So, with a focus on quality over nostalgia-no matter how much it hurt-the Paste editors and writers have chosen the 100 best sitcoms of all time. Some of our favorites managed to weave the high-brow with the low-brow many of them seemed unconcerned with either brow, as long they made us happy. The sitcom did that, and though it has evolved and morphed into the stuff of dreams, it always had those high-brow, cinematic qualities in its fiber.
BEST FRIENDS EVER SEASONS TV
And Peak TV did not invent good storytelling in episodic form. Families and relationships (and the dysfunctional and/or loving ties that bind them), workplace drama, compelling historical settings and characters who made even the mundane seem worthy of our attention-these things are at the core of good storytelling. And as we celebrate such fare, it’s important to remember that these shows are all the descendants, in some way or another, of the good ol’ sitcom. Indeed, it still feels blasphemous to utter such a statement, but the Mad Mens, True Detectives (Season One, ahem), Transparents and Undergrounds of the world have forever changed things. We have arrived at a glorious point in history, where watching an excellent TV show might finally be intellectually on par with reading a great book. Putting together a list like this is always equal parts painful and enjoyable for editors and writers, but I can’t think of a better time to look back on the greatest sitcoms of all time. We laughed, we cried, we raged against the dying of the light which sought to snuff out our personal favorite shows.