I take TV seriously. Yes. I do.
I take all art forms seriously. Yes. I called TV an art form.
I take sitcoms more seriously than I take other series. I think it takes immense creative energy to follow deadlines and come up with a fun episode every week.
I introduced myself to sitcoms when Zee cafe was still Zee English and Star World was, well, Star World.
Back in the day, the funniest thing that would happen to you would invariably be your professor telling you a nerd joke - some thing like -
Heisenberg is driving down a highway when hes stopped by and cop. "Do you know how fast you were driving back there, son?"
Heisenberg replies - "No sir, but I know where I am!"
Geddit? Geddit? Dont worry if you dont... Be proud of yourself. You are not a nerd. (Now seriously, search up the Heisenberg principle. It pretty cool actually.)
So whom do you turn to for a good time when you are surrounded by such profs? The good old Television. :)
So I was thinking, among all the sitcoms that I have watched in the last 10 years, which ones have been super cool? Which ones should you watch to be around as cool as me? Note that I said 'around' coz...well... let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
So anyway, without wasting any more time, heres the list -
11. MODERN FAMILY
Why did I put up a #11 in a top 10 list? Well, because I can! Okay... because Modern Family is good. But they havent come out with that many episodes to be allowed in this countdown.
Something tells me that I will be writing about this show in 2020 when I make my "Best Sitcoms in the 2011-2020" list.
10. Curb Your Enthusiasm
If the makers of Seinfeld come up with a sitcom, which is less of a sitcom and more of a mockumentary, you know its gonna be fun.
Larry David shines in this show.
I might be biased here. I must say this show does remind me of Seinfeld and maybe that's why I like it so much. so, in order to be less biased, I placed it at #10.
Yes, this Top 10 is awesome like that!
9. My Name is Earl:
Even thinking about this show makes me smile. It was so damn ridiculous, it was funny.
The show follows the life of Earl - this guy with a moustache and a dumb ass brother.
So, Earl has done wrong things to too many people. And he believes its bad karma why he cant live a happy life. So, he writes down everything he did wrong with his friends, relatives, random people at the mall and then proceeds to find them and make it right. What follows is supreme stupidity which like always, makes for good sitcom watching experience!
8. Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai
So, now my readers from Turkey, Jordan and South Africa (what? I get a lot of traffic from these countries... I have no idea why!) are now wondering, what sitcom is this!!
Well, its an Indian sitcom and its in Hindi (without subtitles). The reason why I am resorting to such patrioticity is coz of the numerous shows on Indian television, no show - I repeat - no show comes even close to this!
The writing is smart, the editing crisp and the acting top notch! It has to be super awesome for it to be placed above two very good American sitcoms. And it very well deserves to be seen and respected for its awesomeness!
7.Just Shoot Me
Scene : Six people sitting at a table, out of which two are deeply lost in each others eyes.
Jack: I cant have this meeting if 33% of us are lost in each others' eyes!
Nina (with a dumb expression on her face) : What are you talking about Jack, there are only 6 people here!
The 2 love birds get up and start walking, still lost in each other.
Nina (with a confident smile): Jack, I think now only 4% of us are interested in this meeting!
Super funny. You should have been there!
6.scrubs
Scrubs is one of the few sitcoms I have written about. You can find my blogpost about Scrubs which I wrote back in 2007 here - http://thetimepassofindia.blogspot.com/2007/06/scrubs.html
Enough said!
5. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
I have to have a heart of stone not to include Friends in my top 10 list of Sitcoms. 25 years from now, our kids will watch this and still be floored by how awesome it was.
Friends is a classic. It is awesome. I know a generation of kids who relate to the 6 characters on the show. So I have a friend who thinks he is so much like Ross, there is this girl who says shes a lot like Rachel. The point being, name one more show where you tried to relate yourself to a character. And remember the Friends quizzes you had in college? You didnt? Well, maybe your college wasnt as nerdy as mine then.
I dont want people to comment how it became slow and boring at the end. Well, it did not. There just wasnt much to do with the characters.
Would a remake of friends work? I think, it will. All they have to find is an endearing cast. Have I just given NBC an idea?
And If you are wondering, what character would I relate to, then there are no points for guessing - I am such a Chandler. I miss Chandler Bing's sarcasm.
Sigh... Good days those.
4. That 70s show:
Now we can spend many blogposts discussing if That 70s should be placed so high up. But the deal is, it is difficult to create such a show.
You have to set it in the 70s then make sure the slang is right, the aspirations, political views etc. are right. It sounds like I am taking this too seriously? Well, a wise man once said-- making people laugh is no funny business son. Okay it was me who said it.
Anywhoo, the point here, this show was awesome. Tell me you didnt love the theme song and the "Hello Wisconsin!"at the end of it or you dont wanna know what race Fes comes from! (Its Fes and not Fez - it stands for Foreign Exchange Student!)
3. Coupling
Okay. Now I think British comedies are seriously over rated. They are unimaginative and as boring as Indian sitcoms. Now I have nothing against British sense of humour. I think the English are hilarious. But as artists they are rather unimaginative, dont u think?
