Open the champagne and wear your favourite hat - we've reached the end of our '50 Best Sitcoms' list, and it's time for the top ten, as voted for by me and my wife.
There have been some bumps along the way, as Wifeface and I debated the various contenders. We've not always agreed, and there have been points where the staff of the hotel bar had to come and ask us to keep the noise down. And the swearing. And the long, rambling lectures on postmodernism as it applied to mainstream cultural product in the 21st century.
But here we are - we made it. And though our joint top ten isn't quite what we'd have voted for individually, there's nothing on here that we hate with a fiery passion. See what you think.
If you want to see the entries leading up to this, here are part one, part two, part three and part four.
And now... it's the final countdown (ba da daaah daah)...
10.
Derry Girls 2018-2022 Channel 4, Netflix
Reader, it is impossible to express how much my wife loves this show. It's genuinely unsetting. I don't think I've ever seen her so engaged or excited, and yes I include our wedding day and that time we bought a bigger fridge. Her enthusiasm for Derry Girls is like... what is it like? Oh, yes - it's like you've got a cat that has spent its entire life pawing lethargically at its dinner going, "Yeah... this'll do." And then one day you put some food down and it goes mad with excitement and starts wolfing it down. "Yeah! This is the stuff! Can't get enough of this! Buy this from now on!" What's with the cat? Is it even the same one?
Derry Girls is, definitely, unarguably good. It has strong "They don't make them like this any more" energy, with its central family of mismatched characters getting into comedy scrapes. It is really well observed, with a lot of the humour coming from recognising ourselves in the way the girls let their baser instincts get in the way of their better angels. It's laugh out loud funny, with great characters and inventive plotting.
But there's something else going on here, that's reflected in the warm embrace this show has been given across the board. Partly, it's one of a growing but still small number of comedies that give space to the experience of women, not just blokes. Turns out there's a whole new world of funny stuff about being female, beyond being the foil for men's jokes.
But also it does the thing that I think most of my favourite comedies do. It gives over a little time to be serious, using comedy to deliver some heart stopping moments of genuine pathos. Its setting - Northern Ireland in the 1990s - sets it up to deal with some weighty issues, and it takes them on with real heart and impact. Some people seem to think that 'comedy' is the same as 'not taking things seriously'. It is, to my mind, absolutely the opposite.
9
Friends 1994-2004 Netflix, Sky
Oh, the debates about this one. It was tied for quite a while with number 8 - Fawlty Towers. I preferred the 1970s tale of a frustrated hotel manager. Wifeface preferred this. We both made our case with equal intensity, both absolutely convinced we were correct.
We asked the hotel bar staff. They were no use - they just said insane things like, had we considered 2.4 Children or Mrs. Brown's Boys. This had the effect of momentarily uniting Wifeface and I. We stared at them in disbelief and pointed and laughed with derision. What idiotic suggestions! Get away! But also please don't stop bringing us wine and could we maybe see the dessert menu?
We put the question online, to see if any of our friends could help. This was absolutely no use. Half of them correctly agreed with me that Fawlty Towers was superior and how could anyone think differently? The other half embarrassed themselves with their mad assertion that Friends was better.
OK, there are some good arguments for Friends. The six main players are expertly delineated in terms of character. They work well in various combinations to explore a range of comic possibilities. They are, of course, brilliantly cast. And, primarily, the whole thing is very, very funny. I would never deliberately put an episode of Friends on. But if I walk into a room when it is on (which is always; the wife seems to have found a channel where it is on literally all the time), I'll laugh within 20 seconds of being there.
So. In the absence of any satisfying way of deciding which was best, we simply did this: we put them in alphabetical order. Take that, maths.
8.
Fawlty Towers 1975-1979 BBC, not currently streaming
My feelings on Fawlty Towers are not particularly original, but here they are anyway: It's the best sitcom ever. Every episode has an elegant structure where comic events unfold with clockwork precision. The characters are ridiculous but feel absolutely like real people (and maybe they feel real because they are ridiculous). The dialogue trips along like music. The whole experience is like drinking fine wine.
Cut to the bar where Wifeface and I are narrowing down our top ten. There's me, extolling the virtues of the show, as above, describing huge arcs in the air with my fingertips, my eyes ablaze with the kind of wonder you'd usually see in a religious fanatic. And there's the wife. Looking at me like I'm a child who's describing a brilliant cloud he saw on the way home from school.
She likes Fawlty Towers, of course she does. She's not a monster. But if I expected her to nod in furious agreement until her ears popped (I did), then I was to be disappointed (she didn't). She merely likes it. And she's not the only one. Apparently many people think there are better comedies. They say things like 'but there's only twelve episodes' as if that's an argument. There's only one sun in the sky, but you don't look at that and say, "Well that may be the source of all life on earth, but it's way outnumbered by how many shops there are selling vapes, so I guess my vote for 'Best Thing Ever' goes to 'shops selling vapes'."
Or maybe you do. Maybe you also think that this amazing show isn't the best thing. Well. Soon John Cleese is going to remake it, and he's gone mad now so it's going to be awful. And that will be your punishment for thinking that more of something is better.
