My last post about Community got me thinking about my personal list of favorite comedy programs. I'm not really a fan of drama on TV. Of course, there are exceptions (The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Good Wife, Deadwood), but I would rather laugh than cry or be tense. Comedies also usually have less staying power than Dramas, so it is interesting to see how many of my favorite comedy programs lasted few years. So, here is my initial power rankings of my favorite comedy programs. A few notes about this:
1.) I'm only ranking comedy programs of which I have seen a majority of episodes or enough to basically understand the show fully; therefore the following are invalid: 30 Rock, The Office, Parks & Rec, The Big Bang Theory, Eastbound & Down, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Entourage, Will & Grace, Scrubs, Sex and the City, Frasier, other random old shows not listed and many others. Of course, this means I like every show on the list. That makes sense since if I didn't like it, I wouldn't keep watching it, and therefore wouldn't watch it enough to have it qualify.
2.) I'm ranking past shows and current, and for the current, I'll indicate if that show is trending up (has a chance to get higher) or trending down (the opposite). I haven't seen much comedy pre-Seinfeld, so nothing from there (I Love Lucy, Cheers, etc. is ineligible).
3.) I've specified 'comedy programs' because this is more about any show on TV where the point is to make the audience laugh. So live shows are included, fake news shows, sketch shows. It isn't limited to just sitcoms.
Anyway, let's get to the list.
18.) Saturday Night Live (since 2004 - when I started watching)
Obviously, the show has been going on long before I started watching TV, and there have been numerous "golden eras" of the show before 2004, but that is when I started watching. Saturday Night Live to me has always been an enigma. Individually, the people are almost always really talented. Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte and Darrell Hammond could do about anything and I would laugh. The other players during this time (Fey and Poehler in the beginning, Rudolph, Samberg, Wiig, Keenan, Armisen) have all been talented. But to me, this era of Saturday Night Live has been less than the some of its parts, always underserving talented cast members, rehashing unfunny stuff and not being original enough. If I had one suggestion to Lorne and the rest of the SNL guys it would be to play original sketchs and not rehash and re-do so many old sketches. Even the good ones eventually get tired. That said, the best part about this era of SNL was the advent of the digital short (which might be on the way out with Samberg reportedly leaving). From their breakthrough with 'Lazy Sunday' to seeing Natalie Portman rap, to 'Dick in a Box' through the iconic 2008-09 season which saw the Lonely Island bros. knock out 'Jizz In My Pants', 'Like a Boss' and the best 'I'm On a Boat.' Saturday Night Live in that way adjusted to this new exciting medium. Along the way, there have been memorable characters and moments, but this SNL era for me is represented by the digital short, Tina Fey's Palin (and an all-around great 2008 election season) and way too many actors as hosts. And of course, Peyton Manning's brilliant turn as the host.
17.) Modern Family (Trending Down)
I'll admit that I did find the first season of Modern Family to be mostly brilliant. The representation of Cam and Mitchell was well done, Gloria's eccentric Venezuelan-ness was still new and hilarious, and I could look at Julie Bowen all day. What irks me about Modern Family is that it hasn't tried to grow at all (other than having Lily, well, literally grow). Mitchell and Claire are even more self-righteous. Gloria is still loud. Manny is still a man trapped in a kid. Haley is still a ditz and Alex is still the smart one. All of these traits and characterizations seemed fresh in the first season but now seemed tiresome. Modern Family is still capable of brilliant moments, and they mostly are in scenes and episodes where the entire family is together, but individually its becoming pretty weak. Nothing is worse, though, than Cam becoming such a stereotypically gay man. Cam in Season 1 was great because not only was the large, high-pitched gay man, but also an ex-football player and farmer and tough clown. For a man that played football, why is he now often depicted of having that effeminate way of running? Surely he couldn't do that on the football field. The biggest bright spot for the show over the last two seasons is that Luke has become a hilarious character. One of my favorite side-plots of any comedy show this past season was his bizarre, unexplained, hatred of Lily, Cam and Mitchell's baby. I understand why the show is loved, and I'll admit is still does have superb acting and is good at emotional moments, but it is far more broad than the show it started out as, and for a show that drew ratings big-time from the outset, I'm not sure why it changed.
16.) SportsNight
If I could only judge it by Season 1, it would be far higher up. Aaron Sorkin is a master of dialogue, and to me, his magnum opus in this regard in SportsNight (and particularly the first season, which he had a much bigger hand in). The story of CSN, the #3 sports network (since they do refer to ESPN, I can only imagine what the #2 network was supposed to be) through the eyes of their two anchors, the stat researcher geek who lands to hot director assistant, and the showrunner and her boss. The acting was brilliant all around (particularly Felicity Huffman as Dana). Of course, the writing, fit with all the usual Sorkinesian banter and back-and-forths was impressive. The only reason why SportsNight is not higher up is that the plots were all a little flat. I never, ever bought into Casey McCall's relationship with Dana, nor did I totally believe the whole "nerd gets the hot girl" arc with Jeremy and Natalie. It all seemed a little too easy, I guess. The second season become far too serialized in this sense which was distinctly different from the first season where most of the plots were simply about the show itself. The best comedies to me, especially ones like SportsNight about specific businesses, make working there seem fun, and I've never wanted to work in Sports media more than seeing Casey and Dan each night, and the fun all around for the Continental Sports Network. It really was a shame that Aaron Sorkin decided to give up on SportsNight to focus more on The West Wing. I understand it from Sorkin's perspective, but he gave up on something that could have been a lot more special than the very good show it was.
