TV Comedies That Capture The American Spirit

The world of Hollywood, whether on the big or small screen is often a fictionalized account of what goes on in our lives. Much of it is outlandish, after all, there aren't many people who have launched their cars over a ravine to land perfectly safe on the other side, but some of it has a certain ring of truth to it. How we interact with family members, friends, and co-workers, and how we go about our daily lives are often perfectly portrayed, especially on the small screen, in sitcoms. (If you want to see a Hollywood star really do something that we do in our lives, see Jennifer Garner on the "Today" show, where she cooks a blueberry cobbler with her mom.)

Many of these sitcoms are well-known, but others that aren't should be because of the way they perfectly portray American life. These lesser-known programs may not always be at the forefront of trendy streaming platforms, but these vintage shows are cultural staples providing plenty of laughs and comfort viewing. Several of these shows have stood the test of time and have aired in reruns and syndication for years. Thanks in part to these streaming services and the multitude of options available, you can now see what you may have once missed. These iconic comedies often feature famous duos too. (Click here for a look at the 34 most iconic duos in TV history.)

To compile this list of must-see sitcoms that perfectly portray American life, 24/7 Tempo referenced the Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator. We also referenced sitcoms with the highest ratings on IMDb, an online movie and television database owned by Amazon, as well as consulting a list of the best sitcoms of all time from Rolling Stone, an American pop culture magazine, and "TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time," a list published in the May 4–10, 2002 issue of TV Guide. To finalize the list, editorial discretion was used as we weighed, among other things, how each sitcom influenced or changed the television medium and the lasting cultural impact of each show.

This compilation focuses exclusively on American sitcoms, omitting classics like "Fawlty Towers" and "Only Fools and Horses." Additionally, since it emphasizes classic sitcoms, only those that premiered before 2000 were taken into account. This doesn't discount the recent classics like "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation," which have undoubtedly earned their status, but the spotlight here is on older shows that have endured and resonated across multiple generations.

"Mary Kay and Johnny," starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns was the first situation comedy that appeared on American television. It premiered on November 18, 1947, on the DuMont Television Network, and later on CBS and then NBC. Set in Greenwich Village, the series focused on the zany Mary Kay and her straight-laced husband, Johnny. It began as a 15-minute show and later expanded to the familiar 30-minute format many sitcoms still follow today, and aired until 1950.

Not only was this show the first American TV sitcom, but it was also the first program to show a couple sharing a bed, and the first to feature a pregnant character (this credit often goes to Lucille Ball who played Lucy Ricardo on "I Love Lucy"). This innovative, trailblazing show is virtually unknown because there are no video archives of the program in existence. In the show's early days, it was broadcast live and not recorded, and as it progressed, kinescopes of the live episodes were recorded to be aired on the West Coast, but those recordings were not saved. Kinescopes were notoriously poor in quality.

The television mindset of the day was much different than that of today. Programs were viewed as commodities that were virtually worthless after they had been broadcast, so preserving these recordings was simply not a priority. Plus, there was a financial motivation to destroy kinescopes to recover the silver they contained. No one was thinking about syndication, DVDs, streaming services, and the like.

Only one full episode of "Mary Kay and Johnny" from 1949 is known to exist, along with a few fragments from a small handful of other episodes. We may not be able to watch "Mary Kay and Johnny" today, but we can appreciate the shows that followed in this first sitcom's pioneering footsteps.

• Television debut: September 17, 1964
• Number of Seasons: 8
• Where to Watch: Tubi, Sling TV, Philo

"Bewitched" was a sitcom that mixed in a bit of mild science fiction and gave us Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) a witch who was married to a mortal human being named Darrin (played in early seasons by Diсk York and later by Diсk Sergeant) but she didn't disclose her true identity until after marriage. Darrin insisted on living a normal life and Samantha agreed to keep her supernatural identity a secret. However, she was often forced to go against Darrin's wishes and employ witchcraft to deal with complicated situations.

