-Troop!!!!!

and i'm partial to the really goofey ones too...like

The Munsters
The Adams Family



and i was a huge Lucy fan and watched ALL incarnations of that show!!!

so i naturally LOVED Lavern and Shirley!!!!

and don't forget The Odd Couple!!!

also my two favorite newscasters of all time...

Les Nessman and Ted Baxter!!! :biggrin:

and where oh where is GRANNY???? JETHRO? ELLIE MAY? JED?

come on people...how COULD you leave out The Beverly Hillbillies???

and um...i must admit a fondness for Gilligan's Island AND Leave It To Beaver!!

Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 2:22 pm
by Fist and Faith
F-Troop was great right from the get-go. First episode we find out the Hekawi don't have a war dance, so Agarn (I saw Larry Storch on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun! :D) teaches them one. You see a second of that in the opening credits.

And, it had one of the great running jokes in tv history, right up there with Archie Bunker's "Reverend Fletcher" "Feltcher" "Whatever." Whenever they were trying to figure out how to solve some peoblem, and Agarn came up with a good idea, O'Rourke would say, "I don't know why everybody says you're dumb." And hours later, when they're sneaking through an enemy camp between the sleeping enemies, Agarn suddenly realizes what O'Rourke said, and, much too loud, says, "Who says I'm dumb!"

Posted: Mon May 29, 2006 3:02 pm
by dlbpharmd
How did I forget "All in the Family?" Great comedy, there.