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Offline jmyrlefuller

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My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« on: May 10, 2024, 01:11:34 am »
An interesting discussion came across my social media feed today, from Outkick, the site owned by Fox Corporation and managed by Clay Travis. Outkick mentioned the idea of a "sitcom Mount Rushmore," the idea of four monumentally influential situation comedies. Outkick mentioned their sitcom Mount Rushmore as consisting of The Office, Seinfeld, Friends and The Simpsons. Now, my first thought was that "this is engagement bait." But the idea got me thinking... as my head often does. What would my sitcom Mount Rushmore be? I've watched sitcoms much of my life. I love the form. What would be the four most influential sitcoms I would choose?

So I started breaking down my list. The major flaw I noted in Outkick's list was that every single one of their choices debuted in or after 1989. I'll discuss that later, but that actually ignores decades of far better and more influential material. So, when coming up with my list, I decided to set the window as wide as I could chronologically—covering almost 100 years, all the way back to the radio era.

In compiling my list, first I decided that I would limit my list to one show that predominantly flourished in any given decade. Second, given that Mount Rushmore is in the United States, I decided that my list would likewise be restricted to American sitcoms (as much as The Red Green Show makes me smile and that I'm sure there are a few great British sitcoms that could make the list). Third, the shows—at least the television ones—had to be live action, disqualifying The Simpsons. (The animated sitcom feels more like a separate genre in its own right, which would have its own Mount Rushmore: for the record, that one, if it were up to me, would include The Simpsons, The Flintstones, King of the Hill and South Park. That one was much easier to do, with apologies to Family Guy.)

In making my selection, I decided to factor in longevity in its original form, longevity in reruns, and cultural impact. This, obviously, favors older sitcoms, but part of that is that the sitcom form has been in decline for a while now anyway, so it evens out. With my criteria set, my mind went to work.

First, with a limit of one show per decade, I decided to break down each decade. The early sitcom era tended to have longer running shows, and with fewer elite sitcoms being produced now, I decided to make the most recent and the oldest eras longer than ten years. A few did bridge the eras but I decided to limit a show to one era, based on when it flourished.

The Radio Era
1926 to 1950. Stemming from the old variety show format, these were the earliest sitcoms. There were two forms: the live audience shows, and the in-studio, more low-key sitcoms. The latter was typified by Vic and Sade, the influential domestic sitcom of the 1930s and early 1940s. Two leading candidates came to mind for this era, Amos 'n' Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly. After some deliberation, and noting how badly Amos 'n' Andy has aged, I chose Fibber McGee and Molly as the candidate for the pre-television category.

The 1950s
As much as the 1950s is considered a golden age of television, there was a surprisingly wide chasm between a select few incredibly well-received shows and many, many short-lived lesser-known ones. I decided to include The Jack Benny Program in this category to give his show a better chance, but this only ended up putting him against two juggernauts: I Love Lucy and Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners. The winner? I Love Lucy. It's still in reruns seven decades later.

The 1960s
Ah, the 1960s, perhaps a golden age of the sitcom. Ranging from the silly like Gilligan's Island to the rural and folksy The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction to the pop-friendly but refreshingly experimental The Monkees, among other strong shows like That Girl and The Dick Van Dyke Show, the 1960s had no shortage of candidates. After much deliberation, The Andy Griffith Show emerged as the candidate from the 1960s. Not only did it run for eight seasons (11 if you count the last three without Griffith as Mayberry RFD) but Mayberry has etched itself into American lore as the quintessential American small town, and the show, like Lucy, has been in reruns forever.

The 1970s
The decade where the sitcom form, like much of television, matured. Four major candidates emerged in my head. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, Happy Days and M*A*S*H. This one was a brutal decision. Each had such strong cases for inclusion: MTM being a breakthrough depiction of a woman in the workplace, All in the Family for its social commentary and for Norman Lear's amazing achievement of making a blatantly conservative character like Archie Bunker a likable icon, M*A*S*H for its deft balancing of dry comedy and war drama (side note: the later years were far stronger IMO, in that it needed a strong authority figure like Harry Morgan's Col. Sherman Potter to balance out the goofball antics and egos of the rest of the cast), and Happy Days for its embrace of the 1950s greaser revival. I also considered WKRP in Cincinnati, which rose above its male-led MTM knockoff reputation to be one of the funniest sitcoms of the era for its satirical depiction of the radio industry.

