No Right Answer: Best Sitcom Ever

[Richard Norley]

Married with Children would be my favorite. Though, 3rd Rock From the Sun comes close.

I guess it really depends on what decade you grew up in. I bet a lot of people would say the Honeymooners, but a lot of other people would say Fresh Princes of Bel-Air.

 

[BrotherRool]

I know I'm in a minority, but I never found Seinfeld funny. There's just something about the way it was presented that isn't humorous to me.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny

Not quite relevant, but still

Is it me or does Seinfield have really poor international penetration? I could ask anyone here in the UK about Friends and they'd probably even be able to talk about specific episodes, but if anyone I know has watched Seinfield, they've never mentioned it. The only thing I know about it, is it's meant to be a classic sitcom?

I mean How I Met Your Mother does fine here too, just not Seinfield

EDIT: A quick bit of research,
Seinfeld 2.2 million UK hits
How I Met Your Mother 23.4 million UK hits
'Joey Friends' 4.6 million UK hits (Friends was too generic but I think it gets the point across, that even a much more specific search, doubles Seinfeld. Compare it too 'Kramer Seinfeld' .06 million UK hits)

Seinfeld 2.2 million German hits
How I Met Your Mother 19 million German hits
Friends Serie 20.2 million German hits


Sorry America, but Seinfeld sucks

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

How I Met Your Mother's a good call, it has great episodes, and I like the characters, but like others have said, it can get inane and preachy, characters fail to learn simple things, and reiterate things to fill episodes between major events. It manages to stay sharp and different though, but whether it's the best of all time...

I'd probably give it to Frasier, Friends or Scrubs. Chandler alone could carry Friends and Frasier was some of the best sitcom writing of all time. Scrubs, until that tenuous 10th / 9th (?) season, was full of the kind of humour I can enjoy for years after I know the punchline.

If characters in series don't develop like real people though, I get frustrated with them, which I suppose is one of my major gripes with HIMYM. Stop having heavy handed repetitive moral rebirths, it's tiresome.

Harris is a brilliant actor though. I'd like to see him in some more serious roles, see what kind of capacity he has for them. I'll check out his IMDB page...

 

[Souplex]

Once again I have to point out that you're all wrong, and you should have just come to me for the right answer.
It's Community.
It's so awesome that I don't even need to say anything about it. It just is pure awesomesauce.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Of the two, I hate them both, but I did watch a few seasons of friends. I just couldn't go on after Ross proved there was a worse place to get a girl's name wrong than in bed. Seinfeld, tollerable in small doses, but nothing to grab me.

I'm not sure I'd classify my favorite comedies like Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, and MASH as sit-coms. Others like Rosanne, The Drew Carrey show, That 70s show, and Married with Children fell apart by the end. Now one I like from beginning to end is Night Court. The Cosbey show has some issues, but still some timelessness.

The jury's still out on Big Bang Theory. I'd give it more credit if it had avoided the Clap on / Clap off relationship problem I had with Friends.

 

[CK76]

I have never seen an episode of Friends or Seinfeld (or Net your Mother) so cannot comment on any if those.

While Arrested Development is my all time comedy show, I guess by traditional metrics I enjoy the sitcom Big Bang Theory.

 

[CK76]

Friends over Seinfeld in my opinion. But the best sitcom ever is still Titus. That's actually a fact.

The Dad on there was classic. Another show Fox gave me, and cruelly took away.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Arrested Development.

Greatest writing in a comedy series ever. All the evidence you need is in season 2 and all the hints leading up to Buster's "event". Or in season 3 and the hints leading to Rita's "reveal". You can watch the show by itself and enjoy it, but , you can also rewatch the show and get this shocked moment of "oh wow, this was all planned".

The characters were well crafted with a diverse array of kinks and complex interactions with other characters. The cast embodied the characters perfectly and managed to perfectly blend the real with surreal. Everything was ridiculous and yet real. Outlandish yet grounded.

An almost perfect show.

Credit also must be given to Community for its use of parody when handling sitcom tropes. Also Black Adder for having wit, not just comedy.

 

[6SteW6]

Meh this one was the only one I didn't care about there being a winner. I can see clearly Seinfeld is the better show, but I enjoy watching Friends more.

It's easy to relate to the characters of friends we all have at least one friend like one of them. Whereas Seinfeld all the characters are rather petty and selfish more 'realistic' but difficult to relate to. I love both shows though they each give me laughs everytime I watch them.

 

[Sylocat]

I never cared for either of those two shows, though my hatred for Friends is greater.

Then again, I don't care much for sitcoms in general. I like some of the classics, like Dick Van Dyke, Lucy, or Night Court, but most of my more recent favorites are from across the pond, like Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, et cetera.

Though my personal favorite sitcom of all time is actually a Canadian one: The Red Green Show.

 

[Harbinger_]

Um lets see for a situational comedy?

MASH
Hogan's Heroes
Gilligan's Island
Mork and Mindy
Family Matters
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Any of these would have been far superior to three mentioned in the video in my opinion. MASH, Family Matters and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air especially as they tackle difficult subject matter while providing comedic effect, memorable characters, lasting a long amount of time and without messing with the formula for what makes a television show great. Thats what a sit-com is and Friends, Seinfeld and How I met your mother are decent television shows they just don't match up IMO to the list I provided especially MASH, FM and FPBA.

 

[leviadragon99]

Epic voice by Dan towards the beginning there.

I have to ask though... there's such a thing as a good sitcom? O_O

 

[Tiger Sora]

This for my answer in this debate.


But for best sitcom ever..... nothing can beat MASH.

Yesh!

How I Met Your Mother is brilliant.

Is M.A.S.H considered a sitcom? Because if it is, that's pretty much the best one of all time.

As valid today as it was 30 years ago.

Yay we agree on something, we can be random internet friends again, and eat various British pies.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Agree with the judges ruling. Might have to debate with him about it being Allison Hannigan's best role though. I like Willow from Buffy a little more.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Seinfeld and HIMYM blow Friends out of the water. Both are pure comedy gold. Smart writing combined with great acting. I'm going to call it a tie.

 

[jezcentral]

For me, it's Frasier.

 

[MarlonBlazed]

This argument is redundant since M*A*S*H took this title when it came out and still hold's onto it today.

Seinfeld vs. Friends make's this argument even more pointless. But I get it... Who wins? Whoever's still making money off there DVDs and Blu-rays.

 

[monkey_man]

... was basically what went through my head when Kyle popped in and completely changed the outcome.

It was legend [sub]
...
wait-for-it
...
a little longer
...
[/sub] DAIRY

I really like friends too, but not as much as HIMYM, so the final choice was really well done I think. (I never watched Seinfeld so no comments there :3 )

 

[DanHibiki]

 

[Right Hook]

Not sure why but I feel like Chris was secretly pissed at the end, haha.