That is till you watch Big train, Little Britain or Coupling. Now the first two arent really sitcoms, they are like short skits put together. That is why they are not on this list.
Coupling is England's answer to Friends. Nobody asked England a question, but they answered nevertheless. Its genius writing and good acting thrown in with a lot of dry humour and a thick cockney accent! What you get it an extremely palatable British sitcom.
2. The Big Bang Theory:
There are two types of people in this world. One - who find BBT funny and two - who dont find BBT funny.
If you do a quick check on their report cards, the ones who dont find BBT funny, failed their science and maths exams on a regular basis.
1. How I met your Mother
The #1. Without doubt.
Once upon a time there was a kid posing as a genius doctor on a show. That show was Doogie Howser MD. And that kid was Neil Patrick Harris. Or whom you know as Barney "awesome" Stinson.
He single handedly makes the show worth watching. The fact that the other kids are doing a good job too just make it worth the 21 mins. When it ends, you want more. You wish it was 29 mins like the British shows instead of 21 mins.
Awesomeness is a word.
Lemon Law is a thing.
Legen.. wait for it... dary is what uncool kids say to sound cool.
All this because of NPH.
There are people who have an attention span of a bumblebee and are wondering where is the mother in How I met your mother? I know the title of the show is misleading. I mean seriously, where is the mother?
But should we care? Did we start watching it for the mother? The answer is no. I say let there be no mother. The kids can be adopted for all I care.
So let this show go on and give us more awesomeness.
Here. I am done writing this. If you just skimmed through this post then I say - Not cool mate.. not cool...
PS -Entourage and Californication werent included coz they r cool and everything, but lack the funny.
The simpsons has not been included coz its a animated series and in a different class.
Editor in chief Arshat Chaudhary
Current Issues: friends, scrubs, sitcoms
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Unknown said...
Very, very disappointed. It was ok, until I reached No.1 and no Arrested Development? Really?
enchantinganki said...
Naicee list!! Thanks for sharing..And FRIENDS tops my list though!!
Sumit said...
There already are too many things in this world I am addicted to, so I do not watch sitcoms. Except for one season of HIMYM. And so, thanks for including Sarabhai . Coz for all I know, not equivalent but it was still too good. And placed at #7 and coming from somebody who has watched so many sitcoms, I now know that I am not much wrong.
A Fineapple said...
i'll tell u i had very bad 2 weeks with exams and none of them being good.. i was thinking tht i would never be able to even smile ever again but ur post as always made me laugh.. and i was laughing again.. and in the list i agree with u on friends and how i met ur mother and BBT.. :) :) u r awesome..
Samudra said...
I had "discovered" Coupling on my company Intranet (God bless the network!) while on a shift covering "onsite migration". It was on a sunday (yes I was well compensated), there were 5 people on my floor, which normally has 400.
And my laughter (and noise of falling off the chair) brought all of them to my desk.
Unflushables.
Nuff said!
Unknown said...
Hey, the 'How I met your Mother' title is not misleading. If you see in the begginning of the show, you will see 2 kids with a single expression on their face and a voice over saying "Kids, this was the day I met your Mother" or "Your uncle Barney and aunt Robin helped me find your mother" etc etc.. nevertheless, I am glad you ranked this show #1. It is truly 'Awesome' .. Blog-High-Five! ;)
s4n705h said...
I liked Sarabhai VS Sarabhai more than Scrubs and BBT more than How I met.. The Sarabhai because its in hindi and BBT theory cos i am an Engineer.
mAnIaC! said...
You put up "Curb your enthusiasm" on the list, and you think you might be biased coz it reminds you of Seinfeld? However, I see that you don't have "Seinfeld" on the list !!! That was a bit surprising, as it tops my list :P !!
lIl hIgH said...
Two and a half men and 30 Rock too are nice sitcoms !!
s4n705h said...
And you forgot Seinfeld!
Anonymous said...
Very disappointed , I think you haven't watched Office Office , sigh !!!
Atrisa said...
Tsk tsk. I really hope that you haven't seen beyond season 4 of HIMYM because if you have and still carry this opinion, I will feel personally offended :|
I do see though that people are largely disappointed, but it's just *that* hard picking 10 out of the genius of American and British television.
DoesItReallyMatter? said...
Hey so, "Have you *seen* the 5th and 6th season of HIMYM" (I'm as big a Friends geek as you are)?? I hope not, otherwise it would have been a terrible way to end, what is otherwise, a pretty good list.
IMHO Arrested Development, 30 Rock and The Office should have featured on it.
But it's a good list and nice touch adding Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Coupling! And a HUGE thanks for not adding Two And A Half Men :)
DoesItReallyMatter? said...
Also if you really like Seinfeld you should check out It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.. pretty darn good
arctic monkeys said...
dude. wats wrong wit ya? If not everybody loves raymond, rules of engagement, 3rd rock etc, there is a show who has proved the script quality and hav stiff elements, its called TWO AND A HALF MAN,...its not even in a list...? wait, did i even miss a glimpse on SEINFIELD??...hit refresh