Samantha's mother, Endora (Agnes Robertson Moorehead), was opposed to the marriage, believing that a simple mortal was not worthy of marrying her daughter. The problematic mother-in-law often meddled in the Stephens' marriage, casting spells that created never-ending burdens, especially for Darrin. Samantha was always there to save the day, though. Through a simple twitch of her nose (a move that came to be known as the "witch twitch"), Samantha used her powers to set things right again.

• Television debut: January 23, 1975
• Number of Seasons: 8
• Where to Watch: Tubi, Sling TV, Philo

Led by Captain Barney Miller (Hal Linden), "Barney Miller" focused on police officers in NYPD's 12th Precinct. While it is a "cop show," the program does not feature car chases, hostage standoffs, and other action-based scenarios. The officers are rarely shown outside of the Greenwich Village police station. Paperwork is often the center of their work-a-day lives. That, and the notoriously bad coffee that was mentioned in seemingly every episode.

Captain Miller was often frustrated by the bureaucratic red tape that hampered his department. His efforts at promotion also seemed to be thwarted at every turn. Rather than objecting to this portrayal, real-life police officers often appreciated and applauded the depiction of their profession. It has been hailed as one of the most realistic "cop shows" to ever grace the airwaves and featured a diverse ensemble cast that made the sitcom into a classic.

• Television debut: September 24, 1958
• Number of Seasons: 8
• Where to Watch: Tubi, Pluto TV, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Prime Video

This program centers on a nuclear family, a sitcom template that has been replicated countless times over the years. However, "The Donna Reed Show" was the first family sitcom to feature a woman as the star. The show centered on the life of the Stone family, a middle-upper-class family in the fictional Midwestern town of Hilldale. Donna Stone (Donna Reed) was married to a pediatrician named Alex (Carl Betz), and they had two teenage children, Mary (Shelley Fabares) and Jeff (Paul Petersen).

Much of the sitcom's comedic plotlines arose from married life, teenage angst, and other "safe" domestic issues. However, the show was not afraid to occasionally tackle weightier topics. Women's rights were always an undercurrent of the show and, at times, they were front and center. The final season even dealt with drug addiction, quite a taboo subject for the time.

• Television debut: January 14, 1972
• Number of Seasons: 6
• Where to Watch: Philo, Pluto TV, Peacock

Norman Lear was one of the most iconic television producers in history and created several shows listed here (he passed away on December 5, 2023, at the age of 101). "Sanford and Son" was Lear's masterful adaptation of the British sitcom, "Steptoe and Son." The show featured a widower named Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) and his adult son, Lamont (Demond Wilson), who were co-owners of "Sanford and Son," a junk dealership they operated out of their home in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Fred's wife, Elizabeth, had died over two decades before the setting of the show, and both Fred and Lamont missed her terribly. In moments of exasperation, Fred would look heavenward, clutching his chest as he feigned a heart attack, and say variations of, "This is the big one! You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm comin' to join ya, honey!" Lamont was in his mid-thirties and wanted to be independent, but he didn't have the heart to leave his widowed father on his own, especially considering Fred's penchant for falling into dubious get-rich-quick schemes.

While Foxx's acid tongue was well-known from his standup career, his rhetoric had to be somewhat tamed to make it past network censors. Still, the show featured razor-sharp language, like when Fred always had something derogatory to say every time his deeply religious sister-in-law, Esther (LaWanda Page), showed up. In addition to these types of insults, hyper-charged racial dialogue was a staple of the show. The N-word was used in several episodes but was later edited out for syndication.

• Television debut: September 22, 1982
• Number of Seasons: 7
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV, Paramount+, YouTube, Prime Video, The Roku Channel

Family sitcoms were popular throughout the 1980s, but few were as beloved as "Family Ties." The show centered on the Keatons, a nuclear family in Columbus, Ohio. Steven (Michael Gross) and Elyse Keaton (Meredith Baxter) were raising three children: Alex (Michael J. Fox), Mallory (Justine Bateman), and Jennifer (Tina Yothers). Later in the series, the Keatons welcomed a fourth child, Andy (Brian Bonsall).

While many of the show's themes derived from everyday domestic life, there was always a line of political commentary and tension. Steven and Elyse were baby boomers and former hippies. They clashed often with their eldest child, Alex, who was a Reagan Republican. Mallory, on the other hand, was apolitical and was concerned with fashion and other more traditional teen issues. Jennifer was athletic and just wanted to have a normal childhood.

