The Top 100 American Situation Comedies
An Objective Ranking
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About the Book
A number of books and articles have been written ranking the best situation comedies of all time.
These have all had something in common—subjective criteria based on the authors’ opinions. This book attempts an objective ranking of the best 100 American sitcoms, based on a mathematical formula taking into account four factors: ratings, longevity, peer acceptance and spawning of other programs (spin-offs).
The authors considered a field of 377 series which met at least one of four criteria: aired for at least three seasons; rated among top 30 series in at least one season; received at least one major Emmy nomination; or spawned at least one other series. A critical essay is provided for each series, along with air dates and cast listings.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Mitchell E. Shapiro and Tom Jicha
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 292
Bibliographic Info: appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2016
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6404-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2340-5
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1. All in the Family 5
2. Cheers 7
3. Frasier 10
4. M*A*S*H 12
5. The Mary Tyler Moore Show 15
6. Friends 18
7. Everybody Loves Raymond 20
8. I Love Lucy 23
9. The Cosby Show 25
10. Seinfeld 27
11. Modern Family 30
12. Murphy Brown 32
13. The Golden Girls 34
14. The Danny Thomas Show 36
15. The Dick Van Dyke Show 38
16. 30 Rock 40
17. Will & Grace 43
18. The Andy Griffith Show 45
19. Taxi 47
20. Roseanne 49
21. Barney Miller 52
22. Mad About You 54
23. The Big Bang Theory 56
24. The Phil Silvers Show 59
25. Family Ties 61
26. Bewitched 63
27. Two and a Half Men 65
28. Happy Days 68
29. Home Improvement 71
30. Sex and the City 73
31. Get Smart 75
32. The Beverly Hillbillies 77
33. Father Knows Best 79
34. The Larry Sanders Show 82
35. The Lucy Show 84
36. Night Court 86
37. The Office 89
38. Three’s Company 92
39. The Wonder Years 94
40. The Jeffersons 96
41. Sanford and Son 99
42. Maude 101
43. Laverne & Shirley 103
44. Curb Your Enthusiasm 105
45. Newhart 108
46. Kate & Allie 111
47. Malcolm in the Middle 113
48. Coach 115
49. Entourage 118
50. Alice 120
51. Hogan’s Heroes 123
52. 3rd Rock from the Sun 125
53. One Day at a Time 128
54. Rhoda 131
55. The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show 133
56. Soap 136
57. Family Affair 139
58. Designing Women 141
59. The Bob Cummings Show (Love That Bob) 144
60. The Odd Couple 146
61. Room 222 149
62. December Bride 151
63. Hazel 153
64. Who’s the Boss? 155
65. My Three Sons 158
66. The Real McCoys 160
67. A Different World 163
68. The Life of Riley 165
69. Our Miss Brooks 167
70. Mama 170
71. Evening Shade 172
72. Here’s Lucy 174
73. Empty Nest 176
74. Petticoat Junction 178
75. Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. 181
76. Veep 183
77. Nurse Jackie 186
78. Dream On 188
79. Benson 190
80. Full House 193
81. Weeds 195
82. Growing Pains 198
83. Arrested Development 200
84. Ellen (These Friends of Mine) 203
85. The Donna Reed Show 205
86. The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet 207
87. How I Met Your Mother 210
88. The Bob Newhart Show 212
89. Diff’rent Strokes 215
90. Scrubs 217
91. Green Acres 220
92. The Facts of Life 222
93. The Wizards of Waverly Place 225
94. iCarly 227
95. Wings 230
96. Married … with Children 232
97. Perfect Strangers 234
98. The King of Queens 237
99. McHale’s Navy 239
100. Family Matters 242
Appendices
A. Ranked List of All Qualifying Situation Comedies 245
B. Top 25 Situation Comedies by Decade 254
C. Top Situation Comedies by Network 259
D. Top 25 Situation Comedies That Aired for One Season or Less 263
Index 265