15.) Happy Endings (Trending Up)
Of all the current shows on this list (6 of the 17, not counting three who's spots are mostly set in stone, since they aren't serials) Happy Endings has the chance to rise the most. It's a weird show where I fully believe in my heart that creator David Caspe and the rest of the group totally changed the show after it started. The genesis of the show is Alex flees from her wedding to long-time mate Dave, and those two and their four mutual friends have to deal with the consequences. Honestly, that show sucked. They basically gave up on it halfway through the first season and turned Happy Endings into a rapid-fire joke sprint that centered around the wacky lives of six friends in Chicago. Since two of the six are married (the crazy-in-love Brad and Jane, which might be right behind Marshall and Lily for my favorite TV Comedy Marriage) and one of the others in gay (Max, right behind Barney as best supporting character for me as well), the relationship tension is minimal, but that is fine. Just like Arrested Development, I don't give a shit about the plot. The brilliance of the show is the writing, the timing, the acting and the set-up. It's just many, many jokes per minute at a rate faster than anything I have seen since Arrested. It's not as smart and savvy (there aren't many visual jokes and call-backs) but it is as referential and witty. The end of the 2nd Season hinted at some more relationship stuff, but they handled it well. The show also features my favorite current running gag which is Elisha Cuthbert's character, Alex, eating a shit-ton of food at all times. Also, Happy Endings figured out how to utilize Casey Wilson's many talents far better than SNL ever did. The only issue is that Dave is a rather boring character surrounded by 5 goofballs, but they turned that into a meta-joke late in S2 and I loved that too. Look out for Happy Endings over the next two years.
14.) Friends
If I was judging Friends by its first two seasons, it would be much higher. Friends in S1-2, where there was only one real romantic story-arc between the cast (Ross & Rachel, which back then was truly brilliantly constructed over the first two seasons), was witty, smart and openly hilarious. After that, it turned into a something of a comedy soap. The acting was still good, and it was funny, but Friends in its later seasons focused too much on relationships, and maybe more than any long running show on this list, it lost the sense of its characters. Many shows that last a long time are criticized for turnings its round characters into one-note caricatures as time goes on, where each characters particular eccentricity overtakes the character as a whole. For Friends, this virus affected almost every character. Joey went from a slightly air-headed actor to a complete idiot (early seasons showed Joey's level of inteligence to basically be comparable to Phoebe's). Ross became way too sappy and emotional. Monica became a neurotic, raging bitch as her OCD escalated. That said, the show did have a pull, and more than maybe any other show, any combination of its characters had chemistry and worked. Also, early Chandler Bing may be my favorite comedy character of all time. Friends was far too famous for what it deserved, and lost its brilliance as time went on (I mark the end of Friend's brilliance with Ross saying "Rachel" and Monica and Chandler hooking up) but for a while, it was Gold.
13.) Freaks and Geeks
I wrestled with putting it on the list for two reasons; 1 - it was an hour long dramedy that wasn't all that funny all the time, and 2 - it was only on the air for one truncated season. It was damn good in that one season, but who knows what the show would have done had more seasons come. The characters were all in high school anyway, so I really wonder what Season 2-4 of Freaks and Geeks would have been. That said, it was too good not to put it on the list. I don't revere it the way some do, and think that it was a little too sappy at times and understanding (I never understood why Lindsay was fully accepted by the 'Freaks' in the first place, or why Cindy Sanders would ever give Sam a once-over), but it did give a great representation of high school as a whole. Freaks and Geeks should also get credit for being quite a good period piece, representing high school in the early 80's accurately. Freaks and Geeks was led by a comedy genius in Judd Apatow, and had great actors that have gone on to do well (Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segel, John Francis Daley), and these combined to create an excellent show for 18 episodes. My struggle is would this show have continued at that lofty pace for another 50. That is really hard to do, and especially for a show that at the outset starts off at a very transient age bracket with 15-18 year old characters.
12.) How I Met Your Mother (Trending Steady)
Oh, how this pains me to place it so low. The good news is after Season 5, it probably would have been lower. I'm done thinking this show will ever come close to what HIMYM was the first two seasons, but each of the last few years has been consistently good enough. Anyway, it is better to talk about the show when it was one of the best sitcoms on TV. In its first two seasons, HIMYM may have been the hippest show on television. The random things they created (Slapbet, Robin Sparkles, The Naked Man, etc.) were all great. The show did a great job connecting with the audience outside of the half-hour on Monday, creating dozens of fake web-sites from the show. I still say that HIMYM can do emotional moments better than any other sitcom on television today (just cue up the entirety of Marvin Eriksen's death and funeral from Season 6 for proof), but it has lost some of that incredible charm and mystery from S1-3. I think the narrator telling the kids (and transitively, the audience) that the day Ted meets the mother is the wedding has both solidified the show (no longer was in just floating in limbo like Seasons 4-5) but also hampered it, as all of Ted's relationships in-between we know end in failure. I feel sad for the creators (Carter Bays and Craig Thomas) because they probably never envisioned HIMYM lasting nearly this long, and they have to stretch out what they most likely had pegged as a 5-year story, but that is the spoils of success at times. When it is done, I'll probably only remember the good times, where it was the most inventive, savvy 'traditional' sitcom I have ever seen.
11.) Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends were essentially siblings, both put on the air and eventually taken off the air within one year of each other. To me, Friends was the better show originally, and because of the fame of its actors and its hip connectivity to the 20-somethings, it will forever be the more 'important' show, but to me, Raymond is better in totality. Unlike Friends, Raymond never lost what it had in the beginning, and you can make the argument it became better over time (a lot of this for me has to do with the fact that I enjoyed the kids more as kids than toddlers and babies). Everybody Loves Raymond followed the same formula for episodes for nine years, and my God was it successful. It helped that the cast was brilliant. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano is a damn good actor (just see his work on Men of a Certain Age) and the whole cast, from Doris Roberts to Patricia Heaton to Brad Garrett to the late great Peter Boyle, had tremendous chemistry with each other. I could listen to that family argue with each other for days. In a lot of ways, they were a precursor to Arrested Development as it was a fresh take on the family sitcom. Instead of trying to create laughs out of a normal family, Raymond created an incredibly strange, spirited family and presented it as traditional. In the end, because of this and other successes, Ray Romano might be one of the most underrated comic minds of the last 20 years.
Now we get to the Top 10, where all of these shows are brilliant. It was hard for me to actually decide on a ranking of this Top 10 other than the final four, which I knew going in. They all have just amazing moments and qualities.
10.) Whose Line Is It Anyway?