• Television debut: October 3, 1952
• Number of Seasons: 14
• Where to Watch: Peacock, PLEX, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Sling TV

This program represented a turning point in American entertainment as it bridged the gap between radio and television. The show featured the real-life Nelson family, Ozzie and Harriet, and their sons David and Ricky. The family's actual home was even featured in the show. The sitcom's roots date back to "The Red Skelton Show," a wildly popular American radio show. After Red Skelton was drafted, the radio version of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" was launched in 1944.

The television sitcom was the longest-running comedy series in history until it was surpassed by "The Simpsons." The show is a stereotype of the 1950s in many ways. It does not transcend time in the way that many other shows on this list do. However, its importance in the development of television is indisputable.

• Television debut: September 16, 1972
• Number of Seasons: 6
• Where to Watch: Prime Video

While many sitcoms feature zany main characters with over-the-top personas, Bob Newhart brought the exact opposite to his eponymous show. Newhart is a master of deadpan comedy, with a unique halting, stammering style that he perfected while performing stand-up. He brought this art form to "The Bob Newhart Show" where his character, Bob Hartley, was a psychologist in Chicago.

He often played his character as the straight man to his schoolteacher wife, Emily (Suzanne Pleshette), as well as his friends, neighbors, colleagues, and patients, and the show broke new ground as it derived much of its comic material from the subtleties of everyday life. If that sounds a bit like the format of other sitcoms, say "Seinfeld," for instance, you're right. Newhart was a pioneer of this type of observational humor (he parlayed his style into another sitcom, "Newhart," that aired from 1982 to 1990).

The two shows seemed to have little in common, other than Newhart as the lead surrounded by a supporting cast of delightfully quirky characters. However, the two sitcoms were more linked together than they seemed, as revealed in the final episode of "Newhart" which provided a plot twist for the ages.

• Television debut: September 14, 1985
• Number of Seasons: 7
• Where to Watch: Hulu, Sling TV

"The Golden Girls" brought a strong counterpoint to the 1980s obsession with youth. It was a show centered on four older women who were all divorced or widowed, and who shared a house in Miami. The foursome consisted of the worldly and wise Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), dim-witted but lovable Rose Nylund (Betty White), man-hungry Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), and sharp-tongued Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).

As these four ladies navigated their way through their golden years, they often clashed with each other. For example, Dorothy's eye-roll was almost audible whenever Rose launched into another story of her childhood in St. Olaf. Blanche's promiscuous lifestyle was always good for a wisecrack. And then, there was Sophia. As part of the show's backstory, Sophia suffered a stroke which damaged the part of her brain that acts as a censor. As a result, her scathing words were always unfiltered.

• Television debut: September 1952
• Number of Seasons: 2
• Where to Watch: Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi

"The Abbott and Costello Show" was an opportunity for the duo to bring their puns, gimmicks, and slapstick comedy to the small screen. In the sitcom, Abbott and Costello played unemployed actors who were roommates in a Los Angeles boarding house. The plot of most episodes was secondary, though, to the gags that made Abbott and Costello famous.

The sitcom was not a network program, but instead was sold to about 40 local TV stations across the country. It debuted on these stations on various dates during the fall of 1952, and the show had a singular focus. It was not about heartwarming stories or life lessons but about one thing, and one thing only: comedy. Jerry Seinfeld noted that "The Abbott and Costello Show's" focus on laughs instead of lessons was a primary influence that led to the creation of "Seinfeld." It is one reason why this early sitcom is widely considered to be one of the most important shows of all time.

• Television debut: September 13, 1996
• Number of Seasons: 9
• Where to Watch: Peacock, Philo, Paramount+, YouTube, Sling TV, The Roku Channel, YouTube, Prime Video

The show was based on the comedy of Ray Romano, similar to how "Home Improvement" was based on the comedy of Tim Allen and "The Cosby Show" was based on Bill Cosby's standup. Romano played Ray Barone, a Long Island sportswriter who lived with his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), and their three children. Ray's parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), lived right across the street. Frank and Marie visited Ray and Debra's house whenever they pleased, and Marie's unwelcome meddling and constant criticism of Debra, along with Frank's gruff personality, provided a wealth of comedic situations in the show.