Ultimately, it came down to a very difficult decision between All in the Family and Happy Days. The former ran 12 years (counting its retooling as Archie Bunker's Place for its final few seasons), the latter ran 11. Both were incredibly influential in pop culture. Both have had long lives in reruns, though I recall Happy Days and its companion series Laverne & Shirley (a show with some of the best physical comedy gags since Lucy) much more widely. The winner? By a nose, Happy Days.

The 1980s
The 1980s were much like the 1950s in that you had a few knockout-good sitcoms, a lot of stinkers like Small Wonder and Joanie Loves Chachi, and some that were just OK but were syndication mainstays like Mama's Family and Who's the Boss?. So the candidates that emerged from this era were Cheers, The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls. Cosby obviously has aged very poorly. The obvious winner of this decade was The Golden Girls, which ran eight seasons (counting the final season as The Golden Palace) and remains both a rerun staple and an iconic series. The idea of four old ladies bickering with each other was and is comedy gold.

The 1990s
This is the year that I began paying attention to shows in their first run. The main candidates I considered were Seinfeld, Friends, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Full House, Murphy Brown and Married... with Children. I didn't like Friends or Married... Full House had a strong syndication afterlife but feels hamfisted in retrospect, as crushworthy as Jodie Sweetin was. I loved Family Matters growing up, and it never occurred to me that it was out of the ordinary for a nerd character like Steve Urkel to be black. Ultimately I settled on Seinfeld: an endlessly quotable and surprisingly relevant sitcom that thrived when it found ways to poke fun at the everyday life around us. Even if you didn't find Jerry Seinfeld funny himself, that wasn't really the point: it was the world around him that drew the jokes. There's a reason it remains one of television's best-performing shows in reruns.

The 21st century
The genre started to die out in the late 1990s. After that, things began to splinter. You had some more conventional sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother Last Man Standing and That 70s Show, you had the mockumentaries like The Office, 30 Rock, Modern Family and Arrested Development, thinly veiled reality shows that were really sitcoms in disguise (Duck Dynasty, I'm looking at you) and cringe material like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it's survived this long—as much as Danny DeVito is a comic weapon unto himself). Unlike the previous decades, this one was tough because the dais was so weak. But if I had to pick one that left a lasting mark on the culture, it would have to be The Office.

Narrowing it down to four
So, we have our candidates: Fibber McGee and Molly, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld and The Office. That's seven. Which four of those go on this sitcom Mount Rushmore?
  • I Love Lucy
  • Happy Days
  • The Golden Girls
  • Seinfeld

Your results may vary.
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Offline bigheadfred

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2024, 01:44:23 am »
 :pondering:
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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2024, 01:49:48 am »
:bkmk:
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Offline AllThatJazzZ

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2024, 01:55:30 am »
I love the methodical way you arrived at your conclusions. What an organized mind!

I'll have to mull this around for a while. Honestly, I need more than 4, but since I'm restricted to 4 (as in Rushmore), I need to get it right.


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Offline libertybele

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2024, 02:04:12 am »
A very interesting read.  They just don't make great sitcoms like the used to and in looking back I realize now when they stopped producing and airing great sitcoms I stopped watching television. Sitcoms for the most part were replaced with reality TV shows which I don't find entertaining.  I like sitcoms and documentaries.

At any rate, I was too young for the radio era and as a youngster "I Love Lucy" annoyed me, but I loved the "Honeymooners". So .... my four ...

Archie Bunker
Cheers
Friends
Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners

As a side note;  you didn't consider "Everybody Loves Raymond", which was one of my favorites (I would delete "Friends" and replace it with "Everybody Loves Raymond").



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Offline mystery-ak

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2024, 02:08:02 am »
I have to think about this but I know The Office will be included.
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Offline the OlLine Rebel

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2024, 02:26:28 am »
I can go for that.

Seinfeld is brilliant.  So relatable with the every-day foibles.

Lucy is a perennial and until Seinfeld, was consistently considered the greatest of all time.

