long-running sitcoms that were never the slightest bit funny, ever.

[Fayd]

They were both smile-on-your-face funny, not really laugh out loud funny.

Full House was worse than both, though.

Yeah. First thing that came to mind was full house

 

[zinfamous]

Oh, I get it. This is a troll thread.

Cosby Show was awesome. Tame and funny is very, very hard to do. Even the raunchiest of comedians have nothing but respect for the comedians that manage to be clean, witty, and hilarious all at once. That was Cosby's forte going into his show.

What the little'uns around ATOT fail to realize, is that the Cosby Show peaked just before the demand for edgy humor came into prime time. It couldn't compete against the Simpsons, which started to push that type of humor. Mash was brilliant (not as much as the film), and was part of that period. Looking back on it, the Cosby show doesn't stand up to today's rather dark-natured gutter humor, but it still has a lot of class.

Of course...Full House was never, ever funny.

I never really watched it, and didn't care for it, but Raymond's show was damn funny from time to time. It wasn't my thing, but you can't deny the awesomeness of Peter Boyle. That guy was a legend.


and Seinfeld? what kind of brainless, soulless, teat-sucking nitwit can't get behind how great that show was, and remains in syndication?

crazy ATOT, simply insane.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I am not sure it qualifies as "long running," but I'd like to add The Big Bang Theory. That show is AWFUL.

 

[Perknose]

Thirded. I still watch the repeats of this show whenever I stumble upon them and chortle heartily.

KT

x4

Not only do I chortle heartily, at times I even emit a full fledged guffaw!

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah. First thing that came to mind was full house

I forgot about Full House. God, that show was terrible! You can't get less funny than Bob Saget. That guy is awful.

 

[zinfamous]

WTF? News Radio???

how humorless can ATOT be?

I weep for the future of humanity....(well, not really. this forum truly is an inaccurate depiction of such.)

 

[brblx]

I forgot about Full House. God, that show was terrible! You can't get less funny than Bob Saget. That guy is awful.

actually bob saget can be pretty funny.

 

[endlessmike]

Competing against the rise of more raunchy humor wasn't the downfall of the Cosby show, it was when they brought in that damn Raven.

Before that it was jammin' on the one, Theooooooo!

 

[Perknose]

For whatever reason I blur News Radio with Just Shoot Me into one show - aside from David Spade I couldn't tell you who was on one or the other, so maybe it's not as bad as I'm thinking.

There were two good reasons to watch Just Shoot Me, and both brought a smile to my face, but neither was funny. Mostly though, that show was lame.

I truly can't see how you could ever confuse it with News Radio, which was continually underrated and often brilliantly funny imho.

 

[zinfamous]

Sitcoms stopped having "morals" pretty much after that era of sitcom.
Now is the era of the dysfunctional family. Instead of wishing we were like the families on television, we're glad we're not like the families on television.

very insightful, this post.

it kinda sucks that Cosby lost out to the first 2 seasons of the Simpsons, which were easily the worst of the series. The show didn't become smart until they backed away from the "Bart is a cool punk kid" focus and became the "Homer is tragically relevant" theme. If the producers saw that the dumb lowbrow success of the show was what killed The Cos, and stuck with that, TV entertainment would have simply stagnated and sunk further into the cesspool. Luckily, though, people like Conan O'Brien were set loose in those early years of the Simpsons, and really turned that show into something else. Fox seemed to grab onto that and started producing some really witty stuff thereafter: MITM, the various short-lived Chris Elliot and Andy Richter shows....

I think a lot of the dysfunctional family humor is quite good, but it is a totally different animal from that previous generation of prime time sitcoms.

 

[shortylickens]

Wings, Mad About You, Will and Grace, 3rd Rock, Frasier, Just Shoot Me, News Radio, and whatever other string of lame setup->obvious punchline->repeat sitcoms that made up the skidmark of non-comedy that NBC left on the trousers of the mid 90's-early 2000's.

Wings had some great laughs along with a million little smiles, which was enough to keep it on the air alongside NBC's must see TV. It was the weakest of the lineup but still filled time nicely.
Mad about you was just amusing. If it had any great laughs I never saw them.
I heard 3rd Rock was great. Never saw it.
Frasier was hilarious. I hate telling people "you just dont get it" but in the case of Seinfeld and Frasier thats pretty much it right there.

NewsRadio was great in the seasons that had Phil Hartman, even though there were some crummy episodes once in a while.

But I agree, most of the stuff in the 80's and 90's was garbage, briefly punctuated by real brilliance here and there.
Now that the internet is a real entertainment medium, network television has to try a thousand times harder to be worthwhile.

 

[zinfamous]

actually bob saget can be pretty funny.

Bob Sagat is very, very funny. He sucked donkey balls on Full House, though. But hey, if I'm getting a fat check to suck consistently, then consider me bought!