Pfft. People.
7.
Gavin and Stacey 2008-2010 iPlayer
I reckon a lot of people might be annoyed at the placing of Gavin and Stacey in the top ten. It has the air of something quite middle class and safe, and maybe a bit self congratulatory. I can see that. It is, after all, the tale of a bunch of fairly well to do people with no serious concerns who spend their time laughing and drinking and being droll.
But this isn't another case of the wife crowbarring her insane otherworldly tastes into the debate and drowning out my sensible, intellectual choices. No, this was very much a matter of agreement. We both love this show, and when it came up in our conversation, there was a brief moment of unity and accord. Like the bit in The Princess Bride where the dueling swordsmen pause to compliment one another on their technique. The people serving us wine smiled and thought, "At last, the incredibly loud three hour argument is over. Maybe now the other guests will come out of hiding."
The problem with Gavin and Stacey is this: I have no idea why it works. In fact, it shouldn't work. It disobeys all the rules of narrative and just ticks along, letting its characters have a perfectly pleasant time. Sitcoms should be predicated on problems, shouldn't they? Oh no, the vicar is coming round and I've lost my trousers! Crikey - that person I was rude to earlier turns out to be the person who's interviewing me for this job! Disaster - the priest I've fallen in love with has a complicated metaphysical relationship with the infinite!
But there are few similar problems here. Misunderstandings are cleared up in no time. Arguments are resolved with good humour and acceptance. Regular comedy shenanigans rarely get a foothold. We just watch a bunch of people having a quite nice time.
I think maybe that's why I love it. There's a real-ness, a familiarity to it all, that makes me happy. The characters have daft little in jokes and believable quirks that make me want to spend time with them, again and again. It's a beautiful, life affirming piece of work that subtly, subversively tells a tale of optimism, friendship, family and love. I'll take that.
6.
Ted Lasso 2020-2023 Apple
Oh, Ted Lasso! Rarely has a show leapt so quickly and comprehensively into my heart. I'm like an evangelist for the bloody thing. If you've met me since I discovered it, you'll have had to put up with half an hour of me bouncing up and down telling you how great Ted Lasso is, and how it's hard to describe Ted Lasso because it has this weird, unknowable magic, and how you really should get Apple TV just for Ted Lasso, honestly, it's worth it, come on, do it. Do it now.
Have you ever had anyone try to tell you about Jesus? Well, imagine that, except rather than dying for your sins, Jesus had made a TV show about a lovable American football manager, winning over a sceptical British team through sheer enthusiasm and charm. Thanks Jesus!
This is a show that is resolutely about something, and that something is, "Hey, we're all a bit of a mess - let's try to admit it and look after each other accordingly." It has a range of brilliantly written and performed characters, all of whom are a joy to watch. Nothing is static, and everyone changes. Heroes become villains, confident men crumble, people who we'd written off as idiots astound us with acts of profound goodness. The tone is generally whimsical and daft, but there is also incredible nuance and beauty.
In later seasons, Ted Lasso wanders a little away from its sitcom brief and becomes more of a comedy drama. But it remains a glorious hymn to the potential for people to be beautiful and weak and surprising and funny. And, most of all, something to believe in.
5.
Parks and Recreation 2009-2015 ITV-X
The most annoying thing you can do to a person is to say, "You need to watch this show. The first series is awful, but if you plough miserably through that, it gets really good." OK, maybe not the most annoying thing. That would probably be 'telling everyone you've got a top 50 comedy list and then missing out obvious hits like Porridge and Only Fools and Horses'. That's right - we haven't included them. You thought we were saving them for the top ten didn't you? Well all I can say is, you're only going to get more angry.
What was I saying? Oh yes. The first series of Parks and Recreation isn't great. And series 2 takes a while to get up to full speed. And that's once you've got past the title. What a dull title! And the premise - a load of people working in a government department who keep coming up against bureaucratic obstacles. Who wants to watch that?
Well. The answer should be "everybody", because this show is great. And it's entirely down to the characters. The employees of the Parks and Rec department have wildly different personalities and perspectives, but they have one thing very much in common. They are all, basically, children in a grown up world. Leslie is desperate to prove that sheer optimism can overcome cynicism. Tom wants new, amazing toys, all the time. Andy lives in a state of perpetual, excited naivety. All of them are in love with a horse called Little Sebastian.
And Ron Swanson, the show's absolute star, is the best kind of child - the one that wants to pretend to be a grown up so that the other children leave him alone. But who can, when confronted with joy, burst into giggles or tears or both.
I think we love this because it nails that feeling which we surely all have - we never properly grew up, but here we are, in a world which expects us to pretend we did. And the joy comes in finding someone else who sees our secret, and invites us out to play.
4.
Ghosts 2019-2023 iPlayer
There's a theme developing here, as we reach the crest of the mountain.
A few times during our discussion, we questioned what really counted as a sitcom. What were the rules? We didn't really agree, as you have probably noticed. My answer can be summed up thus: "Sitcoms exist in a liminal space between our expectations of how the universe works and the absurdity of our lived experience". Wifeface, on the other hand, thinks something more like, "Blah blah nonsense, something about Monica with a turkey on her head".