At its best (Colin and Ryan's banter during games like 'Greatest Hits', 'Infomercial', or 'Scenes From a Hat' or 'Props' or 'Hats') this show was incredibly funny. The reason it isn't higher is mainly because I wasn't a fan of some of the games they played (Any singing game other than 'Greatest Hits', 'Hoedown' or 'Irish Drinking Song', or 'Sound Effects'). To me, it lives in its best form on Youtube, where I can view continuous streams of its best moments, and in that forum, there are few things better. Drew Carey was a solid host (cementing his place in my personal list of favorite 'hosts' and comics I want to see succeed mainly because he seemed like such a nice guy), and played off of the cast well. Wayne Brady is one of the more talented people I have ever seen, and Colin and Ryan were, well, Colin and Ryan. It was impossible not to love those two, and they were incredibly sharp. The fourth always rotated, but I've never not liked or appreciated a cast member. Even after its real run finished, Whose Line lived on on nightly syndication at 10 PM on ABC Family. As years have gone on, it's been pushed back to midnight, and probably it will soon be off the air, but it will live on in Youtube, and it will be the best example of improv comedy on TV maybe ever.
9.) Community (Trending Down)
I had a real hard time placing Community, a show I spent about 1,500 words bashing just three days ago. At its best, it was the best sitcom on TV (at the time) by far. Episodes like Remedial Chaos Theory (which is so universally praised and still not overrated), their original paintball episode 'Modern Warfare', their first homage with a Goodfellas parody in 'Contemporary American Poultry' and others were just a lot better than anything comedic on TV. My issue was that it appeared in parts of Season 2 and throughout much of Season 3 that it was trying to hard to appease to its fan-boy niche, and create a show that was more about what its fans wanted than what it was good at. It's homages were initially used sparingly, but late in Season 3 it became almost every other episode. It got trapped in its own brilliance. Because when Community did those episodes right it was magic, it gave Community, in my mind, a sense of invincibility that it could accomplish any homage and concept no matter how abstract, which made their strikeouts more prevalent. I have no idea what Community will be without Dan Harmon. My guess is it will be more of a witty, smart show about seven weird friends in a Community College, which is essentially what it was in Season 1. I loved that show too, more than much of the 3rd season. However, it will never be what it was at its best, which is the best experimental comedy I have ever seen.
8.) The Colbert Report
Speaking of shows that were hard to place, The Colbert Report will forever be tied to The Daily Show. To me, the Colbert Report wasn't as groundbreaking as many think (it is essentially the same basic total satire of a news show that the original Daily Show with Craig Kilborn was, or what Weekend Update is at its best), but it is the first to make the focus the host, and it is by far the smartest. Nothing about the Report gives me more joy than to see Colbert and his staff just brilliantly tearing apart the hypocrisy in so much conservative speech even though giving the facade of a conservative. It is true genius. Colbert's interviewing style is easily the most entertaining I have ever seen. I will say that he is a little unfair, because while he usually is in character with the support of his crowd and is able to say outlandishly, foolish things without reproach, he then flips sides and will attack with reality. It isn't really fair to do both. Either way, it makes for great television. The show is really perfect for Colbert, who has been able to constantly sell this character for near seven years now without ever seeming like he was doing schtick that didn't land. I don't rely on the Report for actual news like the Daily Show, but if I want to laugh more, I'm going with the acolyte over the master.
7.) Curb Your Enthusiasm (Trending Up)
In almost the exact same form of the show coming up next, Curb has rebounded with two really strong seasons back-to-back after a small lull in the middle (for me, it was S5-6). Curb has become more pointed and obnoxious of a show in its later years than it was in the beginning (which was truly just about the audacity and eccentricity of Larry David), but no less funny. I do miss Cheryl, as she was always a great foil for Larry, but single Larry David has really been a great creation, and introduced a new angle to the show, where we can see Larry screw up relationships in a myriad of ways. To this day, I am shocked that most of the dialogue the viewer sees is improvised, but it makes for such realistic speech. I love how Curb has become almost a yardstick to measure how famous you are. Mostly, the actors that get to play themselves are people who are actually comedy friends of Larry's (the Seinfeld cast, Rosie O'Donnell and of course, Richard Lewis), but the real test of fame in hollywood to me is if you get to play yourself on Curb, like Ted Danson, John McEnroe, Ricky Gervais or even Michael Yorke, while seeing who has to play a character. All credit deservedly goes to the genius that is Larry David (who I think people now realize was a far bigger part of Seinfeld than most originally thought) who showed not only how to break the Seinfeld curse, but gave us a real Seinfeld finale.
6.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Trending Up)
It's time to stop kidding around, Always Sunny is the best basic cable sitcom ever, and it is not close. It is already the longest running cable sitcom, and is contracted for at least two more years. It is also far more groundbreaking than it is given credit for. What Rob McElhenny, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day did was basically beat the system. These three unsuccessful actors decided that instead of auditioning for roles, they would create their own show. Currently, the people that get to star in their own show is not a very long list, and it is generally given to people that were far more successful than these three (Larry David, Ricky Gervais, Louis CK). FX showed incredible trust and foresight in giving these three goons a show, and man have they repaid FX times over. Always Sunny also had a dip in Season 4-5, but has rebounded with a strong Season 6 and a really good Season 7. They may be pushing some of the characters (Charlie has become a bit dumber, Dennis a lot more sociopathic) but the general tone remains. Also, they almost seamlessly integrated a new central cast member with Danny DeVito, and that has been magic. I bet Chevy Chase is so upset that he gets saddled with Pierce, while Danny DeVito has the time of his life portraying Frank Reynolds. McElhenny, Howerton and Day are really all geniuses as they have basically created a comedy machine. The show is so much smarter than it is given credit for, lampooning and satirizing so many aspects of the world with great takes on the mortgage crisis, American Idol, the movie Invincible, the movie Million Dollar Baby, the healthcare system, Facebook, municipal politics, gay marriage, the modern music industry. It is a show so much more than just five idiots screaming at each other, and I hope it has a long life ahead of it.