Ray's older brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), was also a fixture. Robert never emerged from the shadow of his kid brother's many accomplishments, although he did finally marry later in the show's run. His wife, Amy (Monica Horan), tried unsuccessfully to prop up her husband's fragile ego, but Robert could never get over the fact that "Everybody loves Raymond."

• Television debut: January 18, 1975
• Number of Seasons: 11
• Where to Watch: Tubi

Norman Lear had an impressive string of hits, from "Sanford and Son," "All in the Family" and "Maude," to "One Day at a Time" and "Good Times." But Lear's longest-running show was "The Jeffersons," a second spinoff of "All in the Family" ("Maude" was the first). The show featured George (Sherman Hemsley) and Louise "Weezy" Jefferson (Isabel Sanford), an African-American married couple who had previously been neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker on "All in the Family."

Thanks to the success of George's dry cleaning business, the Jefferson family was able to move from Queens to "a deluxe apartment in the sky" in Manhattan. This is reflected in the show's iconic theme song, "Movin' On Up," sung by Ja'Net DuBois accompanied by a gospel choir. Most sitcoms with predominantly black casts portrayed families that were impoverished and struggling, but "The Jeffersons" flipped the script by telling the story of an affluent black family.

George Jefferson was essentially the African-American version of Archie Bunker. He had a big mouth and he never kept his bigotry a secret. As with all of Lear's sitcoms, "The Jeffersons" never shied away from addressing controversial issues. It was the first show to prominently feature an interracial married couple, Tom (Franklin Cover) and Helen Willis (Roxie Roker), who were neighbors of the Jeffersons. Tom was white and Helen was black which led to George crassly referring to the Willis' children as "zebras." However, in a twist that George could have never imagined, the Jeffersons' son, Lionel, eventually married the Willis' daughter, Jenny.

• Television debut: October 3, 1960
• Number of Seasons: 8
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV, YouTube TV, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Philo, Sling TV, Paramount+

The show featured Griffith as the level-headed sheriff of the fictional small town of Mayberry, who as a widower, was raising his young son, Opie (Ron Howard), with the help of his Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier). Then there was Andy's overzealous deputy, Barney Fife (Don Knotts). Andy and Barney were the only lawmen in Mayberry, although two officers were usually enough since very little crime was committed in the small town. The crime rate was so low that Sheriff Taylor didn't even carry a gun. Deputy Fife did, but he was only allowed to possess one bullet which he had to keep in his shirt pocket.

"The Andy Griffith Show" was filmed in Los Angeles but the show was set in rural North Carolina. Mayberry was not just the backdrop of the show, though. The town became an integral character itself. The wholesome yet quirky townspeople made viewers dream of pulling up stakes and moving to the bucolic hamlet of Mayberry. While some sitcoms were centered on landing a joke, "The Andy Griffith Show" was about people, not punchlines. Knotts remarked that Griffith was known for saying, "If it sounds like a joke, throw it out." It was all about the characters and the wisdom and joys of living life at a slower pace.

• Television debut: September 16, 1993
• Number of Seasons: 11
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV, YouTube, Hulu, Prime Video, Paramount+, The Roku Channel

A spinoff of the hit 1980s show "Cheers," "Frasier" might just be the greatest spinoff in television history. Frasier was a psychiatrist named Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), who was introduced in the third season of "Cheers" and was only intended to be a temporary character, but the executives were so pleased with Grammer's performance that he was given a recurring role on the show.

When "Cheers" ended in 1993, the show's creators decided to move forward with a spinoff featuring Grammer. However, they wanted it to be completely different from "Cheers," so they relocated Frasier from Boston to his hometown of Seattle, where he hosted a call-in radio show offering psychiatric help to listeners with the help of his producer, Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin). He lived with his father, Martin (John Mahoney), a former Seattle police officer who was wounded in the line of duty, and hired a home healthcare worker, Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), to help with his father's physical therapy. He spent much of his time with his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), who was even more uptight than his brother.

