What Is/Was Your Favorite Sitcom?

Damn!

And I was gonna take her home to meet my mom!

 

Yup, it would be either banned or ignored. Why? Because many things discussed on that show are still considered taboo today:

abortion
rape
race
religion
homosexuality
unemployment
birth control
racial slurs
war
draft doging
women's lib
bigotry
sexism
politics
flushing toilets

In other words, most opf the stuff you can't discuss on this website.

People argued. Before AITF one could not say the word "pregnant" on American TV.

BTW, about eight years ago, Norman Lear created a CBS show that was just like AITF, except with a Black family, and the son was married to a White woman. The show starred Sherman Hemsley. The show lasted tow or three episodes before being cancelled. I guess America was still too misty eyed over that phony Cosby Show to care.

 

I never got to see Rutland Weekend Television, I don't think it was ever run on PBS in the States. I do have fond memories of Palin and Jones' Ripping Yarns, however! Been a long time since I've seen "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite" (the most boring man in Britain--even his father pretended he could only speak French, so he wouldn't have to talk to him!)

 

Oh yes they are amongst my favo(u)rites as well I got the DVDs as soon as they came out

"..and my mum used to make black puddings so black even the white bits were black"

"It were caused by a minute flaw in the brass inlaid handle :
"What, a Spear & Jackson with a minute flaw in the brass inlaid handle, unbelievable"

"But my main hobby is precipitation"

All the best - Andrew

 

Andy Griffith Show (B&W)
Dick Van Dyke Show
Beverly Hillbillies (B&W)
Seinfeld
Simpsons
Keeping Up Appearances
Fawlty Towers
All In The Family
Odd Couple
Flinstones

 

Great explanation Grant!

 

Hard to believe today, but when the episode with the flushing toilet aired some people thought it was the end of civilization.

 

Hitch was probably the only one who could get away with it in that era. With any other directory, I think it would have been censored out.

 

Can be found on the TVLand network on cable or DirecTV. Do they have that in Canada?

Jay N.

 

The Young Ones-To me, easily the funniest thing to ever be on television. It was incredible what they were able to get away with, and say. With everything they packed into each episode, I can understand why it only lasted for twelve episodes. Thank God this has finally been released on DVD!!


Benson-I've heard a lot people mention "Soap" but I always liked the spin-off better. Robert Guilluame was great and I always loved the witheringly sarcastic things he would say to others on that show. I also loved the adversarial dynamic between him and the housekeeper Ms. Krause(Inga Swenson).


Family Ties-This is a show that started off kinda so-so but really picked up steam as it went along. I thought it really hit it's stride about the third season. My favorite episode is the one where the parents go out of town for the weekend and Mallory wrecks the car. Alex figures out how to raise the money to fix it by renting out rooms in their house to people attending a college football game. A great comedy of errors, and when Steven comes back early from his trip and sees what they've done to the house, and the confrontation afterwards is so hilarious!!


The Cosby Show-Have to mention this one, because this is where I was every thursday night for the first five years this was on. Watching some of the old episodes again recently though it's little dated, it's still very funny.


Bewitched-This is something I watched in re-runs growing up, and it's only as an adult I've realized how much was going on in this show in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Compared to most 60's sitcoms the humor is very sharp and sometimes quite subversive. Again I love the friction between Endora and Darrin, and the rest of Samantha's crazy family. Not to mention the fact that Elizabeth Montgomery was hot and very funny!!!

 

My all time favorite is ALL IN THE FAMILY.

 

Seasons 2, 3, and 4 are probably the peak of the series. Seasons 1, 5, 6, and 7 are also quite good. Then the decline starts. Season 10, when Mike Scully takes over as producer, is when things get especially bad. Subtle humor, characterization, and obscure in-jokes are gradually replaced by slapstick and crudity. The episode where Homer gets raped by a panda bear is when I stopped watching.

 

Do ya have the AITF 1st and 2nd season DVD box sets? If so, how are they?

 

I didn't see the show because it looked really, really stupid, but the teasers for the Pitts say it was created by the writers of the Simpsons. From the looks of it, I'd guess it was created by all the writers that jumped aboard in the last couple of seasons.

 

I picked up the second season. The picture is good, but the audio is VERY low, for some reason. I'll pick up the first season sometime.

I was wondering about the Sanford & Son and Good Times seasons.

Michael, didja ever imagine that one day we could all own a television series?

I want the "Three's Company" and "The Brady Bunch" series on DVD next.

 

Batman
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
MASH
Policy Story??? (short-lived comedy series starring Leslie Nielson)
Northern Exposure

 

That was Police Squad (in Color). Only 6 episodes. An excellent show, much funnier than the Naked Gun films which were based on it.

 

Oh, I can't believe I forgot about Police Squad! I loved the ending credits where they just stood still instead of using a freeze-frame.


Thanks for remembering the "in color" bit, too!

 

When I was a kid I used to dream about owning my favorite TV shows! Don't ya just love it...

 

I'm getting in late, so some of the picks here have already been taken.

Monty Python's Flying Circus (thank you CBC for showing it back in 1969!)
Fawlty Towers
The Goodies
Two Ronnies
Sports Night (nice to see it on DVD now!)
Late Line
Another of those under appreciated shows that never found its audience, probably because NBC kept yanking it, and moving it around and stuff
Square Pegs
Seinfeld
Larry Sanders Show
News Room (Canada's answer to Larry Sanders)
Arli$$ (Sandra Oh )
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Spitting Image
Young Ones
Alexsi Sayle's Comedy Hour
Harry Enfield and Chums
Enfield started in U.K. comedy with such characters as Stavros, the Greek kebab seller, "Get out of my shop, you Kuwaiti tanker!" and Loads-a-Money, the vulgar Tory Yuppie, "I've got loads-a-money!" , on Channel 4's Saturday Night Live in the late 80's.
Dad's Army
Doctor In The House
Alas Smith And Jones
Rising Damp (starred Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, and the late Richard Beckinsale, father of actress Kate Beckinsale. Rossiter has the distinction of being in two Stanley Kubrick movies, 2001 and Barry Lyndon.)
Made In Canada
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Talking To Americans
Not Necessarily The News
Too bad we never got "Not The 9 O'Clock News" here. I was talking with Graham Chapman back in 1982-83 when he was touring his one man show along with Python video clips and he told me at the time that PBS was supposed to pick up the series. Guess they never did.

A friend of mine from the U.K. would like to add
Only Fools And Horses (says it's one of the best British comedys ever)

 

Fawlty Towers (perfection)
Dick Van Dyke Show
Bewitched
The Jeffersons
Cheers
Seinfeld
The Simpsons
Friends
News Radio
Sports Night (was it a comedy?)
Everybody Loves Raymond