20 Shows that changed the Television Sitcom
THE HONEYMOONERS The first show in sitcom history. In fact, it began as a sketch on The Calvacade of Stars in 1951. Far from the surreal images of family life 
portrayed for years to come on Ozzie & Harriet and Leave it to Beaver, The Honeymooners were a swift reality-kick in the ass to the television world before the industry ever knew it would need one. Indeed, the characters were written and performed so brilliantly that the episodes stand the test of tim more than half a century later - even with most of the show's setting in Ralph & Alice Kramden's kitchen.
I LOVE LUCY Groundbreaking on so many levels. The first sitcom built around a female 
comedian. The first sitcom with an interracial marriage (in 1951!!!). The first filmed in front of a live audience. The first to use the now-standard 3 camera set up. Lucy and real life/TV husband also were the first to own syndication rights. All that AND Lucille Ball was just damn funny. One of the best physical comedians of all time.
DICK VAN DYKE SHOW Speaking of physical comedy... Dick Van Dyke was 
another pioneer of the body-convulsing humor. The show also showcased Mary Tyler Moore as Laurie Petre, Dan Dyke's character Rob's wife and his co-workers played by Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam. One of the first great ensemble casts - brilliantly written and hilariously performed... despite the seperate bed scenes in Rob & Laura's bedroom which really date the show.
THE BRADY BUNCH The show wasn't well-written - just your run-of-the-mill aw-shawks 
dilemas throughout a candy-land problemless world. Only Robert Reed had any acting skills and in a way, he brought street-cred to Mike Brady's solutions to the bubblegum issues his kids were faced with. A show that never made the Top 20 while it was airing in prime-time has somehow continued to flourish in reruns over 30 years later. A cult classic in ever sense of the word (even the hideous variety TV specials and reunion movies couldn't damage it's on-going popularity) The Brady Bunch continues to deliver us a world that we know doesn't exist and the cheap thrill of journeying to a place where losing a doll and a kazoo calls for 2 family meetings... and ultimately one in an endless supply of happy endings.
THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW Although Lucy was the first female lead, Mary Tyler 
Moore's Mary Richards was the first female character to be living on her own. Single, no children and a promising career working with a bunch of dudes - played brilliantly by Ted Knight, Galvin MacLeod and Lou Grant. Mary's burst of laughter during a funeral in one episode is an early dip into the depths of hilarious absurdity that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David would perfect two decades later.
ALL IN THE FAMILY Television's second reality-kick in the ass came 
from Archie Bunker in All in the Family. One of, if not thee, most creatively written shows ever, AITF pushed the envelope on many previous taboo-type subjects as race, religion, politics, war, gender equality and sexuality. Sammy Davis Jr's cameo appearance to plant one on Archie's cheek is a classic TV moment - and made by Carrol O'Connor's brilliant facial expression of confusion. One of the biggest TV character biggots, Archie had qualities we all could relate to - either within ourselves or someone close to us - and as is with most well written shows, that makes the episodes forever enjoyable to watch.
M*A*S*H* Can't say I watched this too much and as a kid back in the late-70's, I'd rather hear 
Taps than the theme song, but it etched it's place in TV history with it's Korean War back-drop during a Vietnam War-endrenched society. Despite it's cheezy laugh track and it's later years as an Alan Alda vehicle for doing everything (Think Bugs Bunny on the baseball field playing every position except this time on a TV set in front of and behind every camera) - but during the first half of it's run in primetime, is touched a nerve with a war-conscious audience and lent humor to an otherwise hostile subject.
THE JEFFERSONS Important for it's portrayal of race than it's written material, The 
Jeffersons centered around TV's first successful african-american leading man George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and his wife 'Weezie, their maid Florence and their interracial neighbors Tom and Helen Willis. Also the first show I remember as a kid that used "ass" in the dialogue.
THREE'S COMPANY Another show important more exposing subject 
matter than it's scripts, Three's Company was the first mainstream show to talk about homosexuality as it's premise revolved on a man (John Ritter's Jack Tripper) pretending to be gay so his landlord would allow him to room with two females. Storylines never veered past the cliche, but John Ritter's wonderful physical humor, Suzanne Somers' dumb blonde maneurisms in the early years, hilarious landlords - The Ropers and later Ralph Furley (played by Don Knotts - another crafty physical TV comedy veteran) and the ever present 'misunderstandings' made this late-70's gem another rerun cult-classic.
CHEERS So brilliant in so many ways - Cheers was the first truly awesome ensemble cast 
sitcom. Built around Ted Danson's washed-up former MLB'er Sam Malone, the cast also included Shelly Long, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberg, George Wendt, Woody Harrelson, Kelsey Grammar and Kirstey Alley. The characters were deep and involved and relatable and funny. Sam and Dianne (Long) will-they-won't-they relationship was one of the first of it's kind and provide a truckload of great comedy along the way
FAMILY TIES What began in premise as a hippie couple's family life with their kids in Ohio 
suburbia turned into a show about their Republican oldest son Alex P. Keaton - played brilliantly by Michael J. Fox. Fox had great comedic timing and great physical instincts. His 60's generation parents and too-cool-to-be-smart sister Mallory provided the perfect contrast to Alex's ultra-conservated pro-Reagan idealism. And don't forget Mallory's recurring boyfriend Nick... "Ey Oh Alex!"
