The top 20 Sitcoms - from the "experts"

*Sigh"

There's a few sitcoms in this list that are either too high up the list or too far down in my views.

How they failed to place One Foot in the top 20 is beyond me. Ab fu**ing Fab top 10. Detectorists, although I've heard many good things, has that even stood the test of time to respectfully be in this top 20? Reggie Perrin?!

My choice and "the people's" choice in 2004 was a slightly different top 10, but the "experts" as it were see it differently.

1.Fawlty Towers (1975-9, BBC Two)
2.Father Ted (1995-8, Channel 4)
3.I'm Alan Partridge (1997-2002, BBC Two)
4.Blackadder (1983-9, BBC One)
5.Dad's Army (1968-77, BBC One)
6.Only Fools and Horses (1981-2003, BBC One)
7.Porridge (1973-8, BBC One)
8.The Royle Family (1998-2012, BBC One)
9.Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2012, BBC Two)
10.Dinnerladies (1998-2000, BBC One)
11.The Thick of It (2005-12, BBC Four and Two)
12.The Office (2001-3, BBC Two)
13.Peep Show (2003-15, Channel 4)
14.The Vicar of Dibley (1994-2007, BBC One)
15.The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-9, BBC One)
16.The Young Ones (1982-4, BBC Two)
17.Gavin & Stacey (2007-10, BBC Three and One)
18.The Good Life (1975-8, BBC One)
19.Detectorists (2014-17, BBC Four)
20.Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (1973-4, BBC One)

I pretty much stopped taking this list seriously when I saw Ab Fab was above dinerladies and Only Fools was above Porridge. Also where the hell is Steptoe and Son?!

In my book, "Yes, Minister" is one of the all-time great British sitcoms and yet it is not even on the list.

I feel the same way about "Allo, Allo!" and it isn't on the list.

And what about "Till Death Us Do Part"?

On the negative side, "Dinnerladies" shouldn't be anywhere near the top twenty.

Half the top ten is 90s stuff so I assume the bulk of the people asked grew up around that time, they might not have been exposed to much Steptoe, or Hancock for that matter.

Father Ted is way too high up

Quote: Rood Eye @ 9th April 2019, 5:23 PM

On the negative side, "Dinnerladies" shouldn't be anywhere near the top twenty.

View original

Very true. It should be be nearer the top ten.

Looks like it is pretty much the same old same old as per usual.

Don't think we will ever get a definitive top 20 as we all seem to favour our own style and maybe even time for comedy. As has been pointed out many from 90s, which maybe suggest a younger voting panel.

Maybe I am missing the point of it but Dectectorists, seriously, an appalling comedy IMHO and almost a laughter free show. Surely the whole point of a comedy is to make you laugh

Quote: smc4761 @ 9th April 2019, 7:27 PM

Surely the whole point of a comedy is to make you laugh

View original

Broadly speaking, that is the intention of comedy writers and performers - but I wouldn't say it was the whole point of comedy.

Different people will find different sitcoms "laugh out loud" funny but a great many people can thoroughly enjoy a sitcom without ever laughing out loud.

I have enjoyed countless sitcom episodes without laughing out loud - even though I thought them very funny indeed.

"Detectorists" is, in my book, a quality sitcom.

The Top 20 IMO is this

1. Only Fools and Horses
2. Porridge
3. Open All Hours
4. Are You Being Served?
5. Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister
6. Bottom
7. The Royle Family
8. Keeping Up Appearances
9. Terry and June
10. On The Buses
11. Bless This House
12. George and Mildred
13. Man About The House
14.Dinnerladies
15. Happily Ever After
16. You Rang'M Lord
17. Til Death Us Do Part
18. In SIckness and In Health
19. Oh Doctor Beeching
20. Men Behaving Badly

That is my top 20, I can't believe Yes Minister is in that list that should be in top 10 at the very least. Ab Fab should be nowhere near that list, let alone the top 100 or 200 of sitcoms. OFAH should be top IMO, don't care about Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Alan Partridge, not bothered.

Not enough classics on that official list, too much 90s stuff on there. One Foot In The Grave for a lot of people should be in there. Glad to know The Office is nowhere near the top, as I hate that show with a passion.

To misquote Eddie Braben, the Radio Times list is "most of the right names, but certainly not in the right order".

The make-up of their "comedy expert" panel is surely one of the greatest mysteries of our time.

I wonder where Aaron would come in a Top 20 of comedy experts.................................

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 10th April 2019, 3:09 PM

I wonder where Aaron would come in a Top 20 of comedy experts.................................

View original

As the man said in 1946 when he found an unexploded bomb in his back garden, "I'm going nowhere near that".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5SyuiljV-E

Seems a bit strange as the Experts included the writers of some of them.

I would also include the IT Crowd.

No Rising Damp?

These things have to be taken with a pinch of salt, and are usually just a way of generating some publicity/traffic for a newspaper/magazine/website/channel, but it seems like a solid list. Not sure about the order, but even I tend to reshuffle my preferences from year to year depending on my mood.

Incidentally, nice use of quotes in the thread title. It's almost like well known expert hater Michael Gove has joined the BCG!