The world today is full of options when it comes to TV Entertainment. Yet there are a handful of TV Sitcoms worth watching and rewatcing not just every now and then, but all the time. I have a few in my list – when I finish one, I immediately queue the next one. While staying at home or working from home, these funny TV Shows have become almost like a constant background regardless if I am having breakfast, working or actually watching the TV screen!
My friend Manfred, who writes most of the articles in the Movies, TV and Comics category for VULKK.com touched a bit on this topic recently. I especially liked his saying “I finished Netflix today” from his recent publication about the top Netflix Shows to binge.
I have a subscription to Netflix too, of course. The local lybrary of the streaming giant is not as extensive and complete as I wish it to be, but the service still offers more than enough content for me to keep busy.
Yet, I somehow do not binge new stuff as often as I probably should. Titles like The Witcher, Stranger Things and Breaking Bad, obviously, were an exception. But then again they are not sitcoms, they are TV Shows. I experience weird struggles including new sitcoms to my viewing list.
There’s some weird and unexplained comfort for me to watch (or rather listen to) old shows that I know very well. It allows me to focus on an important task or project while still having a buzz on the background. Music just doesn’t work in some cases for me.
In fact I know some of these Sitcoms so well I don’t even need to watch them to understand what is happening. I have seen each episode of the titles I share in this article probably five to ten times, some even more.
Let’s start with the lists then!
That 70s Show
Funny thing about this show is that when I first saw it some twenty years ago, I didn’t know who Ashton Kutcher or Mila Kunis were and I actualy thought this is an old sitcom from the 70s.
That’s how authentic their set must have been, I tell myself. The Show’s dress-code and everything about the characters does remind me of all that I have read, heard and seen about the 70s. I am a child of the 80s and 90s.
That 70s Show ran for eight seasons and although its effect on me starts to dwindle around the end of the seventh season (for obvious reasons, which I will not explain here because of spoilers), when I rewatch it, I never skip the final season.
The show is simple, engaging and what I love the most about its first few seasons is that it’s humor is not “teen” style, despite the fact that we follow the fates of a bunch of teens.
The 360 scenes are so unique and daring that it almost feels like such a thing would not be possible in 2020. Many of the jokes (especially the ones involving Fez) are probably to be considered offensive and even rasist today. It makes me sad how things have changed in this regard.
That 70s Show is a great source of simple casual laughs and charming humor. It demonstrates that no matter what year and age we live in, your struggles, needs, desires and dreams as humans are always the same.
The Big Bang Theory
Is there a single soul on this planet that does not enjoy the robotic and clumsy behavior of one Sheldon Cooper?
No? I thought so.
The Big Bang Theory is a masterpiece in capturing the 2010s understanding of the world for what appear to be super nerds. Or at least that’s who I view the show and the decade.
The main cast of characters includes four scientists, who love comic books, TV Shows and Conventions. Spiced up with a hot blonde waitress it’s a deal you cannot refuse. Or a sitcom you cannot miss.
Perhaps the show didn’t appeal to certain parts of our society like the more elderly people or the so-called “grown-ups”. The 70s Show scored high among these too, because they could tell “Hey, we did the exact same things back in the 70s!”
Regardless of the more narrow targeted audience The Big Bang Theory turned into a classic very quickly.
I started watching it around its third season, because a friend told me its title has (almost) nothing to do with the show and is grossly misleading.
I, like the cast themselves, did not understand most of the high-end science spoken or otherwise included in the show, but I think this was valid for 99.5% of the audience and it was by design. It added an additional layer of fun and even some mystical element for me.
I too, like probably most of you, enjoy the earlier seasons more. My favorites are actually the fourth and the fifth season. Amy really brightens up the scene in the the fifh.
I think of The Big Bang Theory as a modern representation of the never-ending struggle for the different people to be accepted by the rest of the society. It’s also a great example of how everyone should be who they want and not who the world around them wants them to be.
How I met Your Mother
Why would a father tell his two kids of the 50-something (guessing) women he had to nail to get to their mother finally?
How I Met Your Mother’s idea is exactly the opposite of that. It offers a romantic story, told with incredibly well-written jokes all over it.
I honestly believe that if the character Barney Stinson was not played by Neil Patrick Harris, I would not have liked the show even half of what I have for it in my heart now.
Barney not only makes up 83% (!) of the jokes, but he is the core of the group. Most of the events happen because of him and, of course, with him involved.
The way this show tells stories within stories (inception?) is simply amazing and pure perfection in my opinion.