Happy Days was so beloved it is hard to comprehend.  Never mind how many anachronisms of ‘70s/‘80s in the ‘50s/‘60s.  Loved that show and everyone was still choosing it as favorite in school into the ‘80s.

Golden Girls, still love it, and it was mostly universally good until the end.  That is actually the reason I’d choose it above Cosby.  Cosby was great at first, but the more Olivia etc, the less good show.  I don’t care about Cosby’s personal reputation, which I still doubt to this day.  The show was great then they tried to put more people in.  As far as icon, though, Cosby probably beats Girls for true legend at the time.
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Offline the OlLine Rebel

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2024, 02:28:56 am »
A very interesting read.  They just don't make great sitcoms like the used to and in looking back I realize now when they stopped producing and airing great sitcoms I stopped watching television. Sitcoms for the most part were replaced with reality TV shows which I don't find entertaining.  I like sitcoms and documentaries.

At any rate, I was too young for the radio era and as a youngster "I Love Lucy" annoyed me, but I loved the "Honeymooners". So .... my four ...

Archie Bunker
Cheers
Friends
Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners

As a side note;  you didn't consider "Everybody Loves Raymond", which was one of my favorites (I would delete "Friends" and replace it with "Everybody Loves Raymond").

I can second you on Raymond.  We automatically watch it on endless reruns every night 2 channels.  Friends I never ever liked.  Bunch of bastard immoral pukes pontificating when possible,
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Offline Weird Tolkienish Figure

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2024, 02:44:54 am »
Been watching Frasier on Hallmark, pretty funny. Kelsey Grammar is damn funny.

Offline the OlLine Rebel

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2024, 03:00:42 am »
Been watching Frasier on Hallmark, pretty funny. Kelsey Grammar is damn funny.

Geez I’ve been recording and watching those a lot too!  Should have been noted on ‘90s.  That would be my ‘90s trio - Seinfeld, Frasier and Raymond.
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2024, 04:29:30 am »
A very interesting read.  They just don't make great sitcoms like the used to and in looking back I realize now when they stopped producing and airing great sitcoms I stopped watching television. Sitcoms for the most part were replaced with reality TV shows which I don't find entertaining.  I like sitcoms and documentaries.

At any rate, I was too young for the radio era and as a youngster "I Love Lucy" annoyed me, but I loved the "Honeymooners". So .... my four ...

Archie Bunker
Cheers
Friends
Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners

As a side note;  you didn't consider "Everybody Loves Raymond", which was one of my favorites (I would delete "Friends" and replace it with "Everybody Loves Raymond").
I know, that and Frasier were two that came to mind that were really good that just got lost in the shuffle. The 90s and early 2000s had a whole lot of good sitcoms.
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Offline roamer_1

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2024, 05:09:20 am »
Tough sledding if the title describes the setting.

MtRushmore is in SoDak, in badlands... All of the work you are patterning are big-city or suburbia, except the honorable mention of Mayberry RFD.

That's small town America. Cow country and farmers.

Jussayin.

Offline roamer_1

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2024, 05:10:41 am »
A tourist trap gig would work...

Offline jafo2010

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2024, 10:48:20 am »
Quote
jmyrlefuller...
First, with a limit of one show per decade, I decided to break down each decade. The early sitcom era tended to have longer running shows, and with fewer elite sitcoms being produced now, I decided to make the most recent and the oldest eras longer than ten years. A few did bridge the eras but I decided to limit a show to one era, based on when it flourished.

The Radio Era
1926 to 1950. Stemming from the old variety show format, these were the earliest sitcoms. There were two forms: the live audience shows, and the in-studio, more low-key sitcoms. The latter was typified by Vic and Sade, the influential domestic sitcom of the 1930s and early 1940s. Two leading candidates came to mind for this era, Amos 'n' Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly. After some deliberation, and noting how badly Amos 'n' Andy has aged, I chose Fibber McGee and Molly as the candidate for the pre-television category.

The 1950s
As much as the 1950s is considered a golden age of television, there was a surprisingly wide chasm between a select few incredibly well-received shows and many, many short-lived lesser-known ones. I decided to include The Jack Benny Program in this category to give his show a better chance, but this only ended up putting him against two juggernauts: I Love Lucy and Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners. The winner? I Love Lucy. It's still in reruns seven decades later.

