funniest shows ever on tv?

[Madd]

No love for Bundy, Al Bundy?
Though imo the simpsons are on top. Benny Hill might have been the funniest person ever.

[nyg23]

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This has gotten a ton of votes but I wish there was some sort of season or episode minimum for shows to qualify. It lasted what, 2-3 seasons (love the show but still forget this detail)? It's the comedies like Cheers and Seinfeld that are still at least pretty good 6-7+ seasons in that should be given more credit.

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I understand your point completely and it was 3 seasons with the third being cut short by Fox to I think only 13. The reason Arrested Development is getting so many votes is because of how unique it was. Theres nothing like it that I know of in comparison to the writing, cast chemistry/interaction and perfect delivery of the jokes by the entire cast(cant say that about Jerry who has that huge grin half of the time after delivering his punchlines (dont get me wrong Seinfeld is still great)). Whoever casted AD deserves alot of its credit along with the writers. At no point did I see one episode I didnt think was great in three seasons. One of the main reasons it got cancelled was because it was just too expensive to make(rumors of 1M+ per episode). Sorry for the rant we AD fans are pretty hardcore.

Cliffnotes: Arrested Development makes the cut for me because of its uniqueness(actually interpretting their cancellation into the final episodes and many, many running jokes),nearly impeccable writing, acting and no signs what so ever of slowing down before being cancelled. They didnt get Emmy's for no reason. AD will stand the test of time. If youve only seen the episodes once do it again because you will find alot of stuff you missed.

[tuq]

Oh yeah, people who love their AD LOVE THEIR AD. When I used to visit Television About Pity all the other forums hated the AD people because they were so rabid and some AD nuts even went out of their way to pick fights with other show's fans about which show was better, etc. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

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One of the main reasons it got cancelled was because it was just too expensive to make(rumors of 1M+ per episode).

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Wow, really? It was cleverly filmed and just jammed to the hilt with joke after joke, but still that's an awful lot of bling to spend on producing a 24-minute sitcom. Does that include the cost of the cast?

Months ago I made a poll about best series finale. I was called a polltard by astro and a bunch of others because I left off "Six Feet Under". My reasoning was that it only had sixty-some episodes and as such didn't nearly meet minimum qualifications. To go back to the sports analogy, I'd think this thread would be about "hall of fame" TV shows, and two-plus seasons would never qualify an athlete for the HOF.

OK, that last paragraph was long and nitty and nobody seems to agree with me on that point anyway. Sorry.

[diebitter]

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No love for Bundy, Al Bundy?
Though imo the simpsons are on top. Benny Hill might have been the funniest person ever.

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I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Peggy Bundy


And yes, Married with Children is the funniest show ever on TV. I watch it almost daily still.

[holyfield5]

ok my bad, ill throw my hat in for Al, he had the best fat chick 1 liners

[nyg23]

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Wow, really? It was cleverly filmed and just jammed to the hilt with joke after joke, but still that's an awful lot of bling to spend on producing a 24-minute sitcom. Does that include the cost of the cast?

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I had assumed it included the cast and dont see how else they could have spent that much. But I never found an official statement so who really knows. BTW I hate people that are so close minded that they completely disregard other shows like alot of AD fans or even the whole Simpsons vs. Family Guy vs South Park debacle. Sorry if I came off like that. I love all TV but AD will always have that special place.

I also wanted to throw out something else out there. Networks have become alot less loyal to shows like they used to be and arent letting shows grow and develop like they used to(even though I am a youngin). Theyre willing to pull the plugs on shows alot quicker at the first sign of lower ratings. I expect the average of the length of television series to be much, much less than what they used to be. If this is true its sad that television's quality will suffer just because keeping old running shows on is more expensive than a cheap pilot that they can pick up. The criteria for a classic is unfortunately IMO going to be changing in the next 20 years. Good points though tugs, I love talking TV. I think I like TV way to much. Sigh. Im gonna go start watching Season 1 of Rescue Me then once Im caught up on that find the last three seasons of Oz.

Edit: Grammar error due to fanatical ranting

[TehVader]

In random order

Arrested Development
The Office (UK version, haven't seen the US one)
Seinfeld
Fawlty Towers

[Klompy]

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OMG I only skimmed the thread but are you telling me no one has mentioned-


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This gets my vote, with family guy being in second

[Mel Gibson]

not seinfeld, that's for sure.

[Andykay]

Only one person has mentioned Black Books.

Far and away the funniest show ever made in my opinion, although Scrubs and Family Guy both come close.

Black Books is a british show about two guys who run a book store. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it check it out, as the first two seasons are just awesome. Not an old show, ran in early 2000 I believe. Has 3 seasons, although the first two are far better than the third.

-Andrew