The visual effects and the active audience, who doesn’t seem to clap just because a sign tells them to, add a ton to the experience.
How I Met Your Mother is a pure example of how you should never give up, because what you truly wish for is out there, waiting for you to find it. Granted, some times the search may take longer (nine years for Ted), but if you really want it, you will find/achieve it!
The Simpsons
Ah, the eternal classic! I left my most favorite show ever for the final. It is simply unbelievable what The Simpsons did to our culture.
Homer and his family not only entertain us, but they even predict the future in multiple occasions. I am sure you have stumbled upon a few articles explaining how The Simpsons predicted this or that years before it happened.
I have seen The Simpsons way more times than any other of the titles listed here. This show spans for over thirty seasons now and doesn’t seem to plan its ending any time soon.
At 673 episodes as of this publication, The Simpsons is the longest running sitcom of all time.
Fox would not be the same wihout it. Despire the fact that the show lost some of its charisma with the improved graphics and drawings when they moved on to HD, it still holds large enough audience to allow Fox (and Disney) to keep it on the air!
I started watching the show as a child and continue to watch it now. It’s considered “animation for adults”, but I think it fits into any and all categories.
At least twice I have listened to the whole show in the background while I work. I did it years ago at the office and I keep doing it now while I work from home.
I do it at this very moment too, while writing. I am listening to the episode “Homer goes to College“.
This show has stood the test of time. It keeps telling new, engaging and innovative stories. All this without the characters aging (with a few episodic exceptions), which can only be done in animated format, of course.
There is this very noticeable difference in the drawing’s quality, sound and even Homer’s own voice changes over the years. This doesn’t annoy me even the slightest.
The Simpsons managed to stay the same for over thirty years, but have also changed a lot. How they do it? Magic? I guess.
This show is an inspiration for generations of TV producers as well as for the regular people like me and you. It constantly strives to offer fresh original entertainment and constantly reminds us that Family comes first!
To summarize so far, here is the list of top Sitcoms to watch and rewatch several times without fear of getting bored:
- That 70s Show – great casual laughs all the time
- The Big Bang Theory – group of nerdy scientists enjoying their lives
- How I Met Your Mother – romantic comedy with great jokes all over
- The Simpsons – the evergreen classic that you cannot miss
Honorable Mentions: more sitcoms to watch
There are many more classic sitcoms to rewatch – ones I wish I could include. The list I presented above was of the shows that I have truly watched and rewarched more than three (in some cases ten) times.
Classic sitcoms such as Friends and Married with Children have a very special place in my heart too.
I have easily seen Friends more than five times (each episode that is). However, the show has aged somewhat badly, I think.
The jokes and stories are still fun, but it clearly remains a show about the 90s. When I was at the age of the characters from the show, we were already deep into the 21st century and most of the events described in Friends felt out of place.
Al Bundy’s adventures are so clearly stuck in the 80s and 90s. Way more than Friends. I still love this weird and unnatural family. It’s been a few years since I have seen Married with Children, but I believe I have seen all episodes are least two or three times. Again, most of them as a background while I work, have breakfast or do something else.
Al’s life would be so unacceptable by today’s society and yet I love that show even in 2020. I don’t have it on any of the streaming services I subscribe to. Perhaps this is the reason I haven’t rewarched it recently, heh.
And what about ‘Allo ‘Allo! Damn, this was so funny! While I’ve not seen it as many times as the others, I can easily say I have seen each episode twice – once in English (or what passes for English with these characters) and once with a Bulgarian voiceover.
Sitcoms I like, but would not rewatch multiple times
There are a few titles that stand up in my mind as I write this article. Some sitcoms that are at the same time very funny, but I would not want to watch them over and over. Why? Let’s see if I can find out for myself as I write this.
Family Guy – one of the most offensive sitcomes to… everybody and everything. Literally. I love how direct the jokes are.
3rd rock from the Sun – what a masterpiece for its age. Dick Solomon was John Lithgow’s first character I saw him play. Since then and forever any time I see him in a movie or TV show, the first thing that pops in my mind is Dick in one of his many situations of confusion that he ever so often experienced during his stay on the 3rd rock from the Sun.
Two and a half men – While so funny and entertainment, the show went straight downhill for me after Charlie’s screw-up that resulted in him being fired from the show and Ashton Kutcher replacing him. I liked the sitcom still, but it just wasn’t the same any more.
What about you? What is your most favorite sitcom to rewatch – the one that you have seen so many times you can’t even count? Do you have any comments on my lists? Have you seen or at least heard of these shows? How many times have you seen The Simpsons?
