23 of the best sitcoms
Sitcoms that are truly original, that manage to have lasting depth (though very different kinds of depth) and not at the expense of the funny. In alphabetical order - not order of funny.
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23 titles
- CreatorTina FeyStarsTina FeyAlec BaldwinTracy MorganLiz Lemon, head writer of the sketch-comedy show "TGS with Tracy Jordan", must deal with an arrogant new boss and a crazy new star while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind.The comedy writing and performing genius of Tina Fey at its best. Plus great comic performances from the Likes of Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan.
- CreatorDavid CroftJeremy LloydStarsGorden KayeCarmen SilveraVicki MichelleIn France during World War II, René Artois runs a small café where Resistance fighters, Gestapo men, German Army officers and escaped Allied POWs interact daily, ignorant of one another's true identity or presence, exasperating René.What could be funnier than Nazi occupied France during WWII? Yet the cast and writers manage to pull this off as an old school English farce of awkward circumstances and saucy innuendo.
- CreatorChuck LorreBill PradyStarsJohnny GaleckiJim ParsonsKaley CuocoA woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.Geek-chic brought into the mainstream by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady. Many great performances here but Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco are the gems that really make this comedy shine. Watch these all once then watch them again just looking for Kaley's reactions - it's worth it just for those.
- StarsRowan AtkinsonTony RobinsonTim McInnernyIn the Tudor court of Elizabeth I, Lord Edmund Blackadder strives to win Her Majesty's favour while attempting to avoid a grisly fate should he offend her.From writing team Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Rowan Atkinson and a team of great British comic actors are joined by the normally quite serious Miranda Richardson - who delivers a gloriously silly, but also somehow slightly disturbing performance as Queen Elizabeth I.
- StarsRowan AtkinsonTony RobinsonHugh LaurieIn the Regency era, Mr E. Blackadder serves as butler to the foppish numskull Prince George amidst the fads and crazes of the time.From writing team Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Rowan Atkinson and a team of great British comic actors give us an alternative insight into the life of the Prince Regent before his ascension to the throne as George IV.
- StarsRowan AtkinsonTony RobinsonStephen FryStuck in the middle of World War I, Captain Edmund Blackadder does his best to escape the banality of the war.From writing team Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Rowan Atkinson and a team of great British comic actors give us a funny but occasionally deeply poignant look into the events of WWI
- CreatorDylan MoranStarsDylan MoranBill BaileyTamsin GreigBernard Black runs a book shop, though his customer service skills leave something to be desired. He hires Manny as an employee. Fran runs the shop next door. Between the three of them many adventures ensue.Hilarious, grumpy and drunk. Dylan Moran is basically himself as Bernard Black.
- StarsStephen WightTony GardnerJamie QuinnFollows the lives of a group of soldiers serving in a bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan.The funniest comedy ever made about bomb disposal in war torn Afghanistan. A surprising comedy gem that could have gone very wrong in many directions yet managed to hold the balance between the camaraderie, the comedy and the difficult honesty of telling funny stories in one of the toughest situations in the world.
- CreatorJimmy PerryStarsArthur LoweJohn Le MesurierClive DunnA ragtag group of Home Guard volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion during World War II.Croft and Perry's comedy masterpiece. The situation is WWII and the home guard are those who weren't fit for the front line, but still wanted to contribute. A magnificent ensemble of comic performances led by Arthur Lowe and the wonderfully understated John Le Mesurier.
- CreatorMackenzie CrookStarsMackenzie CrookToby JonesRachael StirlingThe lives of two eccentric metal detectorists, who spend their days plodding along ploughed tracks and open fields, hoping to disturb the tedium by unearthing the fortune of a lifetime.A gentle and understated comedy written by and starring Mackenzie Crook, co starring the wonderful Toby Jones. This is not a comedy of jokes but of the unseen wonder in life's mundane absurdity. The beauty of the cinematography and the soundtrack are doubly unexpected bonuses in this already unexpected masterpiece.
