Carol Burnett
Odd Couple
Dick Van Dyke Show
MTM
M*A*S*H
Newhart
Fraiser
3rd Rock
Arrested Development
News Radio
Sports Night (gone too soon)
Don't Trust the B (premature death)
Coupling (Bristish version)
Spy (British)

Raising Hope & Community have jumped the shark...Parks & Rec is on it's way--Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe are leaving...

Modern Family still okay...but wobbling

Big Bang Theory still strong

Michael J. Fox show & Trophy Wife promising...

Anonymous wrote:Cheers was great.

+1. I am watching it on Netflix these days. Also to PP above, Golden Girls is one of the best shows of all time. PP nailed it--that show was ballsy and intelligent.

Love 30 Rock, earlier seasons of How I met your mother, New Girl, and 30 Rock. Modern Family is good, but not as good as everyone gives it credit for.

Seinfeld, Big Bang Theory, Arrested Development, Modern Family, and Portlandia are the only sitcoms I can tolerate. Most episodes get two or three laugh out loud moments from me and DH. I would say BBT is my favorite.

Cheers was great.

Frasier -- Brilliant comedy
Friends -- Clever; knew their audience
Seinfeld -- Excellent observational humor

Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory (for example) -- I've tried watching them and I almost felt like I "had" to laugh to be polite. To whom? Not sure. The "jokes" were so obvious, I could have written them.

Today's sitcoms suck.

Anonymous wrote:

I loved Newhart --I laughed my ass off at the last episode when he woke up with Suzanne Pleshette.

+1

Larry, Daryl and Daryl were CLASSIC!

Anonymous wrote:Mary Tyler Moore
Bob Newhart Show
All in the Family
My husband liked Maude but I never did.

I loved Newhart --I laughed my ass off at the last episode when he woke up with Suzanne Pleshette.

How could I forget Designing Women!!!!!!!! Fave show of all time, I think!

30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Mindy Project and Modern Family are the only decent ones recently. New Girl is marginally good.

Mary Tyler Moore
Bob Newhart Show
All in the Family
My husband liked Maude but I never did.

Anonymous wrote:Sitcoms today are toned down for a dumber audience. Ever catch an old episode of The Golden Girls? They were constantly talking about sex, homosexuality, orgasms, and other "adult" themes that wouldn't fly today, because of some puritanical person screaming "but think of the children!" The show is hilarious when I can watch it, often dark and suggestive even sometimes vulgar. These days people freak out if they hear an an academic discussion with real, biological terms - it's like we've gone back in time.

Golden girls is my fave show i watch an ep almost everyday on youtube

Anonymous wrote:I think Modern Family is hilarious and well-written. New Girl consistently makes me laugh. Big Bang Theory isn't as good as it used to be, but it's still worth watching. I thought the new "trophy wives" was decent last week.

I always hated "Everybody loves raymond" - felt the humor just didn't speak to me.

I'm still mourning the cancellations of "Don't trust the B in apartment 23" and "happy endings" because the writing was really fresh and the casts really gelled.

If by "fresh" you mean contrived, then ok, I agree.

Anonymous wrote:?

New Girl
Big Bang Theory
Community
How I Met Your Mother
Arrested Development

These shows are streets ahead of "Everybody Loves Raymond." (I shudder to think anyone actually laughs out loud at that inanity.)

I think it could be argued that Everybody Loves Raymond is one of the funniest sitcoms in the past 20 years. The humor is keener than New Girl (which I liked at first, but now think is so annoying). The humor on shows like Community and Arrested Development is different than Raymond, but to like one is not necessarily to dislike the other. And honestly, the humor and situations on Big Bang Theory are very similar to Everybody Loves Raymond.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Between this show and the Parent Trap movies (old and new), my kid is thoroughly confused about twins

Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah

I used to rent the Hayley Mills version over and over again at the video store when I was a kid. It's been on some of the premium movie channels recently - I stop every single time it is on.

The LiLo version is pretty cute, but I do get a little sad knowing the actress who plays the mom is no longer with us. But Dennis Quaid as the dad doesn't suck

Our past 2 Fridays, these are the movies my child requested for movie night. We had to drag out a VCR to watch my VHS copies of them, but we like both versions.

OP, you mentioned sitcoms ranging from the 1980s through the 2000s. That's a lot of years and you only found a handful that you liked. I don't think it's any different today. There's a ton of sitcoms, and a few, over the past 10 years, have been truly funny. The Office, 30 Rock, Modern Family, to name a few.