Best TV Comedy of all time

Let us take a moment away from the death penalty, christian lies and manipulations, the utter failure of the bush administration and dwell upon the laughs we can still get in reruns.

He played that crazy General inspecting Col Blake and was damned funny too...

General Steele was a great whacked out character. Revealed to be a total racist cracker at the end...

"Hey hey, Uncle Fudd, it's a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi mud."

My MSgt operated just like Bilko, yet we never saw the motor pool. Oh, I guess Bilko never visited the motor pool either. ;)


Sergeant Bilko
The Phil Silvers Show: You'll Never Get Rich
You'll Never Get Rich (first few episodes title)

MSgt. Ernest G. Bilko: You said "but". I've put the finger on the whole problem. You're a "but" man. Don't say "but". That little word "but" is the difference between success and failure

End discussion.



Because I said so, dammit!

More laffs per minute than any show ever on TV.

In any event--nothing like it...

Whoa!

Joey's cast vs Hawkeye and gang. That should be nip and tuck.

Most daring in scope, tone, reach etc? "M*A*S*H."

Best, however--in terms of character depth, wit, intelligence, etc.--no question: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Though "Dick Van Dyke" gave MTM the template for a witty, adult program, "MTM" took it to levels unprecedented at that time. (As Rick Mintz put it in "The Great TV Sitcom Book," "Mary Tyler Moore" was the first sitcom that was also great literature. He also commented that "All in the Family" was a show, vs. "MTM," which was a program--a statement that makes very good sense if you think about it, though it's hard to explain.)

Lest ye doubt? Go back and watch "Chuckles Bites the Dust" again, and marvel at how perfectly everything congealed--the writing, the direction, the glorious actors. No sitcom ever mastered the bittersweet funny-sad dynamic so perfectly. ("Go ahead, my dear--laugh for Chuckles!" And of course, Mary bursts into tears.)

its characterizations and writing. I grew up watching it and still sit down some nights to catch a few epis on the Hallmark channel.

However I want to add that it was and is also one of the best dramas as well as comedies. An amazingly well-rounded show. How can it possibly be only a half-hour long?!

The best TV comedy ever is FOX News. Nothing comes close.

Overall, "Fawlty Towers" is the best television comedy of all time. Sheer genius.

The old one. The first one. Dr. Hartley & friends.

You take a shot every time someone on the show said "Hi Bob" - man, by the end of that 30 minutes, we definitely didn't go driving. :silly: :crazy:

:P

So funny.

CBS owned Saturday nights in the early '70's (prime time that is).

Col Potter, Henry Blake had a real special place in my heart. I cried like a little girl during the show where the staff heard his plane had been shot down and he was dead.

later, it dissolved into sitcom cliches and mawkish sentimentalism.....

Best recurring character on M*A*S*H, ever.

Jackie Gleason still kicks everyone's ass.

All of which were quite groundbreaking in their day.

I've been watching re-runs of Rosanne lately. Its amazing how good it was. And it's
unimaginabe that something similar would be put on the air now.

I'd say "Fawlty Towers" (or maybe "Seinfeld").

But best has to be "Monty Python's Flying Circus".