5.) Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
I believe that this is the show that was on the air the shortest amount of time of any on the list, and other than mediocre-quality Youtube videos, it is inaccessible, but it was brilliant. I actually think that along with the show at #1, this was a show that would do so much better today, where comedians are becoming more marketable than ever. There were so many things to love about Tough Crowd, from the great chemistry between Colin and the regulars (Patrice O'Neal, Greg Giraldo, Jim Norton and Nick DiPaolo), but here are my top three: 1 - how merciless the cast and Colin was to anyone who came with prepared stuff and written lines, 2 - how Colin Quinn fought to keep jokes that bombed on the final cut, as proof that comedians aren't always perfect in joke delivery, 3 - how it was the one comedy show to feature prominent conservatives. Quinn was more of a true independent, but Jim Norton and Nick DiPaolo were unabashed conservatives. Neither was fully a Bush supporter, but they were able to cut through a lot of the BS of the left at the time. The show was cut because Comedy Central thought it was too controversial and they were already dealing with a racially controversial show in Chappelle's Show and a political one in The Daily Show, and wanted Colin Quinn to cut back to mostly pop-culture topics. Colin, thankfully, gave Comedy Central a "Fuck You" to that request, and the show died with its legitimacy and honor in tact. (The greatest irony is that it was replaced essentially by The Colbert Report). I implore anyone watching to check out Tough Crowd and see smart comedians just sit down and be funny with each other (and the ones that aren't funny get torn apart by those that are), and also to watch Patrice O'Neal and Greg Giraldo (not to mention Jim David and Todd Lynn) at their best before their demise. The foundation of the show is so strong that I have no doubt it would have succeeded if it started today.
The Last Four really are a cut above, my personal Mt. Rushmore of Comedy on TV.
4.) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Greatest example of political news satire, the Daily Show keeps churning along 15 years later (12 with Stewart). Jon has gone from a wiry, brown haired 30-something, to a gray-haired man pushing 50, and the show has become more serious and thoughtful (particularly the interviews) but it is still the best example of smart comedy. To me, there is no shame to say that you get a lot of your news out from the Daily Show. It presents the real news, to real stories, and tears them apart. Jon Stewart's stable of correspondents is so deep that even the newer ones that are talented (Al Madrigal, Jessica Williams) seem lost compared to the brilliance of the established vets (Jon Oliver - who I can't believe doesn't have his own show now, Jason Jones, Sam Bee, Aasif Mandvi, Wyatt Cenac). His show has been a breeding ground for comedy gold (Colbert, Carrell and even lesser known names like Rob Riggle, Rob Corrdry, Ed Helms, Mo Rocca, Matt Walsh). Stewart effortlessly uses these other talents that surround him to create a show that isn't so much about him but by him. Unlike Colbert, Jon Stewart really highlights the idiocracy rampant in Washington (and in America in general even outside the realm of politics). There is a reason Stewart will win that 'Best Variety Show' Emmy until he finally retires (hopefully around 2030) and that is because the Daily Show is, essentially, perfect.
3.) Chappelle's Show
Here's another show that would have found even more success had it been airing today, but my God, was Chappelle's Show just incredibly brilliant in every way. Nothing tore down racial, political, economic and stylistic barriers like Chappelle's Show. I feel like it gets unfairly pegged as a show that fed off of racial tensions and racial differences, but so many memorable sketches were so far away from racial comedy. Chappelle's Show was just pure genius at every level, from small hilarious plot items like Prince being good at basketball and serving waffles, to the juxtaposition of the Wu-Tang Clan and businessmen, to the stupidity of The Real World or Making the Band. Chappelle, though, was at his best when the conversation did stick to race, but not about the prevalence of race in America, but just the general difference between black and white. Black Bush, the Special Edition of Law & Order, Wife Swap, these were more about the different life experiences of black adn white America, and it was all hilarious. But there were times where Chappelle took the "easy" way and just riffed and random shit, like his "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong" or "A Moment in the life of Li'l John" or a personal favorite where Chappelle owns a cancer-stricken kid in street hoops. Obviously, it is painful that Dave walked away from Chappelle's Show (both this and Tough Crowd ended withing months of each other - I have a feeling if Comedy Central was running Tough Crowd and Chappelle along with TDS and Colbert today, it would be a Comedy power-house) but he left 23 episodes (and hours of extended scenes that are all great) of pure genius. Chappelle's Show was the best sketch show ever, even over SNL at its best, and it really isn't all that close.
2.) Seinfeld
The two biggest reasons for me placing Seinfeld over Curb is that Seinfeld did it for longer, and more times a year (22-24 episodes a season against just 10) and did it without cursing and censors, and Seinfeld was just as funny. The show did change a bit without Larry David in its last three seasons, but that was going from an A to an A-. The four main characters were so well defined, and contrasted so well with each other. Elaine might be one of the funniest female sitcom characters ever. Kramer is probably the best eccentric/quirky sitcom character, and no one I have ever seen does physical comedy like Michael Richards. Of course, George Costanza was brilliant in every way, a more depressed, more cynical, more bombastic version of Curb's Larry David. That said, what made Seinfeld truly special were the other characters, with Newman, Mr. and Mrs. Costanza, Susan, Puddy, and all the other supporting characters all being well cast and written. It was also such a great topical show, creating more phrases than any other show I have ever seen ('master of your domain' being my favorite). What Seinfeld really excelled at was in no small part because the main cast was just four deep, keeping the four together and letting them play off of each other, which was always so good. Another subtle thing I loved about Seinfeld is that the characters laughed, a lot. Too many times in Friends or other shows did the characters never laugh at each other. That was never a problem with Seinfeld. It took me a while to truly appreciate how brilliant it was, but I don't think there will ever be a traditional sitcom to top Seinfeld.
1.) Arrested Development
I debated if it merited number one over Seinfeld mainly because Seinfeld did it for a lot longer than Arrested Development, but really, I just haven't seen anything close to Arrested Development in terms of all-encompassing comedy. It could play straight comedy, physical comedy, puns, references, meta-moments and layers of satire, while adding visual gags. Watching Arrested Development was really like going on a treasure hunt for jokes, and they were often subtle, hidden and needed repeat viewings the unearth. A lot of why this worked was that even when all this crazy was going on, the cast kept it all natural. The cast in its entirety was so good at keeping all of the dialogue and situations mixed with the plausibility of reality. Another thing I really have grown to admire in Arrested Development, especially when contrasted with Community, is that it had a cast with 9 main characters (10 if you count Oscar from Season 2) and really shared air-time and storylines between all nine pretty evenly. Community has found in increasingly hard to service seven characters. Arrested Development made it look easy (and made fun of itself when it failed to, with Michael qupping "I feel like I haven't seen her" when Maebe was brought up in the 3rd episode of Season 2 after appearing infrequently in the first two episodes). In truth, Arrested Development made everything look easy, from writing, to casting, to directing, to pacing. It is The Wire of comedies, in that it did everything you can ever ask from a comedy program and did it all pretty close to perfect. I guess the only knock is that there were no affecting emotional bits in the show's run, but at its foundation, it was a comedy. It's job was to make us laugh, and not only did it do that, but Arrested Development made us think as well.