The 1960s
Ah, the 1960s, perhaps a golden age of the sitcom. Ranging from the silly like Gilligan's Island to the rural and folksy The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction to the pop-friendly but refreshingly experimental The Monkees, among other strong shows like That Girl and The Dick Van Dyke Show, the 1960s had no shortage of candidates. After much deliberation, The Andy Griffith Show emerged as the candidate from the 1960s. Not only did it run for eight seasons (11 if you count the last three without Griffith as Mayberry RFD) but Mayberry has etched itself into American lore as the quintessential American small town, and the show, like Lucy, has been in reruns forever.

The 1970s
The decade where the sitcom form, like much of television, matured. Four major candidates emerged in my head. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, Happy Days and M*A*S*H. This one was a brutal decision. Each had such strong cases for inclusion: MTM being a breakthrough depiction of a woman in the workplace, All in the Family for its social commentary and for Norman Lear's amazing achievement of making a blatantly conservative character like Archie Bunker a likable icon, M*A*S*H for its deft balancing of dry comedy and war drama (side note: the later years were far stronger IMO, in that it needed a strong authority figure like Harry Morgan's Col. Sherman Potter to balance out the goofball antics and egos of the rest of the cast), and Happy Days for its embrace of the 1950s greaser revival. I also considered WKRP in Cincinnati, which rose above its male-led MTM knockoff reputation to be one of the funniest sitcoms of the era for its satirical depiction of the radio industry.

Ultimately, it came down to a very difficult decision between All in the Family and Happy Days. The former ran 12 years (counting its retooling as Archie Bunker's Place for its final few seasons), the latter ran 11. Both were incredibly influential in pop culture. Both have had long lives in reruns, though I recall Happy Days and its companion series Laverne & Shirley (a show with some of the best physical comedy gags since Lucy) much more widely. The winner? By a nose, Happy Days.

The 1980s
The 1980s were much like the 1950s in that you had a few knockout-good sitcoms, a lot of stinkers like Small Wonder and Joanie Loves Chachi, and some that were just OK but were syndication mainstays like Mama's Family and Who's the Boss?. So the candidates that emerged from this era were Cheers, The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls. Cosby obviously has aged very poorly. The obvious winner of this decade was The Golden Girls, which ran eight seasons (counting the final season as The Golden Palace) and remains both a rerun staple and an iconic series. The idea of four old ladies bickering with each other was and is comedy gold.

The 1990s
This is the year that I began paying attention to shows in their first run. The main candidates I considered were Seinfeld, Friends, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Full House, Murphy Brown and Married... with Children. I didn't like Friends or Married... Full House had a strong syndication afterlife but feels hamfisted in retrospect, as crushworthy as Jodie Sweetin was. I loved Family Matters growing up, and it never occurred to me that it was out of the ordinary for a nerd character like Steve Urkel to be black. Ultimately I settled on Seinfeld: an endlessly quotable and surprisingly relevant sitcom that thrived when it found ways to poke fun at the everyday life around us. Even if you didn't find Jerry Seinfeld funny himself, that wasn't really the point: it was the world around him that drew the jokes. There's a reason it remains one of television's best-performing shows in reruns.

The 21st century
The genre started to die out in the late 1990s. After that, things began to splinter. You had some more conventional sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother Last Man Standing and That 70s Show, you had the mockumentaries like The Office, 30 Rock, Modern Family and Arrested Development, thinly veiled reality shows that were really sitcoms in disguise (Duck Dynasty, I'm looking at you) and cringe material like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it's survived this long—as much as Danny DeVito is a comic weapon unto himself). Unlike the previous decades, this one was tough because the dais was so weak. But if I had to pick one that left a lasting mark on the culture, it would have to be The Office.

Narrowing it down to four
So, we have our candidates: Fibber McGee and Molly, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld and The Office. That's seven. Which four of those go on this sitcom Mount Rushmore?
I Love Lucy
Happy Days
The Golden Girls
Seinfeld


I read this, and this is one of those FUN CATEGORIES one can spend hours recollecting all the sitcoms/comedy through the years one enjoyed.  So I did.  And in keeping with your approach to attempt to list one show per decade, and reviewing countless lists of the TOP 100+, I was surprised how many shows through time existed that I never heard of.