Frasier was fastidious and snobbish and often clashed with his father, who was a blue-collar everyman. Martin's chair, for example, was a pea-green and mustard-yellow relic of the 1960s. It was an affront to Frasier's lavish apartment furnished with fine furniture, including a suede couch that was "an exact replica of the one Coco Chanel had in her Paris atelier." Frasier also found himself at odds with his father's best friend, a Jack Russell Terrier named Eddie. The dog stared incessantly at Frasier, seeming to gaze directly into his soul.

A reboot of "Frasier" is currently in production. It is available exclusively on Paramount+.

• Television debut: October 3, 1961
• Number of Seasons: 5
• Where to Watch: FuboTV, YouTube, Philo, The Roku Channel, PLEX, Crackle, Sling TV, Pluto TV, Peacock, Tubi, Prime Video

Carl Reiner created "The Diсk Van Dyke Show" based on his time as head writer for Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." The sitcom featured Rob Petrie (Diсk Van Dyke) who was a writer for the fictional variety program, "The Alan Brady Show" and alternated between Rob's work life and his home life with his wife, Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) who was a former USO dancer Rob met while serving in the Army.

The show's comedy is a mixture of Van Dyke's slapstick antics (he trips over an ottoman during the opening credits in the show's early years), the loving yet sometimes tense relationship between Rob and Laura, and Rob's dealings with the crew of "The Alan Brady Show." "The Diсk Van Dyke Show" was a renaissance of sorts for the TV sitcom because it broke some of television's unwritten rules in the early '60s. For example, Mary Tyler Moore often wore formfitting pants instead of dresses. Network executives were quite uncomfortable with this fashion choice, at first.

The show also disposed of the utopian life depicted in most 1950s sitcoms. The characters on "The Diсk Van Dyke" show had real relationships and real problems, which explains why it is an enduring classic to this day.

• Television debut: January 12, 1971
• Number of Seasons: 9
• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Pluto TV, Hulu

CBS executives decided to scroll a disclaimer across the nation's television screens before the first episode of "All In The Family" aired in January 1971. The disclaimer read, "Warning: The program you are about to see is ALL IN THE FAMILY. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show–in a mature fashion–just how absurd they are."

Whether that warning was well-intentioned or simply an attempt by CBS to distance itself from what was about to follow is irrelevant. It alerted viewers that they were about to see something that had never been seen on television before. "All In The Family" centers on the Bunker family who lived in Queens – Archie (Carroll O'Connor) and Edith (Jean Stapleton), who had one adult child, Gloria (Sally Struthers) who was married to Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner).

Archie was the show's protagonist. He was a loud-mouthed, opinionated man who openly shared his racist and prejudiced views. Deep down, however, Archie was portrayed as a decent and loving person. This irreconcilable tension made the Archie character an inexhaustible source of material for the show's writers. The Bunker matriarch, Edith, was simple-minded but incredibly good and kind. She sought to mitigate Archie's hot temper and bigoted views, often with little success. Archie often referred to her as a "dingbat." Yet, as unhealthy as the relationship may have seemed, the two loved each other deeply.

Gloria was a feminist and was married to Archie's main foil. Michael was a well-educated hippie, a product of the 1960s, and his views sharply conflicted with those of his father-in-law. Archie nicknamed his son-in-law, "Meathead." Until "All In The Family," most sitcoms depicted happy families that seem to live blissfully unattached from the pains and ills of the society around them. By contrast, "All In The Family" used those very pains and ills as the impetus for the show. No subject was off-limits. The sitcom addressed issues of racism, women's rights, religion, abortion, the Vietnam War, homosexuality, antisemitism, and on and on.

• Television debut: October 1, 1955
• Number of Seasons: 1
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV

"The Honeymooners," created by Jackie Gleason, is often known as "The Great One" and although it only ran for 39 episodes in one season, it is hailed as one of television's most seminal sitcoms. The show centered on two married couples: Ralph (Gleason) and Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows) and their friends Ed (Art Carney) and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph).