- StarsVictoria WoodThelma BarlowAndrew DunnComedy about the workers in a factory canteen.The observational comedy genius of Victoria Wood finds a perfect outlet in this series. It's all about relationships and the comedy in the rich details of day to day life in the refectory of a northern factory. It is the sparking dialogue that really makes this one of the best.
- StarsDermot MorganArdal O'HanlonFrank KellyThree misfit priests and their housekeeper live on Craggy Island, not the peaceful and quiet part of Ireland that it seems to be.A daft rendition of priestly life in rural Ireland from the pens of Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. Though I am reliably informed by some colleagues that this is far closer to a true rendition than perhaps we might hope it ought to be.
- CreatorDavid AngellPeter CaseyDavid LeeStarsKelsey GrammerJane LeevesDavid Hyde PierceDr. Frasier Crane moves back to his hometown of Seattle, where he lives with his father and works as a radio psychiatrist.Erudite and aloof. Who would have thought that the barely tolerable character who frequented the bar at Cheers in Boston, would move to Seattle and give us one of the best situation comedies that America has ever offered.
- CreatorJames CordenRuth JonesStarsJoanna PageMathew HorneAlison SteadmanGavin and Stacey have been continuing their romance on-line and by telephone for the last six months. Now they want to be together but will their friends and family let them?Two worlds collide - Barrie Island in South Wales and Billericay in Essex. Beautifully observed comedy about all aspects of human relationships with just the perfect dusting of the surreal from the pens of James Corden and Ruth Jones
- CreatorCarter BaysCraig ThomasStarsJosh RadnorJason SegelCobie SmuldersA father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.Through it's long run it managed to hold the balance between character plot and comedy - a thing rarely achieved with sitcoms. The surprise of this show was that on more occasions than might have been expected, the perfectly crafted plotlines added a depth to the humour that went far deeper than all the one liners innuendos and puns.
- StarsSimon BirdJames BuckleyBlake HarrisonFollows four friends and their antics during their final years of school.The social implosion of teenage males has never been so accurately or hilariously portrayed as in this series which never pulls its punches.
- StarsChris O'DowdRichard AyoadeKatherine ParkinsonThe comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.Graham Linehan gives us what the Big Bang Theory sometimes fails to
achieve; the true persistent awkwardness of geekdom and the eternal outsiderness of the people who underpin the work of the rest of the company. - CreatorLarry GelbartStarsAlan AldaWayne RogersLoretta SwitThe staff of an Army hospital in the Korean War find that laughter is the best way to deal with their situation.War, surgery and dark comedy with a warm heart - plus Alan Alda. What more can you ask for?
- StarsJulian BarrattNoel FieldingMichael FieldingSurreal British comedy in which Vince Noir and Howard Moon have adventures filled with oddball characters while working as Zoo Keepers, before pursuing a musical career and running a second-hand shop.Deeply surreal, highly original, musically complex
- CreatorJames WoodTom HollanderStarsTom HollanderOlivia ColmanSteve EvetsThe misadventures of an Anglican vicar, his wife, and a small but odd group of parishioners in London.For most people this is great gentle poignant comedy, ministers this is as near to a documentary as you can get.
- CreatorAaron SorkinStarsJosh CharlesPeter KrauseFelicity HuffmanCasey McCall and Dan Rydell are sports anchors and best friends on "Sports Night", a nightly cable program.Aaron Sorkin's first excursion into television and closer to a pure comedy than the West Wing or Studio 60 - which have been known to confuse those who like clear delineation between comedy and drama. Yet, even with this it is the drama and the almost perfectly crafted dialogue which drives the comedy and not the other way around.
- StarsPaul EddingtonNigel HawthorneDerek FowldsThe Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.The quagmire of British politics and the endless circles of compromise perfectly portrayed. Complex intelligent humour, but never patronising to the audience (only the minister).
- StarsPaul EddingtonNigel HawthorneDerek FowldsJames Hacker was propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics - Number 10.The quagmire of British politics and the endless circles of compromise perfectly portrayed again. This Time he's the Prime Minister.