Throughout the decades, sitcoms have shaped the way we watch television and have acted as a way to mark changes happening in society. There have been some absolutely iconic sitcoms created over the years, making it tough to narrow down what we consider the best of all time. To create this list, we considered the impact sitcoms had on not only the shows that followed them, but on society itself. Most importantly, however, we considered how much these sitcoms made us laugh.
18. Friends
Friends was an immediate hit when it first aired in 1994. The entire cast had excellent comedic timing. The show is just as relevant today as it was when it first premiered. Perhaps the message that we should take from this sitcom is the idea that we can choose our family – just like the characters in Friends did with each other.
17. The Office
The Office is one of the best sitcoms of all time because it is filled with general awkwardness. The story is told through the lens of a documentary film crew who examine the everyday lives of the workers at Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Viewers don’t know whether to love or hate Michael Scott (Steve Carell), who is the hilariously incompetent boss. Nonetheless, it is easy to fall in love with and relate to the characters in The Office.
16. Gilligan’s Island
Gilligan’s Island was the reigning sitcom of the 1960s. The show features seven castaways stuck on an island, all coming from very different backgrounds. Most episodes revolve around the castaways’ conflicts, with Gilligan typically being the fall guy responsible for failures on the island. Today, both the character Gilligan and the show, in general, are considered to be popular culture icons.
15. The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program can be seen as the grandparent of the modern sitcom. The idea for this television show came from entertainer Jack Benny’s popular radio program in the 1930s and 1940s. The television sitcom ran from 1950 to 1965, and was based on Jack Benny’s fictionalized life in Hollywood. The show was significant as it made use of a show-within-a-show format, where each character played themselves. The series also featured major guest stars, including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Bing Crosby, which kept the audience coming back and consistently drew in new viewership.
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