1.) I'm only ranking comedy programs of which I have seen a majority of episodes or enough to basically understand the show fully; therefore the following are invalid: 30 Rock, The Office, Parks & Rec, The Big Bang Theory, Eastbound & Down, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Entourage, Will & Grace, Scrubs, Sex and the City, Frasier, other random old shows not listed and many others. Of course, this means I like every show on the list. That makes sense since if I didn't like it, I wouldn't keep watching it, and therefore wouldn't watch it enough to have it qualify.
2.) I'm ranking past shows and current, and for the current, I'll indicate if that show is trending up (has a chance to get higher) or trending down (the opposite). I haven't seen much comedy pre-Seinfeld, so nothing from there (I Love Lucy, Cheers, etc. is ineligible).
3.) I've specified 'comedy programs' because this is more about any show on TV where the point is to make the audience laugh. So live shows are included, fake news shows, sketch shows. It isn't limited to just sitcoms.
Anyway, let's get to the list.
18.) Saturday Night Live (since 2004 - when I started watching)
Obviously, the show has been going on long before I started watching TV, and there have been numerous "golden eras" of the show before 2004, but that is when I started watching. Saturday Night Live to me has always been an enigma. Individually, the people are almost always really talented. Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte and Darrell Hammond could do about anything and I would laugh. The other players during this time (Fey and Poehler in the beginning, Rudolph, Samberg, Wiig, Keenan, Armisen) have all been talented. But to me, this era of Saturday Night Live has been less than the some of its parts, always underserving talented cast members, rehashing unfunny stuff and not being original enough. If I had one suggestion to Lorne and the rest of the SNL guys it would be to play original sketchs and not rehash and re-do so many old sketches. Even the good ones eventually get tired. That said, the best part about this era of SNL was the advent of the digital short (which might be on the way out with Samberg reportedly leaving). From their breakthrough with 'Lazy Sunday' to seeing Natalie Portman rap, to 'Dick in a Box' through the iconic 2008-09 season which saw the Lonely Island bros. knock out 'Jizz In My Pants', 'Like a Boss' and the best 'I'm On a Boat.' Saturday Night Live in that way adjusted to this new exciting medium. Along the way, there have been memorable characters and moments, but this SNL era for me is represented by the digital short, Tina Fey's Palin (and an all-around great 2008 election season) and way too many actors as hosts. And of course, Peyton Manning's brilliant turn as the host.
17.) Modern Family (Trending Down)
I'll admit that I did find the first season of Modern Family to be mostly brilliant. The representation of Cam and Mitchell was well done, Gloria's eccentric Venezuelan-ness was still new and hilarious, and I could look at Julie Bowen all day. What irks me about Modern Family is that it hasn't tried to grow at all (other than having Lily, well, literally grow). Mitchell and Claire are even more self-righteous. Gloria is still loud. Manny is still a man trapped in a kid. Haley is still a ditz and Alex is still the smart one. All of these traits and characterizations seemed fresh in the first season but now seemed tiresome. Modern Family is still capable of brilliant moments, and they mostly are in scenes and episodes where the entire family is together, but individually its becoming pretty weak. Nothing is worse, though, than Cam becoming such a stereotypically gay man. Cam in Season 1 was great because not only was the large, high-pitched gay man, but also an ex-football player and farmer and tough clown. For a man that played football, why is he now often depicted of having that effeminate way of running? Surely he couldn't do that on the football field. The biggest bright spot for the show over the last two seasons is that Luke has become a hilarious character. One of my favorite side-plots of any comedy show this past season was his bizarre, unexplained, hatred of Lily, Cam and Mitchell's baby. I understand why the show is loved, and I'll admit is still does have superb acting and is good at emotional moments, but it is far more broad than the show it started out as, and for a show that drew ratings big-time from the outset, I'm not sure why it changed.
16.) SportsNight
If I could only judge it by Season 1, it would be far higher up. Aaron Sorkin is a master of dialogue, and to me, his magnum opus in this regard in SportsNight (and particularly the first season, which he had a much bigger hand in). The story of CSN, the #3 sports network (since they do refer to ESPN, I can only imagine what the #2 network was supposed to be) through the eyes of their two anchors, the stat researcher geek who lands to hot director assistant, and the showrunner and her boss. The acting was brilliant all around (particularly Felicity Huffman as Dana). Of course, the writing, fit with all the usual Sorkinesian banter and back-and-forths was impressive. The only reason why SportsNight is not higher up is that the plots were all a little flat. I never, ever bought into Casey McCall's relationship with Dana, nor did I totally believe the whole "nerd gets the hot girl" arc with Jeremy and Natalie. It all seemed a little too easy, I guess. The second season become far too serialized in this sense which was distinctly different from the first season where most of the plots were simply about the show itself. The best comedies to me, especially ones like SportsNight about specific businesses, make working there seem fun, and I've never wanted to work in Sports media more than seeing Casey and Dan each night, and the fun all around for the Continental Sports Network. It really was a shame that Aaron Sorkin decided to give up on SportsNight to focus more on The West Wing. I understand it from Sorkin's perspective, but he gave up on something that could have been a lot more special than the very good show it was.
15.) Happy Endings (Trending Up)
Of all the current shows on this list (6 of the 17, not counting three who's spots are mostly set in stone, since they aren't serials) Happy Endings has the chance to rise the most. It's a weird show where I fully believe in my heart that creator David Caspe and the rest of the group totally changed the show after it started. The genesis of the show is Alex flees from her wedding to long-time mate Dave, and those two and their four mutual friends have to deal with the consequences. Honestly, that show sucked. They basically gave up on it halfway through the first season and turned Happy Endings into a rapid-fire joke sprint that centered around the wacky lives of six friends in Chicago. Since two of the six are married (the crazy-in-love Brad and Jane, which might be right behind Marshall and Lily for my favorite TV Comedy Marriage) and one of the others in gay (Max, right behind Barney as best supporting character for me as well), the relationship tension is minimal, but that is fine. Just like Arrested Development, I don't give a shit about the plot. The brilliance of the show is the writing, the timing, the acting and the set-up. It's just many, many jokes per minute at a rate faster than anything I have seen since Arrested. It's not as smart and savvy (there aren't many visual jokes and call-backs) but it is as referential and witty. The end of the 2nd Season hinted at some more relationship stuff, but they handled it well. The show also features my favorite current running gag which is Elisha Cuthbert's character, Alex, eating a shit-ton of food at all times. Also, Happy Endings figured out how to utilize Casey Wilson's many talents far better than SNL ever did. The only issue is that Dave is a rather boring character surrounded by 5 goofballs, but they turned that into a meta-joke late in S2 and I loved that too. Look out for Happy Endings over the next two years.