So here is my list:

The Radio Era
I also enjoyed Amos & Andy.  Your other show was before my time, so clearly, you are a few years older than me.  But my choice for this era, which you did not mention, hands down The Three Stooges.  As a child, they were on every day Monday through Friday, week in and week out for all the years of my youth.  My mother hated them.  My father, he would sit there and laugh with me at almost everything they did.  No question, The Three Stooges was a guy's show.  Even my present wife, she doesn't get them, at all!

The 1950s
Hands down, a classic.  I Love Lucy.  No competition for me, and in a league all its own. Honorable mention for George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.  Burns was a hoot for me in just about everything he did.

The 1960s
While there were light hearted comedies in the 60s, I recall Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie.  If I had to pick, I suppose Bewitched would get the slight edge.  Honorable mention for Hogan's Heroes.  I was never a fan of the shows you had listed for the 60s with the exception of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had its moments.

The  1970s
I thought MTM was on the boring side.  Happy Days was ok.  At the top of my list were All in the Family.  Honorable mentions would include MASH, WKRP, and Mork & Mindy.

The 1980s
Another true classic, The Golden Girls.  Excellent show.  Never cared for Bill Cosby, always thought there was something peculiar about him.  And Cheers, it was ok. 

The 1990s
No doubt the 90s had some HUGE comedies, but I did not care for a one of the ones you mentioned with the exception of Married with Children.  And it had its yuks.  But Friends, Seinfeld, etc, major yawn for me.  I never considered Seinfeld funny.  Crammer, sure.  And Murphy Brown, double major yawn.  It was super boring for me.

For me, something not on your list, but near and dear to me.  Home Improvement, with Tim Allen, who had me on the floor laughing hard, and it was perhaps the one show I enjoyed with my wife and children sitting there laughing heartily too.

The 21st Century
Office was boring for me.  Watched a few episodes and never saw the humor.  This period would include two shows I enjoyed.  Last Man Standing, once again with Tim Allen, and merely a reversal from a group of sons to a trio of daughters.  Another I enjoyed was Two and a Half Men.  I enjoyed both equally and it would be difficult for me to pick one over the other.

Top Candidates

The Three Stooges
I Love Lucy
Bewitched
All in the Family
The Golden Girls
Home Improvement
Last Man Standing
Two and a Half Men


My Mt Rushmore

All in the Family
The Golden Girls
Home Improvement
Two and a Half Men
(since I selected Home Improvement as a finalist, I chose Two and a Half Men, but it could have easily been Last Man Standing.  I think Tim Allen is one of the best comedians of my lifetime)  And as luck would have it, he is conservative, and provided what I consider light political humor, and not the crap of an idiot like Bill Maher, whose humor is NOT humor any longer.  That fool hasn't made me laugh in a decade!
« Last Edit: May 10, 2024, 11:20:16 am by jafo2010 »

Offline mountaineer

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2024, 11:21:14 am »
This really is a tough one. With all the absolute basura on TV over the past 70+ years, there still have been some real gems - far more than just four. I never watched Raymond or The Office, and have no opinion on those, but certainly have to agree with such picks as M*A*S*H, Honeymooners, Seinfeld, I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, and WKRP being among the top choices.

Offline jafo2010

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2024, 12:12:18 pm »
We should do something similar for everyone's favorite movies.  Perhaps their Top 10 favorite movies, which must span 5 different genre(you pick), i.e.:

Drama
Scifi
Comedy
Action
Horror
Musical
Biography/Autobiography/True Life Stories
Western
Fantasy
History/Historical Fiction
Mystery/Suspense
Adventure
Holiday (Christmas movie, etc)

Doing this myself, it would take a couple hours to put a comprehensive list together.  I can rattle 10 movies off the top of my head in a minute, but to define my absolute favorite in X number of genre, I would want to put some thought into it.



Offline AllThatJazzZ

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2024, 01:22:54 pm »
Tough sledding if the title describes the setting.

MtRushmore is in SoDak, in badlands... All of the work you are patterning are big-city or suburbia, except the honorable mention of Mayberry RFD.

That's small town America. Cow country and farmers.

Jussayin.

