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Let’s set aside that this 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll should be discounted completely because I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show weren’t offered up as choices. But among TV shows that were, Seinfeld edged The Honeymooners as the greatest sitcom of all time in the just-released survey conducted by the CBS News Election and Survey Unit. It’s linked to Vanity Fair’s January comedy issue, guest-edited by Judd Apatow (Note: The poll question “Who is Judd Apatow?” drew a blank from all but 14% of responders, with all others either guessing wrong or saying they didn’t know — sorry Judd.) NBC’s Seinfeld, created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, was the funniest show for 22% of Americans and CBS’ Honeymooners was No. 2 with 20%. NBC’s Friends and Cheers follow with 16% and 14%, respectively. Arrested Development, whose devoted following will see their favorite sitcom resurrected with 10 new episodes on Netflix sometime next year, was the funniest show for 7%, while 6% said Mary Tyler Moore was funniest and 5% preferred 30 Rock.
Is ‘Seinfeld’ The Greatest Sitcom Ever?
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News/Opinion Poll
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The funniest sitcom of all time was “Married… with Children,” at least for its first five seasons. “Green Acres,” “Arrested Development,” “Fawlty Towers,” “I Love Lucy” and “M*A*S*H*” also belong on the list (although in the case of “M*A*S*H,” only for the first four seasons, after which it gradually ceased being funny).
Hey Peg, hear that?
People, it’s not about success or impact.
It’s about the BEST.
I agree that Seinfeld, Friends, 30 Rock, in that order, are the greatest sitcoms of all time.
Very rare that a poll matches my taste.
Doesn’t a show Have to be funny first? Rules out Seinfeld
The first two seasons of Seinfeld are completely unwatchable. It’s great afterwards.
Which rules in your myopic lack of a sense of humor.
How did “Whitney” not win??? I demand a recount!
“Whitney” rocks!
I’d say:
M*A*S*H, then probably “The Cosby Show”, I’d also put “Frasier” up on that list.
Married… with Children was pathetic shock humor. The greatest ever is Arrested Development, hands down.
Zachary, “Married… with Children” may devolved into schlock humor after creators Ron Leavitt and Mike Moye left, but for its first five seasons, it was a sharply written and executed satire.
The first 5 seasons were okay, although IMO satire is best executed with a straight man at the center of it, something that plagued MWC, as well as shows on Adult Swim and Comedy Central of today (save for The Sarah Silverman Program). Also, I’ve seen better satire. Get a Life, for starters.
This doesn’t prove anything. Polls like this produce wide varieties of results based simply on the fact that TV, movies etc are all art. Art is subjective by nature. There is no right or wrong way about it (although we can still argue that some is distasteful etc), and because of that subjective nature it’s useless to try to attach a label of “Greatest (insert genre, medium of art, etc here) of All Time” to any particular form of expression within that medium or genre. The simple fact of the matter is, different people like different things. You will never find 100% of the population agreeing that they like a certain TV series or whatever, because that’s just the way art is. I think people need to realise that before trumpeting things like this.
How soon they forget….THE COSBY SHOW revitalized the format, resurrected NBC, created the Thursday “Must See TV” block that Friends and Seinfeld benefitted from & made hits (because of its monster lead in) out of Cheers, Family Ties, Night Court, 227, etc,etc. Oh and by the way still holds the record of most consecutive seasons ranked #1 (5 seasons) . I’m a HUGE Seinfeld fan, but lets be real Cosby Show was a beast, Seinfeld didn’t carry nearly as many shows or have as big of a ratings impact.
Sure “The Cosby Show” revitalized the format, but beyond the 3rd season, it became blah.
“Lucy,” “MTM,” “Allin In The Family,” “Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends” all were stronger over the long haul.
I bet it will ever increasingly be more about recent memory than anything else.
Yes. Seinfeld is the best show ever, ever. The Platonic ideal of what a sitcom should be.