However. We seem to be united on one thing. The sitcoms that Wifeface and I most agree on appear to be the ones that are maybe not the funniest shows, as such, but the ones that bring us the most joy. Our defining criteria isn't that we always laugh, but that we feel... good.
Hence Ghosts, making its ethereal appearance at number four in our rankings. Number four! Madness! But what a great piece of work. Consistently, madly funny yet painted with fine brushstrokes of grief and loss. Something with all the appearance of kids TV, but with a wicked, flirtatious heart. A show about silly, cartoonish characters that somehow touches the most profound emotions.
Oh Ghosts. You contained multitudes. Rest in peace.
3.
Fleabag 2016-2019 iPlayer
A week before writing this list, Wifeface and I found ourselves free for an entire Sunday. Moreover, we found ourselves free and on the sofa, and quite, quite unwilling to move. That's when we hit upon the amazing idea of not moving, and instead rewatching all of Fleabag. All. Of. It.
Often when you re-visit a thing you loved, it fails to live up to the memory. Well let me tell you that Fleabag did not fail even one bit. If anything, it surpassed our expectations. If we were on Gogglebox, you'd have assumed we were vamping for the cameras. We kept gasping in wonder, and pointing at the screen and shouting, "This is ace!" and, "Wow!" and, "You good sitcom!" Things like that.
Fleabag is funny, bleak, inventive and endlessly fascinating. It takes the very stuff of comedy and reshapes it with incredible confidence, throwing ideas about like clay and forming something new and compelling. Fleabag's asides to camera might not be new inventions, but they've rarely been used to such electrifying effect. And yes, her story boils down to the same components as almost everything else of our list - "this person is not the same on the inside as they are on the outside" - but it's hard to think of many shows that draw out that difference with such operatic, ingenious gusto.
Series one is a masterpiece of storytelling, following one woman's mad, capricious dance with romance, family, friendship and grief. One moment it sings like a hymn to love, the next it tells a dirty joke about hamsters. When it ends, it is a perfect piece of work, complete in theme and substance. There's no way there should be a series two.
And then Andrew Scott turns up as a hot priest, and all bets are off.
2.
Spaced 1999-2001 Channel 4
One: what are you thinking? Spaced? At number two? This exercise in stylish editing and narrative tomfoolery, better than The Office? This zeitgeisty explosion of pop culture references, higher up than Cheers? This extended exploration of millennial angst through a postmodern lens, funnier than The Simpsons? Are you and your so called 'wife'- who I strongly suspect is just a drawing of a woman you did on a napkin - out of your tiny, humourless minds?
Two: what are you thinking? Spaced? At number two? Are you out of your minds? It should be at number one!
Yeah. Spaced is a flavour you either love or hate. It's a singular piece of work, which absolutely nails the experience of a particular kind of geek at a certain point in time. If it speaks to you, it speaks volumes - a carnival of movie references and pop songs, speaking to the vulnerable, fragile heart of every true nerd. Spaced is a cartwheeling, kinetic adventure, shot through with irresistible energy, intelligence and wit, and I love it.
1.
Blackadder 1982-1989 Not currently streaming
Here he is. The king. Well, four kings, really. We're counting all four series of Blackadder here. Yes, even series one, the series that no-one tends to count. Because this is a show which genuinely transcends time. Not only in the way each series reinvents the premise for a new historical era, but also because the pleasure it gives seems to skip across generations.
There's me, at 12. The family has it's first video recorder - a massive, creaking Betamax top loader. Along comes The Black Adder, in goes the tape. I watched it again and again, all summer long. Castles and horses and witch-smellers and Brian Blessed Shouting and rude jokes that went right over my head.
And there's all of us at college in the 90s, buying the videos of series 2, 3 and 4 and sticking them on every night, cracking open beers and playing the hits. "Bob." "You have a woman's bottom!" "Who's Queen?" "Sausage!" "You and me obviously Darling."
And then there's me and Wifeface, on the sofa. Time for sleep, but let's flick through the channels first. Who Wants to be a Millionaire... Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation... ah, here we are. Five seconds of Blackadder and we're laughing, either at what's happening, or at what we know's coming soon.
"He, sir? He? He?"
"Two things you must know about the wise woman..."
"...like an old, oak table..."
"I've got a plan, and it's as hot... as my pants!"
"...too dead."
"Good luck, everyone."
Back in the hotel. Wifeface and I close the notebook and pour the last of the wine. A job well done. Sure, a part of me is still thinking that the throne should really be occupied by a frustrated, pencil moustached, middle aged hotelier. And she's probably wondering if it's reasonable to divorce someone for their incorrect opinions on Dinnerladies. But we have a list.
An inconsistent list, sure. A list I guarantee you'll disagree with. And indeed a list which we don't really agree with either. But... um... well, I'm sure I was going somewhere with that.
You disagree, of course. Please tell me your top tens, in the comments. And if you're wondering why your superior picks didn't make the list, well we have one more entry coming for that...
Also rans
Oh yes. The alphabet in order - it solves everything!
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