Ralph was a New York bus driver who had aspirations of a better life, but his money-making schemes inevitably backfired. He always managed to get himself into hot water, mostly with his wife. Ralph and Alice bickered constantly in the show, with Ralph often showing her his fist with the threat, "One of these days, POW!!! Right in the kisser!" While such a suggestion of domestic violence would raise red flags today, Alice knew that Ralph's threats were empty. Her sharp, witty responses often put Ralph in his place. While their marriage was dysfunctional, the two certainly loved each other. Ralph routinely told Alice, "Baby, you're the greatest."

Ed was a sewer worker. He was Ralph's best friend, although Ralph was often infuriated by his buddy's seeming dimwittedness (even though Ed was actually more intelligent than Ralph). Ed regularly got caught up in Ralph's schemes. Whenever Ed raised Ralph's ire, he was forcefully thrown out of the Kramden's apartment. Ed Norton is widely regarded as one of the greatest sidekicks in TV history.

The Kramdens struggled mightily just to make ends meet and for the first time, many Americans saw a reflection of their own lives on TV, even if that reflection was comedically exaggerated. "The Honeymooners" was the inspiration for the animated series, "The Flintstones." The cartoon's four main characters (Fred and Wilma Flinstone and Barney and Betty Rubble) so closely mirrored those of "The Honeymooners" that Gleason considered suing Hanna-Barbera, but was dissuaded by his friends who told him that he didn't want to go down in history as "the man who killed Fred Flintstone."

• Television debut: September 19, 1970
• Number of Seasons: 7
• Where to Watch: Hulu, Prime Video

Mary Tyler Moore had a moderately successful career until her breakout role in "The Diсk Van Dyke Show" catapulted her to stardom. After her supporting role, she became the star of her own sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which centered on Moore's character, Mary Richards, who was the first single, career woman to be the central star of a TV show. In the show, Mary moved to Minneapolis after breaking up with her fiancé. She landed a job as an associate producer of the evening news at a low-rated TV station.

Mary was an unmarried and independent woman, which was rare on 1970s television. Women's rights were always at the forefront of the show, as were some men's attitudes toward this new wave of feminism. In one of the show's most famous scenes, Mary's boss, Lou Grant (Asner), tells her, "You know, Mary, you've got spunk." Mary responded with, "Why, thank you, Mr. Grant," to which Lou replied, "I hate spunk."

The show's cast was a who's who of television royalty, including Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Georgia Engel, and Betty White, and marked a pivotal moment that paved the way for women to star in television shows instead of always being relegated to supporting roles. The show launched three spinoffs, the most well-known of which was "Rhoda."

• Television debut: September 22, 1994
• Number of Seasons: 10
• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Max, Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV, Prime Video

"Friends" centers on the daily lives of six young adults in New York City. Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) grew up wealthy but had fallen out of favor with her father. To make ends meet, she worked as a waitress at Central Perk, the coffee shop that was the setting for many of the sitcom's iconic scenes. Rachel landed a job in the fashion industry in later seasons.

Monica Geller (Courtney Cox) was a chef and Rachel's roommate. She was obsessive-compulsive and never recovered from past childhood traumas. Her brother Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) was a paleontologist with numerous failed marriages. He had a high opinion of himself, stemming from how his parents doted over him during his childhood.

Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) was the wealthiest of the six friends. He was also the most sarcastic, often using humor as a shield to deflect from past traumas. He shared an apartment with Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) who was rather dimwitted but lovable. He also had a more active romantic life than any of the others.

Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) was a ​​masseuse and musician who was known to play her songs, such as "Smelly Cat," in Central Perk. Her mother committed suicide when Phoebe was a teenager and she carried that trauma with her forever. The show dealt with enduring themes of friendship, conflict, romance, loss, and other struggles of early adulthood. Maybe it's best summed up in Monica's words to Rachel in the first episode. Rachel had left a fiancé that she didn't love and was now on her own. As she cut up the credit cards paid for by her well-to-do father, Monica reassured her by saying, "Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're gonna love it."

