'Parks and Rec,' 'Modern Family,' 'Cougar Town': Cast your vote for best network sitcom
A quick congratulations to "Glee" for winning Best TV Comedy at Sunday night's Golden Globes. Korbi TV is, as anyone who follows this blog regularly knows, a huge supporter of the series and we just really like everyone involved with it.
Other victors we're super thrilled for include, of course, "Dexter"'s Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow who just absolutely positively had to win after that superb season, as well as one of our favorite sister-wives Ms. Chloe Sevigny who is stellar on "Big Love", easily in our Top 5 of finest dramas ever to grace the small screen.
High fives are also in order for "Mad Men" and Mr. Baldwin and Toni Colette too, but we feel especially excited for the newbies in the winner's circle... which brings us to the subject I really want to tackle right now and that is the state of network sitcoms.
Remember five seconds ago when the world was lamenting their death?
So dumb, right?
There have been a few sweet, whip smart sitcoms on the air for years now -- "30 Rock", "How I Met Your Mother", "The Big Bang Theory", "Scrubs", "The Office" -- and with 2009 came several more and I'm just so geeked up about how much good half hour comedy is on network television at the moment.
"Parks and Recreation", which I personally saw the massive potential in from episode one -- suck it, haters! -- is now living up to the greatness that is Amy Poehler. The show has managed to find the funny in small-town government life and amp it up with a cast of characters whose personal idiosyncrasies -- Leslie's overwhelming need to achieve and to put a positive spin on all things, Tom's shameless objectification of women, Ron's laziness, Andy's idiocy -- have become familiar to the audience and, therefore, all the more joyous to watch.
"Cougar Town" has just come together so beautifully in the last month or so, with the writing and the cast gelling into this perfect ensemble of crazy, fast-talking lunatics who have a new hilarious joke spilling out of their mouths every 1.3 seconds, it's almost hard to keep up.
"Community" too -- though there were a couple not-so-awesome episodes early on -- has grown into a solid show with a kooky family of characters spewing smart and ironic observations of their peers and pop culture.
"Better Off Ted" -- which is very much on the bubble and needs all the support it can get -- juxtaposes the normalcy of a good, single dad against the backdrop of an insane, heartless corporation run by a group of unfeeling suits, which just makes for the most absurdly funny situations.
And then there's "Modern Family" which has been a stand out since day one, managing to depict all that is sweet and moronic and just plain embarrassing about marriage and parenting and adolescence. And it's all done with a group of actors who just drip funny, specifically Ty Burrell as the awkward dad who's always trying to act cool and Eric Stonestreet as the larger-than-life, live-in gay boyfriend with a heart of gold.
So, my question to you is, which one do you love the best?
It's tough to choose, no doubt.
I, myself, am having a hard time deciding, which makes me even more curious about how the vote will shake out...
Now I know there are other situation comedies on network television that are not included on this list, but we picked the ten series we thought most deserving.
If you feel there's a glaring omission -- or just want to extol the virtues of one of the shows we did include -- comment below.
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Related:
Get up close & personal with the "How I Met Your Mother" cast via Korbi TV
Should Lisa Kudrow stick around 'Cougar Town'?
'Better Off Ted' returns with more insensitivity and malice than ever before
'Big Bang Theory's' Jim Parsons: Sheldon feels violated, has dark time ahead
'Scrubs' new set: Zap2it gets a first look
'Modern Family' vs. 'Community': Vying for the #1 new comedy spot
'30 Rock' and 'The Office'... that's all I need
Just peeped the 'Parks and Recreation' pilot...
Photo credit: NBC
Korbi, could I add Chuck to the list, or is this restricted to 30-minute shows?
Otherwise, it's too hard to decide. One thing is certain: reports of the death of comedy on TV were greatly exaggerated.
Why is "The Middle" not on here? It is a fantastic comedy that looks at the blue collar families of America today. It is the modern one camera comedy looking at some of the same issues and funny moments of growing up that shows like "Roseanne" and "Malcolm in the Middle" examined for past generations.
Restricted it to half hours, the standard 30-minute sitcom... which The Middle certainly is, and though I do like it, it doesn't feel fresh enough for this list. I don't hate it by any means, but it sort of feels like a poor man's Malcolm/Roseanne... Well maybe that's too harsh because I do enjoy the show, just don't feel it belongs in this Top 10.
Oh, it was super hard to chose between Better Off Ted and Parks and Rec, I wanted to lean towards BOT because I feel it needs more support, but when it comes right down to it, Parks is definitely funnier. Easy winner actually. I love Cougar Town, it's really good, but I cant get over how brilliantly funny new scrubs is, I think because I wasn't expecting it, but I actually think this year is the strongest yet. Denise and Cole are both ridiculously awesome!
For me, this was easy. Modern Family, no doubt. But I wish The Middle was included.
For me, it came down to Ted and BBT. Ultimately, I went with BOT because it's not as cookie cutter as BBT.
"The Middle" is the funniest new comedy - certainly funnier than "Modern Family"
I hope people voted aginst Scrubs because of this season, beacause Scrubs Seasons 01-05 and 08 are better than everything else on that list.
HIMYM all the way...but in terms of the NKOTBs I am going with "Modern Family". I too think Ty Burrell is freakin' hilarious on that show!!
Great article; I totally agree about comedy being in great shape these days. Love "Modern Family" and "30 Rock" so much, but my favorites at the moment have to be "Better off Ted" and "Parks and Recreation." I voted for "Parks," because it's been making me laugh the loudest these days. I mean, Ron Swanson just has to appear on the screen and I start laughing.
One tiny point... Cam and Mitchell are raising a child together on MF. So I think the term you're looking for is "partner" or "husband," which is what they call each other on the show, not "live-in boyfriend."