Sitcoms you can't stand

[3LB]

I've fallen out of love for many faves

I'm hearing ya Worf. Sitcoms featuring African-Americans were as predictable and backhandedly racist as a McDonalds commercials featuring African-Americans back in the '70s - one taste of that McRib and a southern church revival would break out.

Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends all wore out their welcome. I think the first two years of Happy Days was a hoot, even now, but it became The Fonzie Show and sucked. At least Lavern & Shirley gave us Lenny and The Squigtones. Two And A Half Men is periodically funny, but yes, it got old after two seasons. Watching a 'falling-down drunken womanizer' play a 'falling-down drunken womanizer' is just too odd these days.

All In The Family was great for its first three or four season, then it was a train wreck

I hated all the spin-offs of All In The Family (The Jeffersons, Maude which spun Good Times) Good Times could have been great but it does what so many sitcoms do, turn into a vehicle for one character, in this case Jimmy 'JJ' Walker, the most nominally funny comedian ever. Tom Arnold is a riot compared to Walker. I think Good Times might have had the first catch-phrase (Dy-No-Mite!). John Amos agreed to do the show only if they kept a short leash on Walker, which they did not. I have to admit though, I did check into this show as a kid so I could oggle a young Janet Jackson (Miss Jackson if yer nasty). Same with another bad sitcom, One Day At a Time (Bertinelli).

Roseanne was great (IMO) for the first three or four seasons, but turned into a train wreck as well. Cosby Show was hit or miss for me. Too schmaltzy, too cutesy. When the youngest kid got too old to be cute and precocious, they invented a new one, and recycled the first two or seasons worth of "kids say the most smartassed things".

In fact, piss on every sitcom that ever had the smartassed, lippy brat child. Different Strokes - the poster sitcom for child actor disfunction, didn't invent the idea, but made it a standard. Hated Facts Of Life. Wow, there are hundreds of bad sitcoms, all of them popular.

And piss on all the teen phenomina shows, like the ones that were popular just because of a popular teen hearthrob. Disney and Nickelodian are whizzes at inventing phenoms. Every shows has a teen in it that can sing, has magic powers, or both and all the adults are blithering idiots. Hanna Montana bugs me the worst, because it proves what complete sheep people are. If a major conglomerate tells you to watch, listen, and buy a product, then we freakin do it. Miley Ray Cyrus is just as bad a singer as her dad, but she sells out concerts and is a platnum selling artist. And its so obvious that she is so terrible... but nobody cares, because its phenomina, and no one wants to be left out. It plays right into what Branford Marsallis said: "We live in a culture where the idea of what you are, is more important than you actually being that and it all works as long as everybody is willing to wink at the same time." Many kid based sitcoms play this aspect of our society big time.

The most tragically unfunny sitcom star ever - Nell Carter

Phew... RGA is right, prolly easier to list the ones we like.

I Love Lucy (even this show went on way too long)
Andy Griffith Show - until Barney left
All In The Family - seen reruns of the first few seasons lately? They really broke the mold dint they? Made us look at a very egregious aspect of our society - lets face it, some of these early episodes are still all too relevent.
Sanford And Son - Redd Foxx's masterful comic timing kept this from being a disastor really. It too forced race issues into the home, but never got as heavy-handed as All In The Family.
Soap - as groundbreaking as it was, it really was unrealistic as hell
Everybody Loves Raymond - he was a male Lucy Riccardo, but it worked for me and it had a superb cast. Some episodes make me squirm.
Cheers - consistantly funny, though I rarely watch reruns
Will And Grace - written by gay guys, acted by straight actors, most of the time. Never took itself seriously, had some great episodes and even though the Jack McFarlan character was a caracture of an over-sexed gay male, Will was a grounded, professional yet openly gay male and the glue that held together a lot of zaniness (admittedly, too much at times). Helped humanize a sector of society that I (just being honest here) hadn't much interest in getting to know until this show.
And back when I actually had a premium cable channel, I liked The Garry Shandling Show on Showtime. My wife hated it though. I thought it was innovative.