Lighten up, FRiend. Could one thread on this board be enjoyed without some major statement needing to be made?



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Here are mine without regard to the era of their airing, rather with regard to (a) which reruns I would prioritize watching over other programming simultaneously airing, plus (b) which ones were considered must-watch TV -- or must-record TV in more recent years -- when they first aired, with equal importance given to both.

Dick Van Dyke (Wholesome family viewing. Amazing cast whose characters played well against each other. Excellent writing, interesting story lines. This was essential viewing in our house. Watching these reruns gives me a longing for the culture of that era.)

M*A*S*H (Excellent humor. Crazy pranks. From sensitive moments to zany antics, you never knew what was in store. I might have had a teeny tiny crush on Hawkeye because of his humor, but I didn't discover that until they were well into reruns. In the 80s, the reruns were at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was working at NASA at the time and got off at 4. If I left the building at 4 straight up and didn't encounter any backed-up traffic, I could get home in time to take my dog out, grab a coke -- which in Texas is any soft drink -- put my feet up and watch the episode. There was no margin for error! While I enjoyed the entire run of the sitcom, my favorite era was when Potter was in charge, Charles had replaced Frank, Radar was still there, and Klinger was still dressing in women's clothes.)

Cosby (I had everyone trained not to call me during the Cosby show, which, IIRC, was on Thursday nights. I'm sorry that Bill Cosby's troubles cast a pall on the show, but I can enjoy it for what it was in those days. I really appreciated that Cliff and Claire didn't coddle their kids and never let them be disrespectful without having to pay a price. Excellent family viewing.)

Frazier (What an excellent cast! Hilariously dry at times. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd remove the ribald humor and the bed-hopping that had become more prevalent by that era. Sophisticated writing, outstanding character development. The character of Frazier had little resemblance to the Frazier of Cheers. The character of Niles was perfectly cast and a huge reason for the success of the show. One of my favorite episodes ever is the Leap Year episode where Frazier, who was scheduled to perform a number on the PBS fundraiser, planned to leave his comfort zone and sing an aria rather than his usual "Buttons and Bows." He loses his nerve and his ensuing performance is comedy gold. I can't imagine anyone but Kelsey Grammer being able to pull this scene off! Video below.)


In the running but didn't make the cut:
Father Knows Best
Everybody Loves Raymond
Home Improvement
Golden Girls

I never watched Seinfeld, Friends. Honeymooners, 
I'm old, but not old enough to have ever listened to radio sitcoms, so I have no frame of reference.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvAWUJCjgQE




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Offline AllThatJazzZ

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2024, 01:25:14 pm »
We should do something similar for everyone's favorite movies.  Perhaps their Top 10 favorite movies, which must span 5 different genre(you pick), i.e.:

Drama
Scifi
Comedy
Action
Horror
Musical
Biography/Autobiography/True Life Stories
Western
Fantasy
History/Historical Fiction
Mystery/Suspense
Adventure
Holiday (Christmas movie, etc)

Doing this myself, it would take a couple hours to put a comprehensive list together.  I can rattle 10 movies off the top of my head in a minute, but to define my absolute favorite in X number of genre, I would want to put some thought into it.

@jafo2010

Sounds like a good idea. Thank you for including musicals.


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Any government that can silence its critics
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(RFK, Jr., September 2024)


Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2024, 05:45:59 pm »
This really is a tough one. With all the absolute basura on TV over the past 70+ years, there still have been some real gems - far more than just four. I never watched Raymond or The Office, and have no opinion on those, but certainly have to agree with such picks as M*A*S*H, Honeymooners, Seinfeld, I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, and WKRP being among the top choices.

MASH was really good, until it became the Alan Alda show in the 80's and became unwatchably leftist.  Now I never watch reruns of MASH.
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Offline Polly Ticks

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2024, 05:59:40 pm »
MASH was really good, until it became the Alan Alda show in the 80's and became unwatchably leftist.  Now I never watch reruns of MASH.

That chicken/baby episode was haunting.
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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2024, 06:11:37 pm »
That chicken/baby episode was haunting.