 

[Anubis]

I agree with almost everything posted besides Seinfeld and The Simpsons, i enjoy both shows. everything else in here is pretty bad

ill add The Office to the list

sorry its not funny

 

[JD50]

Oh, I get it. This is a troll thread.

Cosby Show was awesome. Tame and funny is very, very hard to do. Even the raunchiest of comedians have nothing but respect for the comedians that manage to be clean, witty, and hilarious all at once. That was Cosby's forte going into his show.

What the little'uns around ATOT fail to realize, is that the Cosby Show peaked just before the demand for edgy humor came into prime time. It couldn't compete against the Simpsons, which started to push that type of humor. Mash was brilliant (not as much as the film), and was part of that period. Looking back on it, the Cosby show doesn't stand up to today's rather dark-natured gutter humor, but it still has a lot of class.

Of course...Full House was never, ever funny.

I never really watched it, and didn't care for it, but Raymond's show was damn funny from time to time. It wasn't my thing, but you can't deny the awesomeness of Peter Boyle. That guy was a legend.


and Seinfeld? what kind of brainless, soulless, teat-sucking nitwit can't get behind how great that show was, and remains in syndication?

crazy ATOT, simply insane.

This needs to be posted in the OP and the thread locked.

 

[zinfamous]

Seinfeld, I still cant see why anything thinks that guy is funny.

Larry David is funny. Seinfeld...not so much. The show is incredible, and it is b/c of pretty much every character that isn't Seinfeld.

Maybe that's ironic, but it still works.


Seinfeld really is Larry David's show.

 

[Raduque]

Family Guy - LMFAO hilarious

God, I hate this fucking show. Watching it is about as funny as experience a prolapsed anus.

 

[zinfamous]

Although not technically a sitcom, Malcolm in the Middle is one of the worst shows ever made

God damn it, Platypus. You are dead to me, now!

 

[endlessmike]

Well now I'm going to have to seek out some News Radio reruns to rewatch, I forgot Phil Hartman was on it. I'll happily admit I was wrong if it turns out as funny as a lot of you are saying.

Probably unfair to say Fraiser wasn't the slightest bit funny ever either. Oh well, my apologies to the Cranes.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

CSI and it's spinoffs, Family Guy, and about 90% of all other sitcoms are not funny. Ever.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

It is easier to name the good ones.

The Honeymooners
The Bob Newhart Show
All in the Family
Absolutely Fabulous
Black Adder
Seinfeld

Wow! The list is longer than I dared to dream.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Larry David is funny. Seinfeld...not so much. The show is incredible, and it is b/c of pretty much every character that isn't Seinfeld.

Maybe that's ironic, but it still works.


Seinfeld really is Larry David's show.

Jerry is like the unfunny counterweight needed to keep the show afloat. He serves his purpose perfectly.

 

[zinfamous]

I feel exactly the same way. Very strange since he is quite spectacular in BB.

KT

while I still don't get this hate for MitM (Cranston and the Dewey character made that show--yes, the mother was horrid and absolutely could make this show unwatchable), I recently listened to a Fresh Air interview with Cranston. The guy is fucking awesome. He was talking about the pilot for MitM, a scene where the mom is shaving his back hair while he's sitting at the breakfast table, naked, reading the paper...the idea that kind of scene would be on a prime time sitcom at the time was simply bizarre. The details of shooting the scene were simply awesome.

Also, he had this story about being on an episode of Airwolf. At the time, Jan-Michael Vincent was a complete wreck of an alcoholic white bagger. he'd show up on set completely trashed, and they'd have to film. The one ~30 second scene Cranston had with him, involved hanging on to the helicopter while a passed-out Vincent acted his part from the cockpit. rofl.

 

[shortylickens]

Oh, and The Simpsons was at its peak in the first few seasons, when they tried really hard with the jokes and the stories.
I bought all the seasons on DVD up through 10, and already its sucking bad. They should have ended much earlier. They could have been a cult classic, now they are just dying slowly over a 15 year period.

Some of the more sickly, lovey dovey family shows I hated were Family Ties, Charles in Charge, Full House, Alf, and a handful of other 80's staples I cant recall. Maybe I blocked them from memory.

 

[MentalIlness]

Only one I find a "little" funny is....George Lopez

 

[zinfamous]

MITM is awesome. I still watch re-runs light night on FOX, even catch a show here and there on FX in HD. Perhaps you're just too old for the humor.

OK I see others actually agree with you, whatever, I didn't like the show until I started watching it in syndication but I didn't really give it a shot when it was on. It has its dumb momments but as the show goes on I thought it was pretty funny. Same with King of the Hill, hated on it until I gave it a chance.

yeah, I completely avoided it when it was on and only watched later when in syndication. There were some real gems--the Romeo & Juliet episode, where new neighbors move in and promptly begin a feud, but the father, and the neighbor father, quickly form a tight bond and clandestinely meet on either side of the fence in their backyards at night, boozing and having simple man time. Brilliant episode!

(much funnier than I make it sound)