I was all set to say that it’s all about relativity and audience exposure now (re: SEINFIELD (which is still brilliant)), but if THE HONEYMOONERS finished in 2nd that blows my argument completely out of the water.
Any “Statistical” posters here who can comment knowledgeably?
If not, all’s good. It’s refreshing to see that THE HONEYMOONERS finished so high.
I’m assuming that the readership of VANITY FAIR skews older so that could be a cause. But either way? – Someone spoke up for a show long past gone.
I am sorry, but how did ALL IN THE FAMILY not make the list? It was groundbreaking television in its day and continues to be representative of some of the most thought provoking, brave, funny and talented writing in television history. If we are talking about of all time, ALL IN THE FAMILY should top the list.
Damn straight! All In The Family was groundbreaking. It dealt with very serious issues such as race, abortion, sexual orientation, crime etc. in a a humorous fashion. And it was VERY funny! Come on now-Seinfeld? Poll was obviously taken by people under 30.
The greatest and always will be is “I Love Lucy” and “The Golden Girls”
Friends? Fraiser? Cheers? Wings? Coach?
I mean I love Seinfeld but NO its not the best of all time um a few more would be lets see The Andy Griffith Show, Gilligan’s Island, I Love Lucy, both of Bob Newhart’s shows, The Cosby Show, All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King Of Queens, and many more (now I am not saying that all of these are ahead of Seinfeld but they deserve to be in consideration).
bs’d
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There were 3 Bob Newhart shows & I would like to add a little known, short lived show called BETTER OFF TED. Just saying
MTM at 6%? Lunacy.
Seinfeld and 30 Rock. What’s with all this other stuff!?!
In a word. YES. These characters were magical. Kramer was fantastic. This show was so good if they brought it back right now it would be number 1 in the ratings.
Fawlty Towers
Agree. They only produced twelve episodes and there were more honest laughs in any one episode than in the entire seasons of most other sitcoms.
Fawlty Towers is the best SITution COMedy ever created. Yes, they only did twelve episodes, but every one of them were solid gold.
Seinfeld, as good as it was, was just a very funny show about nothing.
As stated previously, “All in the Family”‘s omission from this list is abhorrent. Seinfeld was one of the best comedies on t.v., but THE best? Meh.
Seinfeld isnt even the best sitcom by Larry David.
The best ever: The Honeymooners.
still dont get why people think Jerry Seinfeld is funny. if that show was on now it would be slammed by critics and last a half a season
No it’s not… And also FU Kramer
#1 – Taxi
#2 – Seinfeld
#3 – Tie: Cosby Show and I Love Lucy
Golden Girls!
Cheers is the best ever. Seinfeld is the funniest, but funniest doesn’t always mean best.
Car 54 and You’ll Never Get Rich (Sgt. Bilko). Guess I’m the last Nat Hiken fan. Call me old school.
Best sitcom ever was the BBC version of The Office.
I would agree that the BBC version of “the Office” is comparable in quality to Seinfeld, Honeymooners, etc., (not the American Steve Carrell version which is pathetic and embarassing in comparison) and David Brent is IMO the funniest character in the history of television.
That being said, it’s hard to argue with Seinfeld or the Honeymooners. It’s actually amazing that two of the top American sit-coms (Honeymooners and I Love Lucy) are both 60+ years old and date from the infancy of the medium; perhaps it could be that since shows like “All in the Family” sit-com writers have made it their goal to “change the world” and deal with social issues rather then simply entertain. Perhaps that’s also why Seinfeld was so successful, it’s goal was simply to be funny and nothing else, a huge difference from people like Ryan Murphy today where being funny or entertaining is not nearly as important as other agendas.
You make a great point. Shows like The Honeymooners and especially I Love Lucy over its run are timeless. The comedic situations resonate as much today as it did in the 1950s. A lot of the more contemporary sitcoms mine laughs by eventually dating themselves with jokes and references that would not resonate even 5 years from now.