14.) Friends
If I was judging Friends by its first two seasons, it would be much higher. Friends in S1-2, where there was only one real romantic story-arc between the cast (Ross & Rachel, which back then was truly brilliantly constructed over the first two seasons), was witty, smart and openly hilarious. After that, it turned into a something of a comedy soap. The acting was still good, and it was funny, but Friends in its later seasons focused too much on relationships, and maybe more than any long running show on this list, it lost the sense of its characters. Many shows that last a long time are criticized for turnings its round characters into one-note caricatures as time goes on, where each characters particular eccentricity overtakes the character as a whole. For Friends, this virus affected almost every character. Joey went from a slightly air-headed actor to a complete idiot (early seasons showed Joey's level of inteligence to basically be comparable to Phoebe's). Ross became way too sappy and emotional. Monica became a neurotic, raging bitch as her OCD escalated. That said, the show did have a pull, and more than maybe any other show, any combination of its characters had chemistry and worked. Also, early Chandler Bing may be my favorite comedy character of all time. Friends was far too famous for what it deserved, and lost its brilliance as time went on (I mark the end of Friend's brilliance with Ross saying "Rachel" and Monica and Chandler hooking up) but for a while, it was Gold.
13.) Freaks and Geeks
I wrestled with putting it on the list for two reasons; 1 - it was an hour long dramedy that wasn't all that funny all the time, and 2 - it was only on the air for one truncated season. It was damn good in that one season, but who knows what the show would have done had more seasons come. The characters were all in high school anyway, so I really wonder what Season 2-4 of Freaks and Geeks would have been. That said, it was too good not to put it on the list. I don't revere it the way some do, and think that it was a little too sappy at times and understanding (I never understood why Lindsay was fully accepted by the 'Freaks' in the first place, or why Cindy Sanders would ever give Sam a once-over), but it did give a great representation of high school as a whole. Freaks and Geeks should also get credit for being quite a good period piece, representing high school in the early 80's accurately. Freaks and Geeks was led by a comedy genius in Judd Apatow, and had great actors that have gone on to do well (Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segel, John Francis Daley), and these combined to create an excellent show for 18 episodes. My struggle is would this show have continued at that lofty pace for another 50. That is really hard to do, and especially for a show that at the outset starts off at a very transient age bracket with 15-18 year old characters.
12.) How I Met Your Mother (Trending Steady)
Oh, how this pains me to place it so low. The good news is after Season 5, it probably would have been lower. I'm done thinking this show will ever come close to what HIMYM was the first two seasons, but each of the last few years has been consistently good enough. Anyway, it is better to talk about the show when it was one of the best sitcoms on TV. In its first two seasons, HIMYM may have been the hippest show on television. The random things they created (Slapbet, Robin Sparkles, The Naked Man, etc.) were all great. The show did a great job connecting with the audience outside of the half-hour on Monday, creating dozens of fake web-sites from the show. I still say that HIMYM can do emotional moments better than any other sitcom on television today (just cue up the entirety of Marvin Eriksen's death and funeral from Season 6 for proof), but it has lost some of that incredible charm and mystery from S1-3. I think the narrator telling the kids (and transitively, the audience) that the day Ted meets the mother is the wedding has both solidified the show (no longer was in just floating in limbo like Seasons 4-5) but also hampered it, as all of Ted's relationships in-between we know end in failure. I feel sad for the creators (Carter Bays and Craig Thomas) because they probably never envisioned HIMYM lasting nearly this long, and they have to stretch out what they most likely had pegged as a 5-year story, but that is the spoils of success at times. When it is done, I'll probably only remember the good times, where it was the most inventive, savvy 'traditional' sitcom I have ever seen.
11.) Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends were essentially siblings, both put on the air and eventually taken off the air within one year of each other. To me, Friends was the better show originally, and because of the fame of its actors and its hip connectivity to the 20-somethings, it will forever be the more 'important' show, but to me, Raymond is better in totality. Unlike Friends, Raymond never lost what it had in the beginning, and you can make the argument it became better over time (a lot of this for me has to do with the fact that I enjoyed the kids more as kids than toddlers and babies). Everybody Loves Raymond followed the same formula for episodes for nine years, and my God was it successful. It helped that the cast was brilliant. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano is a damn good actor (just see his work on Men of a Certain Age) and the whole cast, from Doris Roberts to Patricia Heaton to Brad Garrett to the late great Peter Boyle, had tremendous chemistry with each other. I could listen to that family argue with each other for days. In a lot of ways, they were a precursor to Arrested Development as it was a fresh take on the family sitcom. Instead of trying to create laughs out of a normal family, Raymond created an incredibly strange, spirited family and presented it as traditional. In the end, because of this and other successes, Ray Romano might be one of the most underrated comic minds of the last 20 years.
Now we get to the Top 10, where all of these shows are brilliant. It was hard for me to actually decide on a ranking of this Top 10 other than the final four, which I knew going in. They all have just amazing moments and qualities.
10.) Whose Line Is It Anyway?
At its best (Colin and Ryan's banter during games like 'Greatest Hits', 'Infomercial', or 'Scenes From a Hat' or 'Props' or 'Hats') this show was incredibly funny. The reason it isn't higher is mainly because I wasn't a fan of some of the games they played (Any singing game other than 'Greatest Hits', 'Hoedown' or 'Irish Drinking Song', or 'Sound Effects'). To me, it lives in its best form on Youtube, where I can view continuous streams of its best moments, and in that forum, there are few things better. Drew Carey was a solid host (cementing his place in my personal list of favorite 'hosts' and comics I want to see succeed mainly because he seemed like such a nice guy), and played off of the cast well. Wayne Brady is one of the more talented people I have ever seen, and Colin and Ryan were, well, Colin and Ryan. It was impossible not to love those two, and they were incredibly sharp. The fourth always rotated, but I've never not liked or appreciated a cast member. Even after its real run finished, Whose Line lived on on nightly syndication at 10 PM on ABC Family. As years have gone on, it's been pushed back to midnight, and probably it will soon be off the air, but it will live on in Youtube, and it will be the best example of improv comedy on TV maybe ever.
