Favorite Sitcoms and Why

Now, I usually look down upon situation comedies, being a theatre snob, but I do have a list of guilty pleasures/favorites. All of these shows don't require laugh tracks--they are that good.

Three's Company is the essence of the situational comedy. There is a distinct, and defined situation. Jack Tripper needs a place to stay, and is living with two girls, who tell the landlord that he is gay for him to stay there. This is hard, because now Jack has to keep up appearances, has the landlords feeling uncomfortable around him, and can't date around the landlords either. Then you have the smart brunette, dumb blonde. Some of the stuff Chrissy, the dumb blonde, says are hilarious. Janet, the smart brunette, is the sane one who holds the house together. Sadly, Suzanne Sommers developed a big head, and ended up quitting, and was replaced by younger actress, as her sister who was a Chrissy clone, and was then replaced with smart, blonde nurse Terry, played by Priscilla Barnes, who was very professional.

The comedy of the show came from the formulaic plots, revolving around a comedic misunderstanding, that gradually keeps getting worse and worse, ending with a hilarious climax. The show pulls it off, and it works nicely.

Along with the three roommates, we have Larry, the womanizing neighbor, and the landlords. Originally, Mr. and Mrs. Roeper were the landlords, and the show sometimes dealt with their marriage, which was kind of hard to watch, because it would be resolved, and next episode, same problems. Mr. Roeper was very uncomfortable around Jack. Then the Roepers got their own spin-off, and the leisure suit wearing Mr. Furley replaced him. Mr. Furley was played by the wonderful Don Knotts, probably one of my favorite comedic actors. It was nice to see a seasoned veteran on the show. Even when drama was going on regarding Suzannne Sommers, the show fell back on Don Knotts and John Ritter, who is once again possibly one of the best comedic actors ever. It was formulaic, but they pulled it off.

Three Words: Neil Patrick Harris. His Barney Stinson is the best part of this show, slick womanizer, calculating flirt, who works for a mysterious company, yet has some redeemable qualities as well. He was the break-out character of the show. Okay, now I can rant about how a grown man can become Bob Saget in the near future, but I won't. Because Bob Saget's good as a narrator. My favorite things about this show would be the Canadian jokes, the flashbacks (good use of flashbacks), Robin Sparkles, celebrity appearances, some of the physical gags (mainly Marshall's freakishly tall family, among other stuff), and the anticipation of who the mother is. Also, the actors are all great, but clearly NPH's character stands out the most, but the characters do have their own quirky qualities.

In the pilot episode, Bill Cosby's character, Dr. Cliff Huxtable, has a stern talking to with son Theo (played by Malcolm Jamal Warner, who is awesome), who is slacking off in school. Basically, it ends with Cliff berating him and calling him an idiot. Then in the series finale, there is a flashback (this show doesn't use flashbacks) to that exact same moment, as Theo miraculously graduates college. This set the tone for the whole show. Great cast, great actors. Rudy's actress, Keisha Knight Pulliam, is one of those rare child actresses who doesn't get by on just cuteness and saying catchphrases. Sadly, when her character became a preteen, enter Raven Symone as the precocious Olivia, the new cute child. Now why fix something that isn't broken. I like Raven Symone, but this was one of the jumping the shark moments of the show. This show has some hilarious moments that I cannot list, but for the majority of the show, before Lisa Bonet left for good, was great. Also, Cliff and Claire had an large amount of libido for a tv couple. Oh, and what kind of parents let their son hang out with a kid named Cockroach.

Great actors, great storylines, until Donna became blond and Topher Grace left. Pretty much every other line was hilarious. Great fantasy sequences, and of course, to top it all off, "The Circle." Watching this show makes me want to travel back in time and hang out in Point Place. Also, it doesn't hurt that pretty much everyone in this cast is eye candy (Kurtwood Smith is kind of sexy... kind of...). Oh, and it was nice to see Tanya Roberts, a former Charlie's Angel act in a comedic role. This show gave rise to Ashton Kutcher, and Golden Globe nominee Mila Kunis. And the guest stars. It's hard to name them all. Actually, Larry's actor from Three's Company appeared with Cindy (blonde 2 on Three's Company) in an episode together. Possibly one of my favorite guest stars would have to be in the last season, when Barry Willaims and Christopher Knight (Greg and Peter Brady) appeared as an openly gay couple. Red (the protagonist, Eric's, father, played by Kurtwood Smith) is surprisingly accepting of them, but then throws them out of the house when they preferred another football team over the Packers. Oh, and how could I forget Tommy Chong as washed out stoner Leo. Everything he says is hilarious. He's at the church and says that the guy onstage tells a few stories, they sing songs, it's like a religious experience, man. The best description of Leo's character can be told by Ashton Kutcher's character, Kelso in a circle sequence. One time, Leo made me a grilled cheese sandwich. And he put butter on the bread, and on the crusts, and grilled it, so it was all nice, but he forgot the cheese. If you want a funny episode, I suggest the garage sale episode. The adults accidently ingest some of Hyde (the paranoid philosophical, non-conformist, 70s antithesis bad boy)'s "special" brownies, and you see a role reversal of Eric being the parent when Red sells his car. And you get to see the adults in the circle.

Up next, sitcoms that either use a laughing track, or are holding an audience captive and using torture devices to get them to laugh.