Hello gentle reader. Let me start off by apologising for the title of this article. The 50 best sitcoms! Ever! What a ridiculous conceit. The egotistical ranting of a maniac. I'll tell you right now, going in: that title is wrong. Even I don't agree with it.
I considered a variety of alternative titles, such as:
"50 great sitcoms, which may or may not be the best ones, but here they are."
"50 sitcoms you might like, with some notable and probably sacrilegious omissions."
"50 sitcoms which me and my wife argued about for ages and frankly neither of us are very happy with the compromise."
That last one is probably the best one. The two of us recently found ourselves in a hotel bar, with some wine, a notebook and literally nothing else to talk about. Before you knew it we were drawing up a long list of sitcoms, with the avowed intention to whittle it down to the 50 best. We argued. We compromised. We tried to persuade the service staff to side with one of us against the other. We apologised and ordered more wine.
What we have here is the result of a very flawed but quite exciting process, whereby we have created a list which will please literally no-one. This is part one, which deals with the lowest ranking 10 shows in our top fifty. Yes, I know. You already don't agree. Blame my wife for not acquiescing to all my choices, in mathematical order.
50.
Red Dwarf 1988 - 2020. iPlayer
Well done, Red Dwarf, for making it into the top fifty. I'm sorry you're right at the bottom, but you've still done better than, for example, My Hero, which would have struggled to get into a top 150 and should count itself lucky to be mentioned at all.
Red Dwarf was a very good show to start with, using its sci-fi setting to explore funny and original concepts while rooting its comedy in the lives of its characters. The cast weren't great actors, for the most part, but they had loads of charisma and they were, crucially, fun to watch.
After a while, though, the show got overexcited about the opportunities afforded by special effects and forgot to be funny. Plus there was the problem all popular sitcoms face: how do you keep going for years without reducing the central premise to a series of quirks and catchphrases? In this case, the answer was "I'll have the quirks and catchphrases, please."
The strongest vote for this came from me. I'd enjoyed it a great deal in my youth and it formed a foundational text during undergraduate years, when I thought quoting Kryten was an acceptable substitute for having a personality. The wife already has a perfectly good personality, and was therefore relatively unmoved.
49.
Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared 2022. Channel 4
There was some debate, between Wifeface and I, about whether this counts as a sitcom. It's certainly quite different from a lot of the other shows here. If you've not seen it, it can be best described as 'What if David Lynch made a show for very young children, while refusing to compromise on any of his artistic principles?'
On the surface it's very odd, with puppets and actors dressed as sort-of monsters. Like if you were having a nightmare about the kids TV show Rainbow. The reality of the show's world is tenuous, and it's as often scary as it is funny. However, it has some fairly solid sitcom elements. They live in a house, they're a kind of family, and the humour arises at least partly from their differences in personality. There's a sensible 'mum' one, a full-of-himself 'mad' one, and a comedy 'idiot' one. That's sitcom DNA, right there.
Eventually we decided to include it because
a) we'd included The Young Ones, which is pretty similar and
b) I threatened to do a huge, evening-ruining sulk if we left it out.
48.
Stath Lets Flats 2018-2021. Channel 4
This is one of those shows that we came to late. It seemed like a terrible premise, and had an undeniably awful title. I think it was maybe our housemate who recommended it, and we put it on with a kind of, "Well, I'm sure this will be fine, but I can't imagine OH MY GOD I'M SO IN LOVE WITH THESE PEOPLE'.
47.
Yes Minister 1980-1984. Prime.
There are relatively few 'legacy' sitcoms on our list. The nature of our selection process ('What can we remember while drinking in a bar?') meant that things from years ago got relatively short shrift.
Yes Minister, however, survived our dodgy memories for a couple of reasons. One is that we love to wander through the TV channels late at night before going to bed, and it seems impossible to do so without coming across Sir Humphrey's cunning smile, or Jim Hacker's worried, big eyed frown. And you don't have to hang around for very long before hitting a perfectly scripted exchange, or a lovely bit of character work.
The other reason for inclusion is that this programme is, simply put, class. I may not have watched an episode all the way through in years, but I don't need to, to remember how ace it is.
46.
Big Boys 2022 - ongoing. Channel 4
This is one of the most recent entries on the list, so it's hard to know how enduring its appeal will be. But both Wifeface and I loved it to bits and when it came up we both sort of waved our arms about and cooed with delight, as if someone had spilled puppies all over the table.