• Television debut: September 17, 1972
• Number of Seasons: 11
• Where to Watch: Hulu, Sling TV

"MASH" was adapted from the 1970 film of the same name and was set in the Korean War, although it was released nearly 20 years after the conflict ended. Its release did coincide with the Vietnam War, however, which fed into many of the show's themes. The sitcom centered on the staff of the 4077th, a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit stationed in South Korea during the Korean War. The doctors, nurses, and support staff were almost all draftees, except for Colonel Potter (Harry Morgan) who would command the unit in the show's later seasons.

The 4077th had an amazing success rate as they performed "meatball surgery" on countless young soldiers who were wounded in the war. This was no run-of-the-mill Army installation, though. Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and his compatriots always found new mischief, often at the expense of Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) and Frank Burns (Larry Linville). Max Klinger (Jamie Farr) would do anything for a Section 8 discharge (a category of discharge for service members deemed mentally unfit for service), including dressing as the Statue of Liberty when General Douglas MacArthur visited the camp. The company clerk, "Radar" O'Reilly had an unexplainable clairvoyance, but also slept with a teddy bear.

The absurd shenanigans of the 4077th contrasted sharply with the despair of their circumstances. But the laughter could be instantly shattered by the dreaded announcement over the loudspeaker that choppers were arriving with more wounded soldiers. The show is unquestionably the darkest comedy on the list. It dealt openly and graphically with the horrors and injustices of war during one of the most complicated times in American history.

• Television debut: September 30, 1982
• Number of Seasons: 11
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Hulu, YouTube, Paramount +, Prime Video

"A guy walks into a bar…" It's the beginning of countless hackneyed jokes, but it also provided the premise for one of the most enduring sitcoms of all time: "Cheers."

The show centered on a Boston bar owned by Sam Malone (Ted Danson) who was a former pitcher in Major League Baseball, but his career was cut short due to his struggle with alcoholism. It was that addiction that led him to purchase the bar. The show unapologetically steered into difficult conversations, and along with Sam's alcoholism, "Cheers" also addressed homosexuality, feminism, gambling, and infidelity.

As the bar owner, Sam was assisted by a variety of staffers through the years, including Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), with whom he had an on-and-off relationship through much of the series' early years. Other memorable staff members included "Coach" Ernie Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto), Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman), Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), and Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley).

Of course, no bar could exist without patrons, and Cheers had a litany of memorable regulars including Norm Peterson (George Wendt), Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), Frasier Crane (Grammer), and Lilith Sternin (Bebe Neuwirth). The bar brought people together who would have likely never met under any other circumstances. Well-to-do people like Frasier, Lilith, and Diane were thrown together with middle-class folks like Carla, Norm, Cliff, and Woody. The class distinctions of this disparate group seemed to disappear when they walked through the doors of the bar.

• Television debut: December 17, 1989
• Number of Seasons: 35
• Where to Watch: FOX, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Sling TV

"The Simpsons" is the only show on this list that is still in production making it the longest-running primetime show in TV history. With its enduring 35-season run (with the 36th season already ordered by the network), it is fair to call it a classic. What began as a series of animated shorts on "The Tracey Ullman Show," was, after three seasons, expanded into its own half-hour show. The sitcom centers on the Simpson family – Homer (Dan Castellaneta) and Marge (Julie Kavner) and their three young children, Bart (Nancy Cartwright), Lisa (Yeardley Smith), and infant Maggie, who all live in the fictional town of Springfield.

The show is the gold standard for pop culture satire and parody. It has referenced everything from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to "ALF." Many of the cultural references in the show are so fast and subtle that casual viewers miss them. "The Simpsons" has satirized and skewered virtually every segment of Western society. Liberals and conservatives are both fair targets. Issues such as guns, pollution, and immigration have been addressed.

Unlike most families depicted in modern sitcoms, the Simpsons attend a local church. However, their evangelical neighbors, the Flanders, are unflatteringly caricatured. No one is exempt from the crosshairs of "The Simpsons," which is one reason why the show is so beloved by so many. It is also famous for predicting the future. While the show's writers aren't actually psychic, it is worth noting that the animated sitcom did seem to predict the Trump presidency, a pandemic, smartwatches, the Disney-Fox merger, and many other events.

