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A minority enthusiasm, I admit it, but "Car 54, Where Are You" was, in its brief two-year stint from 1961 through 1963, a breath of goofy fresh air and by far the most popular televison show among the young miscreants of St. Anselm's grammar school. It was essentially "Sgt. Bilko" transplanted to a Bronx precinct house, and its two lovably bumbling principals, rubber-faced Joe E. "Ooh! Ooh!" Ross as Officer Gunther Toody and hound dog visaged Fred Gwynne (a Harvard man, the Lampoon and everything!) as Officer
Francis Muldoon, stamped their respective roles with almost archetypal authority. Also fondly remembered is Al Lewis in the role of Leo Schnauser, who made Toody and Muldoon Look like Lee marvin in "M Squad." My father was himself a New York city cop and somehow he didn't quite take the same delight that his son did in the
municipal bumbling of these lovable nimrods. It's a pleasure to recall time when we could still affectionately send up the centurions in our midst. Now all the television cops strike self-important poses and stare out at us from billboards with the sternest of
expressions. What a burden all that moral superiority must be to carry around.
Gerry - Car54 will definately be a competitor when we tackle workplace sitcoms - oh yeah, we're very sub-genre here....
After Dick Van Dyke, what?
All in the Family.
The Bob Newhart Show.
Seinfeld.
Cosby, for the first few years.
Andy Griffith.
Mad About You, until the baby appeared on the horizon.
Evening Shade. (Lost in the shadow of Murphy Brown and Newhart on Monday nights.)
To me, I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners are museum pieces. I appreciate them for their place in history, but I don't really enjoy them.
Well, ok, Art Carney was great.
Hey, Ralphie Boy!
And Gleason...humana humana humana...
But the shows themselves?
Give me Bilko. Sorry, started on the workplace list...
Andy Griffth - yeah I thought of that, but decided it was a workplace comedy after all - the best Don Knotts plots all revolved around sheriffin'
Andy Griffith I always hated and still hate--a show about accepting your lowly station in life. I hate it the way I hate Forrest Gump.
Here's my 10:
1. I Love Lucy
2. Honeymooners
3. Simpsons
4. Seinfeld
5. Dick Van Dyke
6. Good Times
7. Bob Newhart (both iterations)
8. All in the Family
9. Addams Family
10. Green Acres. (How about some love for this Kafka-esque send up of rural America?)
Happy Days seasons 2-5 or before Fonzie literally 'jumped the shark.' Mork and Mindy. Chico and the Man stands out as an example of a smart hispanic who teaches the old white guy to be wise.
The Flintstones and the Jetsons. Call them Cartoons, but Fred Siebert's comments here: http://frederatorblogs.com/post/2981 reminded me of how, while these may parallel the honeymooners, they were original in their own way (and with the Jetsons, visionary.)
1. WKRP in Cincinnati. This isn't just my favourite US sitcom of all time, it's my favourite show of all time. I especially loved the character of Les Nessman - possibly the most original character ever written for American TV. The acting from the ensemble cast, the dialogue ("As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"), even the plots were great.
2. Good Times. One of the biggest gripes I have with sitcoms are that they inadvertently show a very distorted picture of American society. Everyone lives in a 6,000 square foot home or a New York studio apartment; the women never wear the same clothes twice; the men all have important jobs; the big financial decisions are always things like "do we go on vacation twice or three times this year?"; every problem is solved in 30 minutes. Good Times was realistic, showing a section of American society that hadn't existed on TV before.
3. Bewitched. For basically the reasons you gave. The idea was so surreal.
4, 5, and 6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. All were so adult and sophisticated yet so funny.
7. Gilligan's Island (yeah, I went there) for pure unadulterated childhood fun and a great theme song.
8. The Simpsons for bringing back both animation and really funny dialogue that didn't obviously preach.
9. Get Smart. I don't know if a parody can be considered a sitcom, but here it is. Great writing and acting.
10. Major Dad for showing us that conservative sitcoms can be just as preachy and mind-numbingly dull as liberal ones like Maude.
I would also go with Bewitched, but only with Dick York, who is one of Eddie Albert's few peers in exasperation. Another candidate would be the first couple of seasons of Soap. All right, I confess to a love of the absurd.
Also, speaking of radio, I have listened to every extant episode of Jack Benny on the radio and a case could be made for that show being one of the defining programs in the development of the sitcom (especially if you get into the workplace sub-genre). Jack also loved to break the 4th wall; for example, guest star would come to his house and the crowd would applaud at his or her first line and Jack would comment on the number of people in his living room.
As to Jack Benny, I loved the Jack Benny show on TV. Broke all the rules before there were rules and for comics in a leading roll Benny can't be beat. Not really a domestic sitcom tho', ditto Blurgle a number of excellent shows on your list (Get Smart is among my all time favs, but not a domestic sitcom, which was the exercise at hand).
Howard, Welcome Back Kotter is really a workplace comedy, I think, despite the framing sequences of Gabe and his wife. An underrated workplace comedy.
Great list..
Cheers,
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