I believe that was the final episode.  It gave ol' Alan a chance to emote and cry his eyes out (again).  This was not the MASH of the Wayne Rogers days.
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Offline libertybele

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2024, 06:38:45 pm »
MASH was really good, until it became the Alan Alda show in the 80's and became unwatchably leftist.  Now I never watch reruns of MASH.

I never liked MASH and I remember when we were just married and living in an apartment, the apartment complex had a 'MASH' night in the club house to watch the final episode.  I've never watched an episode since, and I couldn't stand the show from the beginning -- hubby used to watch it.  I was relieved when it ended.
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Offline libertybele

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2024, 06:42:46 pm »

I read this, and this is one of those FUN CATEGORIES one can spend hours recollecting all the sitcoms/comedy through the years one enjoyed.  So I did.  And in keeping with your approach to attempt to list one show per decade, and reviewing countless lists of the TOP 100+, I was surprised how many shows through time existed that I never heard of.

So here is my list:

The Radio Era
I also enjoyed Amos & Andy.  Your other show was before my time, so clearly, you are a few years older than me.  But my choice for this era, which you did not mention, hands down The Three Stooges.  As a child, they were on every day Monday through Friday, week in and week out for all the years of my youth.  My mother hated them.  My father, he would sit there and laugh with me at almost everything they did.  No question, The Three Stooges was a guy's show.  Even my present wife, she doesn't get them, at all!

The 1950s
Hands down, a classic.  I Love Lucy.  No competition for me, and in a league all its own. Honorable mention for George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.  Burns was a hoot for me in just about everything he did.

The 1960s
While there were light hearted comedies in the 60s, I recall Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie.  If I had to pick, I suppose Bewitched would get the slight edge.  Honorable mention for Hogan's Heroes.  I was never a fan of the shows you had listed for the 60s with the exception of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had its moments.

The  1970s
I thought MTM was on the boring side.  Happy Days was ok.  At the top of my list were All in the Family.  Honorable mentions would include MASH, WKRP, and Mork & Mindy.

The 1980s
Another true classic, The Golden Girls.  Excellent show.  Never cared for Bill Cosby, always thought there was something peculiar about him.  And Cheers, it was ok. 

The 1990s
No doubt the 90s had some HUGE comedies, but I did not care for a one of the ones you mentioned with the exception of Married with Children.  And it had its yuks.  But Friends, Seinfeld, etc, major yawn for me.  I never considered Seinfeld funny.  Crammer, sure.  And Murphy Brown, double major yawn.  It was super boring for me.

For me, something not on your list, but near and dear to me.  Home Improvement, with Tim Allen, who had me on the floor laughing hard, and it was perhaps the one show I enjoyed with my wife and children sitting there laughing heartily too.

The 21st Century
Office was boring for me.  Watched a few episodes and never saw the humor.  This period would include two shows I enjoyed.  Last Man Standing, once again with Tim Allen, and merely a reversal from a group of sons to a trio of daughters.  Another I enjoyed was Two and a Half Men.  I enjoyed both equally and it would be difficult for me to pick one over the other.

Top Candidates

The Three Stooges
I Love Lucy
Bewitched
All in the Family
The Golden Girls
Home Improvement
Last Man Standing
Two and a Half Men


My Mt Rushmore

All in the Family
The Golden Girls
Home Improvement
Two and a Half Men
(since I selected Home Improvement as a finalist, I chose Two and a Half Men, but it could have easily been Last Man Standing.  I think Tim Allen is one of the best comedians of my lifetime)  And as luck would have it, he is conservative, and provided what I consider light political humor, and not the crap of an idiot like Bill Maher, whose humor is NOT humor any longer.  That fool hasn't made me laugh in a decade!

I had forgotten about "Two and a Half Men"; it was a great show until Sheen was recast with Kushner.  The show then truly tanked.
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Offline jafo2010

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #23 on: May 10, 2024, 07:40:47 pm »
I agree.  When I thought of the program, I was thinking of the years with Charlie Sheen.  It was a perfect role for him, and you could tell he enjoyed playing it.

Offline roamer_1

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Re: My sitcom Mount Rushmore
« Reply #24 on: May 10, 2024, 09:55:32 pm »
Lighten up, FRiend. Could one thread on this board be enjoyed without some major statement needing to be made?


I wasn't making any statement beyond the setting being rather exclusive wrt the sampling.