# The best sitcoms of all time

The top 20 of Rolling Stone's 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time (2021), plus the audience favourites that just missed out: The Office, It's Always Sunny and Friends.

- 38 votes · 28 items
- Mar 14, 2025 · Malik Kelly
- https://even.best/en/l/112/the-best-sitcoms-of-all-time

## Top 25

1. **Cheers** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — NBC, 1982–1993. The Boston bar 'where everybody knows your name'.
2. **The Simpsons** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Fox, 1989–. Springfield's yellow family; Rolling Stone's number one for the 'sheer density of humor' of its first decade.
3. **I Love Lucy** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — CBS, 1951–1957. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz; it invented the three-camera sitcom.
4. **M\*A\*S\*H** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — CBS, 1972–1983. A field hospital in Korea; its finale is still the most-watched scripted broadcast in US history.
5. **The Mary Tyler Moore Show** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — CBS, 1970–1977. A single woman working in a Minneapolis newsroom.
6. **The Honeymooners** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — CBS, 1955–1956. Jackie Gleason as bus driver Ralph Kramden, in just 39 classic episodes.
7. **Parks and Recreation** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — NBC, 2009–2015. Leslie Knope and the parks department of Pawnee, Indiana.
8. **The Larry Sanders Show** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — HBO, 1992–1998. Garry Shandling behind the scenes of a late-night talk show.
9. **The Dick Van Dyke Show** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — CBS, 1961–1966. A TV comedy writer at work and at home, created by Carl Reiner.
10. **Curb Your Enthusiasm** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — HBO, 2000–2024. Larry David playing himself in improvised social disasters.
11. **Frasier** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — NBC, 1993–2004. The Cheers psychiatrist moves to Seattle; five consecutive Emmys for Best Comedy.
12. **The Andy Griffith Show** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — CBS, 1960–1968. Sheriff Andy Taylor in the small town of Mayberry.
13. **Arrested Development** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Fox, 2003–2006. The dysfunctional Bluth family; cancelled and revived by Netflix.
14. **Taxi** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — ABC/NBC, 1978–1983. Drivers at a New York cab company, with Danny DeVito and Andy Kaufman.
15. **Roseanne** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — ABC, 1988–1997. A working-class family in Illinois, rarely seen on TV at the time.
16. **BoJack Horseman** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Netflix, 2014–2020. An animated, depressed former sitcom star horse; the only animated show in the top 20 besides The Simpsons.
17. **Community** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — NBC, 2009–2015. A study group at Greendale Community College and its paintball episodes.
18. **Malcolm in the Middle** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Fox family sitcom (2000–2006) created by Linwood Boomer, starring Frankie Muniz and Bryan Cranston.
19. **Seinfeld** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — NBC, 1989–1998. 'A show about nothing' by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.
20. **The Cosby Show** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — NBC, 1984–1992. The Huxtables of Brooklyn; the most-watched show in the US for five seasons.
21. **30 Rock** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — NBC, 2006–2013. Tina Fey runs a sketch show under Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy.
22. **The Office** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — NBC, 2005–2013. Michael Scott and Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch; number 23 for Rolling Stone and a streaming giant.
23. **It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — FX, 2005–. The worst people in Philadelphia run Paddy's Pub; the longest-running live-action US sitcom.
24. **Friends** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — NBC, 1994–2004. Six friends in Manhattan and Central Perk; number 38 on the list but loved worldwide.
25. **Fleabag** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — BBC/Amazon, 2016–2019. Phoebe Waller-Bridge breaks the fourth wall; six Emmys for its second season.
26. **Fawlty Towers** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — John Cleese and Connie Booth's BBC sitcom (1975–1979) about a disastrous Torquay hotel, only 12 episodes.
27. **Brooklyn Nine-Nine** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Police workplace comedy (2013–2021) created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, starring Andy Samberg.
28. **All in the Family** (-1 · ▲2 ▼3) — CBS, 1971–1979. Archie Bunker and the sitcom that tackled racism and politics head-on.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.