THE COSBY SHOW Other than the above 2 sitcoms, by 1984 the sitcom world pretty muched sucked. And then came veteran comedian Bill Cosby and his sitcom adaption of his hugely successful comedy concert "Bill Cosby: Himself" (many elements of the Pilot episode are 
directly from the concert routine). In fact, the Pilot episode (Theo & the Monopoly money) could be the greatest written sitcom of all time. Like his predecessor George Jefferson, Cliff Huxtable was a successful African-American lead character. But unlike The Jeffersons where son Lionel was a recurring character, The Cosby Show was built around Cliff's wife Clair (a successful lawyer herself) and their 5 kids. The storylines weren't any more different than previous family comedies, but Cosby's brilliant delivery and great comic instincts made for some of the best moments in TV history. Show fell off halfway through it's run (around when middle child Denise left for college), but still entertained until it's last season in '91-'92
THE WONDER YEARS One of my personal favorites, The Wonder Years was unlike any show on TV when it premiered in the late-80's. Wonderfully written through the reflective flashback's of an adult Kevin Arnold and performed in adolescence by a 
young Fred Savage - the show had everything: the hard-ass dad, the concerned housewife, the hippie sister, the bully brother, the dorky friend and of course the childhood crush all guys could relate to in Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar). Kevin & Winnie's teenage will-they-won't-they was just as compelling as Cheers' Sam & Diane or Moonlighting's Dave & Maddie and probably more relatable.
ROSEANNE The third reality-kick in the ass came from Roseanne Barr when she brought her raunchy stand-up routine to network primetime in the late-80's. Far from Huxtable land of doctors AND lawyers incomes within the same household, Roseanne was 
surrounded by her unemployed husband Dan (perfectly played by John Goodman), her bratty teenager daughters, her wussy youngest son, neurotic sister and of course the afghan on the couch. Roseanne's off-camera battles in production led to the show's downfall - culminating in the family lottery win towards the series' end - but for the first few years it was one of the best shows on TV.
THE SIMPSONS Born out of sketches from The Tracey Ullman Show in the late-1980's, the never-aging, mysteriously based Simpson clan has endured for over 15 
years - and for one reason: Absolutely brilliant writing. Staying hip with it's endless supply of guest stars to keep viewers tuning in, the Simpsons survive for all it's subtle and quick paced dialogue. With the birth of reality TV in the late 90's, The Simpsons - and other animated shows that followed (Family Guy, South Park) - continue to give the writers oppurtunities to make us laugh while non-scripted shows flood the airwaves.
SEINFELD My personal favorite and quite possibly the most original sitcom ever produced. The counter-balance between Larry David's unconvential pessimism and Jerry Seinfeld's harmless delivery on camera made for some of the most original comedy ever written for TV. Making us laugh by watching them tell 
each other a story rather than letting us see what happened for ourselves, we were forced to use our imagination to fill the gaps - and in turn, made us all relate to their situation. Seinfeld surrounded himself with 3 perfect castmates (Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) who all genuinessly portrayed George, Elaine and Kramer respectively and provided great comic balance between each other. David & Seinfeld glorified all our insecurities and taboo fantasies into complete hilarium on a weekly basis.
FRIENDS The ever popular Friends was one of the most innovative shows on TV through it's first 5 seasons - peaking during season 4. Six great characters - Dumb Stud Joey, Wise Ass Chandler, Dorky Ross, Neurotic Monica, Drifty Phoebe and Girly-girl 
Rachel - they were highly influenced by 1980's childhood and hip to all the 1990's slang. At first brilliantly written and with one of the most compelling romances in Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) - for me, Friends fell off with the marraige of Monica & Chandler - and with it, their respective delves into neurosis and sarcasm now always ended with a hug, kiss and that annoying audience roar. Then they all kept moving around and that killed the whole bachelor pad vs. ladies place dynamic of the early years. Storylines eventually went thin or re-used (Phoebe's pregnancy = hilarious / Rachel's = schmaltz), but the first 5 seasons alone created endless - and less enjoyable - immitators.
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND For all the changes in pop-culture derived from the mass successes of Seinfeld and Friends, Raymond was a flip back to a more traditional family sitcom 
format. Using recycled TV ideas (dead pets, school bullies, etc), Ray Romano's show focused more on the parents ability to deal with these dilemas - a bold contrast to the Mike Brady or Cliff Huxtable approach similar to Father Knows Best. If anything, Romano's Ray Barone never knew the best - and usually chose the worst. Supported by a loyal but frustrated wife, a jealous and frustrated older brother and two ornary parents rivaled only by Frank and Estelle Constanza, Everybody Loves Raymond brought fresh life to old ideas by simply telling from another perspective.
WILL & GRACE Three's Company did introduce homosexuality into mainstream primetime 
TV, but not by actually having a character who gay - only pretending. Close to 20 years later, Will & Grace introduce 2 different gay characters (one flamboyant, the other more reserved) and with the support of two wacky women, made us realize that at our core, we all pretty similar.
MY NAME IS EARL All I think about when I see this show is the 80's flick Raising Arizona. 
Very surreal. Very Dry. But widly hilarious and original. Indie movie vets Jason Lee and Jamie Pressley have this sexy bitterness between them that definitely provides some laughter.
Jamie Lynn Discalia
Valerie Bertinelli
Suzanne Somers
Jennifer Aniston
Danica McKellar
Tiffany Amber Thiessan
Neve Campbell
Jaclyn Smith
Victoria Principal
Jennifer Love Hewitt 