9.) Community (Trending Down)
I had a real hard time placing Community, a show I spent about 1,500 words bashing just three days ago. At its best, it was the best sitcom on TV (at the time) by far. Episodes like Remedial Chaos Theory (which is so universally praised and still not overrated), their original paintball episode 'Modern Warfare', their first homage with a Goodfellas parody in 'Contemporary American Poultry' and others were just a lot better than anything comedic on TV. My issue was that it appeared in parts of Season 2 and throughout much of Season 3 that it was trying to hard to appease to its fan-boy niche, and create a show that was more about what its fans wanted than what it was good at. It's homages were initially used sparingly, but late in Season 3 it became almost every other episode. It got trapped in its own brilliance. Because when Community did those episodes right it was magic, it gave Community, in my mind, a sense of invincibility that it could accomplish any homage and concept no matter how abstract, which made their strikeouts more prevalent. I have no idea what Community will be without Dan Harmon. My guess is it will be more of a witty, smart show about seven weird friends in a Community College, which is essentially what it was in Season 1. I loved that show too, more than much of the 3rd season. However, it will never be what it was at its best, which is the best experimental comedy I have ever seen.
8.) The Colbert Report
Speaking of shows that were hard to place, The Colbert Report will forever be tied to The Daily Show. To me, the Colbert Report wasn't as groundbreaking as many think (it is essentially the same basic total satire of a news show that the original Daily Show with Craig Kilborn was, or what Weekend Update is at its best), but it is the first to make the focus the host, and it is by far the smartest. Nothing about the Report gives me more joy than to see Colbert and his staff just brilliantly tearing apart the hypocrisy in so much conservative speech even though giving the facade of a conservative. It is true genius. Colbert's interviewing style is easily the most entertaining I have ever seen. I will say that he is a little unfair, because while he usually is in character with the support of his crowd and is able to say outlandishly, foolish things without reproach, he then flips sides and will attack with reality. It isn't really fair to do both. Either way, it makes for great television. The show is really perfect for Colbert, who has been able to constantly sell this character for near seven years now without ever seeming like he was doing schtick that didn't land. I don't rely on the Report for actual news like the Daily Show, but if I want to laugh more, I'm going with the acolyte over the master.
7.) Curb Your Enthusiasm (Trending Up)
In almost the exact same form of the show coming up next, Curb has rebounded with two really strong seasons back-to-back after a small lull in the middle (for me, it was S5-6). Curb has become more pointed and obnoxious of a show in its later years than it was in the beginning (which was truly just about the audacity and eccentricity of Larry David), but no less funny. I do miss Cheryl, as she was always a great foil for Larry, but single Larry David has really been a great creation, and introduced a new angle to the show, where we can see Larry screw up relationships in a myriad of ways. To this day, I am shocked that most of the dialogue the viewer sees is improvised, but it makes for such realistic speech. I love how Curb has become almost a yardstick to measure how famous you are. Mostly, the actors that get to play themselves are people who are actually comedy friends of Larry's (the Seinfeld cast, Rosie O'Donnell and of course, Richard Lewis), but the real test of fame in hollywood to me is if you get to play yourself on Curb, like Ted Danson, John McEnroe, Ricky Gervais or even Michael Yorke, while seeing who has to play a character. All credit deservedly goes to the genius that is Larry David (who I think people now realize was a far bigger part of Seinfeld than most originally thought) who showed not only how to break the Seinfeld curse, but gave us a real Seinfeld finale.
6.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Trending Up)
It's time to stop kidding around, Always Sunny is the best basic cable sitcom ever, and it is not close. It is already the longest running cable sitcom, and is contracted for at least two more years. It is also far more groundbreaking than it is given credit for. What Rob McElhenny, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day did was basically beat the system. These three unsuccessful actors decided that instead of auditioning for roles, they would create their own show. Currently, the people that get to star in their own show is not a very long list, and it is generally given to people that were far more successful than these three (Larry David, Ricky Gervais, Louis CK). FX showed incredible trust and foresight in giving these three goons a show, and man have they repaid FX times over. Always Sunny also had a dip in Season 4-5, but has rebounded with a strong Season 6 and a really good Season 7. They may be pushing some of the characters (Charlie has become a bit dumber, Dennis a lot more sociopathic) but the general tone remains. Also, they almost seamlessly integrated a new central cast member with Danny DeVito, and that has been magic. I bet Chevy Chase is so upset that he gets saddled with Pierce, while Danny DeVito has the time of his life portraying Frank Reynolds. McElhenny, Howerton and Day are really all geniuses as they have basically created a comedy machine. The show is so much smarter than it is given credit for, lampooning and satirizing so many aspects of the world with great takes on the mortgage crisis, American Idol, the movie Invincible, the movie Million Dollar Baby, the healthcare system, Facebook, municipal politics, gay marriage, the modern music industry. It is a show so much more than just five idiots screaming at each other, and I hope it has a long life ahead of it.
5.) Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
I believe that this is the show that was on the air the shortest amount of time of any on the list, and other than mediocre-quality Youtube videos, it is inaccessible, but it was brilliant. I actually think that along with the show at #1, this was a show that would do so much better today, where comedians are becoming more marketable than ever. There were so many things to love about Tough Crowd, from the great chemistry between Colin and the regulars (Patrice O'Neal, Greg Giraldo, Jim Norton and Nick DiPaolo), but here are my top three: 1 - how merciless the cast and Colin was to anyone who came with prepared stuff and written lines, 2 - how Colin Quinn fought to keep jokes that bombed on the final cut, as proof that comedians aren't always perfect in joke delivery, 3 - how it was the one comedy show to feature prominent conservatives. Quinn was more of a true independent, but Jim Norton and Nick DiPaolo were unabashed conservatives. Neither was fully a Bush supporter, but they were able to cut through a lot of the BS of the left at the time. The show was cut because Comedy Central thought it was too controversial and they were already dealing with a racially controversial show in Chappelle's Show and a political one in The Daily Show, and wanted Colin Quinn to cut back to mostly pop-culture topics. Colin, thankfully, gave Comedy Central a "Fuck You" to that request, and the show died with its legitimacy and honor in tact. (The greatest irony is that it was replaced essentially by The Colbert Report). I implore anyone watching to check out Tough Crowd and see smart comedians just sit down and be funny with each other (and the ones that aren't funny get torn apart by those that are), and also to watch Patrice O'Neal and Greg Giraldo (not to mention Jim David and Todd Lynn) at their best before their demise. The foundation of the show is so strong that I have no doubt it would have succeeded if it started today.
