Sitcoms you can't stand

[Feanor]

Now there is a good list but missing Mr Bean and Are you being Served, Waiting for God, and the Bucket Lady.

Ah! Brit sitcoms!

• I quite liked (not loved) Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances ("Bucket Lady").
• I HATED Mister Bean.
• I never caught Waiting for God.

There were plenty of other decent Brit sitcom that I kind of enjoyed but the names don't come to mind. E.g. the one about a black British chef; really quite good!

[Feanor]

I'm with Worf on Seinfeld and Friends. Ghastly crap that only serves to retard the growth of American culture. This junk taught a whole generation that it's ok, and even cool, to act like a self-absorbed twat. That they're both so popular only strengthens this position, actually.

At this point in my life I refuse to give sitcoms any more of my time. It's something that every American would be better off doing.

Well, I do enjoy Weeds on Showtime . . . And I do think Curb Your Enthusiasm pushed Seinfeld's "lovable douchebag" concept so far beyond taste and the way it all blows up in Larry's face at the end of each episode (similar to Cleese in the spectacularly funny Fawlty Towers) that it can be pretty damn funny at times.

But overall? Sitcoms suck donkey balls.

That's pretty much the bottom line, Troy.

Regarding Seinfeld, my kids got me sucked in to the series and ultimately I enjoyed it. Absolutely true that it was about "self-absorbed twats". Maybe I was just too old for the message but I certainly didn't take away that it's OK to be like that. I tried and I think, ultimately, succeeded convinced my kids too that it isn't.

I never watched any Curb Your Enthusiasm : enough was enough already!

[GMichael]

Any sitcom where they relied on someone with a screechy voice as their main atraction. I just don’t find that funny. Can’t change the chanel fast enough.

I also don’t have much use for the ones with political agendas. Even if I agree with them, it’s not why I watch a comedy.

[Smokey]

As a Black American who was born and raised under Jim Crow (both the northern and southern versions I might add) I must say that all of the shows mentioned above with the exceptions of "The Jeffersons" and "Sanford and Son" I found extremely offensive and patently racist in the extreme.

How can you say that about lovable charactors such as Mable King, Esther Rolle and Theresa Merritt (Mama)

You said that is your opinion and I repsect that. But meanwhile some of greatest Tv comedy moments might be lost.

[Worf101]

How can you say that about lovable charactors such as Mable King, Esther Rolle and Theresa Merritt (Mama)

You said that is your opinion and I repsect that. But meanwhile some of greatest Tv comedy moments might be lost.

It isn't the first time, won't be the last... that we, WITH respect and friendship, agree to disagree... See folks it's not so hard to have a difference of opinion and not resort to stabbin' on another with kitchen knives..... yet....

Worf

[GMichael]

It isn't the first time, won't be the last... that we, WITH respect and friendship, agree to disagree... See folks it's not so hard to have a difference of opinion and not resort to stabbin' on another with kitchen knives..... yet....

Worf

We don't have any members who would do such a thing.

[3LB]

How can you say that about lovable charactors such as Mable King, Esther Rolle and Theresa Merritt (Mama)

You said that is your opinion and I repsect that. But meanwhile some of greatest Tv comedy moments might be lost.

I watched all of those shows and never felt they insulted the black community, but was educated by friends of mine while in the Navy. They asked me how I felt about The Beverly Hillbillies or Dukes Of Hazard, or even The Andy Griffith Show at times. You'd be surprised at how those shows made the rest of the country view southernors (who are just as capable of laughing at themselves as anyone). I took so much crap in the Navy for being from the south, mostly from miserable people whose catharsis was making others more miserable. The assumption a lot of racist people (I still encounter) make about southernors, is that they've just found a brother-in-arms, assuming all southern white males are kard karrying klansmen. I used to laugh my ass off at the Beverly Hillbillies when I was a kid. Not so much now.

A few of my navy buddies back in the '80s would shake their heads at those old '70s sitcoms and say "at least we got Cosby". The great thing about irascible, prejudiced dudes like Fred Sanford and Archie Bunker, is that while it was funny to see them get bent out of shape and act out, from time to time they got their asses handed to them for their ignorance.

But I see where Smoke is coming from, I have some fond memories of a few of those shows. Rerun from What's Happening was already well known to my household having seen him as a member of The Lockers, a performing dance troup on the Flip Wilson Show, on which they had made several appearences and if memory serves me, they were on other variety shows like Cher (my mother was a nut for TV variety shows). Remember when Rerun tries to "boot"... a Doobie Brothers concert?

For whatever reason, whenever a TV sitcom comes along and focuses on any one geographic region, ethnic group, or culture, there will be those who take it for anthropological fact rather than the parody that it is.

[RGA]

E.g. the one about a black British chef; really quite good!

It was called Chef and I liked it too. People said no one is like that - but I think it is - just watch Gordon Ramsey LOL. I think he has the record for most F-bombs in a 1 hour show.