• Television debut: July 5, 1989
• Number of Seasons: 9
• Where to Watch: Netflix, Sling TV

"Seinfeld" featured an ensemble cast of four friends. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld played a fictionalized version of himself. His friends included his former girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), childhood pal George Costanza (Jason Alexander), and kooky neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards). By any reasonable standard, these four friends were pretty awful humans, who said and did things that many would never do. Whether it was faking a disability, mugging an elderly lady, bluntly telling a person that they needed a nose job, or participating in a cockfighting ring, these four did it all and we couldn't stop laughing at just how horrible they were.

The fixation the show had on the subtleties and mundane events of everyday life was like nothing we had ever seen before. Some examples of this preoccupation and pettiness include the time George became obsessed with a missing box of raisins. Then there was the time when Elaine broke off a relationship because her boyfriend didn't use appropriate punctuation, or when Kramer drove a cable guy to the brink of insanity because of a simple scheduling snafu. Jerry even broke up with a woman because she ate her peas one at a time.

The '90s were chocked full of relationship sitcoms. Characters learned life lessons and grew closer to one another in many of these shows. "Seinfeld" was the antithesis of this construct. Larry David, the show's co-creator alongside Seinfeld, said there was a "no hugging and no learning" rule on the show.

• Television debut: October 15, 1951
• Number of Seasons: 6
• Where to Watch: Crackle, Pluto TV, Paramount+, YouTube, Prime Video, The Roku Channel

No sitcom was more consequential or influential than "I Love Lucy," which starred Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, alongside Vivian Vance and William Frawley. In the show, Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz) was a Cuban-American singer and bandleader in a nightclub. His wife, Lucy (Ball), dreamed of breaking into showbiz herself but lacked the talent necessary to make the leap. Ricky just wanted Lucy to be satisfied with the life they had created, but she was always scheming up new ways to join the show at Ricky's Tropicana Club.

The Ricardos' neighbors and landlords, Fred (Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vance), were former vaudeville singers and dancers. That only enhanced Lucy's belief that she could also break into show business, but her plans (often in cohort with Ethel, her best friend) always ended in disaster. Lucy also dreamed of a lavish lifestyle, and often overspent on luxuries that the Ricardos could not afford. Ricky was regularly exasperated by his wife, launching into tirades spoken in Spanish.

The sitcom featured A-list guest stars, like Tennessee Ernie Ford, Rock Hudson, Van Johnson, Bob Hope, Harpo Marx, William Holden, and John Wayne, who all made guest appearances on the show. "I Love Lucy" was a trailblazing show in many respects. It was the first show to feature an ensemble cast, and the first to use three cameras with 35 mm film, which allowed for greater continuity in filming in front of a live audience, a rarity at the time. The authentic laughter from the live audience was so raucous that it was rumored that CBS recorded it to use as laugh tracks in subsequent sitcoms.

When Ball became pregnant during the show's second season, the original plan for 39 episodes was cut short. Because the sitcom was recorded on film and not poor quality kinescope, the producers decided to rebroadcast some episodes from the first season to fill in the gaps. This had never been done before and, to their surprise, the rebroadcasts did very well in the ratings. This gave rise to what we know as reruns and, later, syndication.

• Television debut: September 20, 1984
• Number of Seasons: 8
• Where to Watch: Philo

Bill Cosby was once at the height of fame in the 1980s and 1990s but his reputation was sullied more recently when he was faced with more than 60 accusations of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment (was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 but after serving three years in prison, his charges were overturned).

It is also impossible to deny the impact "The Cosby Show" had during its run from 1984-1992. Any discussion of groundbreaking, medium-altering sitcoms would be incomplete were this show omitted as it was the biggest TV hit of the 1980s. At a time when sitcoms were lagging, the show is credited with singlehandedly reviving the genre.

"The Cosby Show" featured a nuclear African-American family of OB/GYN Cliff (Cosby), his successful attorney wife, Claire Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad), and their four children: Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam). The show was so beloved and the family scenarios so relatable that Cosby came to be known as "America's Dad." The far-reaching impact of "The Cosby Show" is undeniable. What is equally undeniable, though, is the show's tarnished reputation due to the revelations regarding the show's central figure.