The Last Four really are a cut above, my personal Mt. Rushmore of Comedy on TV.
4.) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Greatest example of political news satire, the Daily Show keeps churning along 15 years later (12 with Stewart). Jon has gone from a wiry, brown haired 30-something, to a gray-haired man pushing 50, and the show has become more serious and thoughtful (particularly the interviews) but it is still the best example of smart comedy. To me, there is no shame to say that you get a lot of your news out from the Daily Show. It presents the real news, to real stories, and tears them apart. Jon Stewart's stable of correspondents is so deep that even the newer ones that are talented (Al Madrigal, Jessica Williams) seem lost compared to the brilliance of the established vets (Jon Oliver - who I can't believe doesn't have his own show now, Jason Jones, Sam Bee, Aasif Mandvi, Wyatt Cenac). His show has been a breeding ground for comedy gold (Colbert, Carrell and even lesser known names like Rob Riggle, Rob Corrdry, Ed Helms, Mo Rocca, Matt Walsh). Stewart effortlessly uses these other talents that surround him to create a show that isn't so much about him but by him. Unlike Colbert, Jon Stewart really highlights the idiocracy rampant in Washington (and in America in general even outside the realm of politics). There is a reason Stewart will win that 'Best Variety Show' Emmy until he finally retires (hopefully around 2030) and that is because the Daily Show is, essentially, perfect.
3.) Chappelle's Show
Here's another show that would have found even more success had it been airing today, but my God, was Chappelle's Show just incredibly brilliant in every way. Nothing tore down racial, political, economic and stylistic barriers like Chappelle's Show. I feel like it gets unfairly pegged as a show that fed off of racial tensions and racial differences, but so many memorable sketches were so far away from racial comedy. Chappelle's Show was just pure genius at every level, from small hilarious plot items like Prince being good at basketball and serving waffles, to the juxtaposition of the Wu-Tang Clan and businessmen, to the stupidity of The Real World or Making the Band. Chappelle, though, was at his best when the conversation did stick to race, but not about the prevalence of race in America, but just the general difference between black and white. Black Bush, the Special Edition of Law & Order, Wife Swap, these were more about the different life experiences of black adn white America, and it was all hilarious. But there were times where Chappelle took the "easy" way and just riffed and random shit, like his "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong" or "A Moment in the life of Li'l John" or a personal favorite where Chappelle owns a cancer-stricken kid in street hoops. Obviously, it is painful that Dave walked away from Chappelle's Show (both this and Tough Crowd ended withing months of each other - I have a feeling if Comedy Central was running Tough Crowd and Chappelle along with TDS and Colbert today, it would be a Comedy power-house) but he left 23 episodes (and hours of extended scenes that are all great) of pure genius. Chappelle's Show was the best sketch show ever, even over SNL at its best, and it really isn't all that close.
2.) Seinfeld
The two biggest reasons for me placing Seinfeld over Curb is that Seinfeld did it for longer, and more times a year (22-24 episodes a season against just 10) and did it without cursing and censors, and Seinfeld was just as funny. The show did change a bit without Larry David in its last three seasons, but that was going from an A to an A-. The four main characters were so well defined, and contrasted so well with each other. Elaine might be one of the funniest female sitcom characters ever. Kramer is probably the best eccentric/quirky sitcom character, and no one I have ever seen does physical comedy like Michael Richards. Of course, George Costanza was brilliant in every way, a more depressed, more cynical, more bombastic version of Curb's Larry David. That said, what made Seinfeld truly special were the other characters, with Newman, Mr. and Mrs. Costanza, Susan, Puddy, and all the other supporting characters all being well cast and written. It was also such a great topical show, creating more phrases than any other show I have ever seen ('master of your domain' being my favorite). What Seinfeld really excelled at was in no small part because the main cast was just four deep, keeping the four together and letting them play off of each other, which was always so good. Another subtle thing I loved about Seinfeld is that the characters laughed, a lot. Too many times in Friends or other shows did the characters never laugh at each other. That was never a problem with Seinfeld. It took me a while to truly appreciate how brilliant it was, but I don't think there will ever be a traditional sitcom to top Seinfeld.
1.) Arrested Development
I debated if it merited number one over Seinfeld mainly because Seinfeld did it for a lot longer than Arrested Development, but really, I just haven't seen anything close to Arrested Development in terms of all-encompassing comedy. It could play straight comedy, physical comedy, puns, references, meta-moments and layers of satire, while adding visual gags. Watching Arrested Development was really like going on a treasure hunt for jokes, and they were often subtle, hidden and needed repeat viewings the unearth. A lot of why this worked was that even when all this crazy was going on, the cast kept it all natural. The cast in its entirety was so good at keeping all of the dialogue and situations mixed with the plausibility of reality. Another thing I really have grown to admire in Arrested Development, especially when contrasted with Community, is that it had a cast with 9 main characters (10 if you count Oscar from Season 2) and really shared air-time and storylines between all nine pretty evenly. Community has found in increasingly hard to service seven characters. Arrested Development made it look easy (and made fun of itself when it failed to, with Michael qupping "I feel like I haven't seen her" when Maebe was brought up in the 3rd episode of Season 2 after appearing infrequently in the first two episodes). In truth, Arrested Development made everything look easy, from writing, to casting, to directing, to pacing. It is The Wire of comedies, in that it did everything you can ever ask from a comedy program and did it all pretty close to perfect. I guess the only knock is that there were no affecting emotional bits in the show's run, but at its foundation, it was a comedy. It's job was to make us laugh, and not only did it do that, but Arrested Development made us think as well.