There's a myth that comedy has to be hard and vicious and have some kind of target. I think comedy can do that, and there's great joy in seeing the David Brents or Basil Fawltys of this world be punished for their hubris. "Take that, my boss from work in fictionalised form!"
But there's also a real place, I reckon, for comedies that are warm hearted and full of love. This manages to be delightful and compassionate at the same time as making me laugh like a lunatic.
45.
Arrested Development 2003-2019. Netflix, Disney+
Neither the wife or I have watched this since it was on, so we couldn't really remember what we thought. We seemed to remember liking it for the first few series, and then despising series four. We subsequently turned against the whole show with quite unreasonable venom, as if betrayed.
It was good, though, I think? I seem to remember the characters being lots of weird fun, all in some form of self denial and with their own distinctive flaws. The plots were driven by vivid, imaginative chaos. And the structure was enjoyable, full of cutaways and repeated gags that built over the series. It came at a time when American sitcoms were doing interesting, experimental things and this was one of the better experiments.
44.
The Vicar of Dibley 1994 - 2007. Britbox, Now
Full disclosure, I did not vote for this. I don't dislike it, as such. I've just observed it from a distance and decided it probably isn't my thing. Like Mumford and Sons. I'm sure they're fine, but there's a sort of 'popular but nothingy' vibe to them that I can't be bothered with.
All of which counted for nothing against the sheer ferocity with which Wifeface demanded its inclusion. She was sure she'd seen me laugh at it on a number of occasions, and when she listed those occasions I had a vague flickering of familiarity and the faint echoes of internal happiness. Damn her android-like memory.
Anyway. Here it is. Apparently there's an amusing bit where she jumps in a puddle, and maybe a bit where someone shouts "Moo!" half way through a joke.
43.
Shrinking 2023 - ongoing. Apple
Another late inclusion, probably because it was on quite recently and thus hasn't settled into long term memory yet. We also didn't really talk to anyone about it, because it's on Apple TV and so no-one in the world had seen it except me and the wife.
It's the story of a man who's wife has died, and so he decides to start telling people the truth rather than being careful about their feelings. Yes, like in Afterlife, except a) he's a psychiatrist, so it has more profound implications and b) you don't have to put up with Ricky Gervais showing off how awesome he is all the time like a massive insufferable prick.
It's funny, and a bit sad - a lot of comedy is like that now, it seems and I'm totally here for that. And it finally gives Harrison Ford chance to show that yes, he can be as funny as anyone else if you give him the right place to stand.
42.
Him and Her 2010-2013. iPlayer
We nearly forgot about this one. It's ten years or so since we've seen it, and though it's very lovely, it's also very low key. The stakes are small, the characters gentle and its more likely to elicit a smile than a laugh.
One thing it really does have going for it: the characters seem absolutely genuine. We used to talk about them as if they were real people, discussing them the next day as if, rather than watching them on TV, we'd spent the evening at their flat. Why was Laura so mean? Was it just that she couldn't articulate her vulnerability? Would Paul go through with the wedding? Should we have them over for dinner? Hang on, no, that's not going to work...
41.
The Simpsons 1989 - ongoing. Disney
It's hard to have an opinion on The Simpsons, isn't it? It's undeniably brilliant, sure. But there's so much of the thing! Somewhere in there is a sharp, well written show, but it's lost in a ever-present miasma of jokes and ideas that sort of bleeds out beyond the boundaries of the screen, into everyday life. It's less a thing you watch, more a collection of phrases and archetypes which have become part of our shared vocabulary.
Added to this, neither me or Wifeface had properly seen it for years. What we could remember, we liked a lot. I guess it's probably stuff from the first five years or so. Clever jokes and slapstick humour, all rolling along together with wit and panache. That bit where Sideshow Bob stands on some rakes. That was good. How long ago was that? No, actually please don't tell me.
So... it's here, and it feels worthy, but for some reason we were both a little reluctant to put it higher. Maybe comedy has to feel like it belongs to you, before you can love it? Loving The Simpsons feels like loving the concept of pizza. Yes, it's tasty, and once in a while it's exactly what you're in the mood for. But everyone likes it, so what does liking it even mean?
Anyway. That's the first ten of our top fifty. They're all delightful shows, even the ones I don't really want to be there and only included in the spirit of democracy. Join me at the links below, for more sitcoms that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you seethe with rage at the stupidity of their ranking.
Numbers 10 - 1
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