FromThe OfficetoThe Mary Tyler Moore Show, there are some hugely influential sitcoms that changed the genre so drastically that they’re still being emulated by TV comedies today. There are few genres as rigid as the sitcom. Every sitcom has an ensemble cast of eccentric but lovable characters. Every week, they get into some wacky misadventures that are divided between an A-plot and a B-plot, which sometimes get intertwined (thanks toa narrative tactic pioneered bySeinfeld). Over the course of a given series, these characters will grow to love each other like a family.
But those tropes and conventions didn’t appear out of thin air. They had to be developed throughout decades of television history. Groundbreaking shows likeMAS*H,Fawlty Towers, andThe Honeymoonersoriginated character archetypes, storytelling tricks, and comedic styles that sitcom writers are still trying to replicate to this day.All in the Familyintroduced the trope of clashing ideologies under the same roof.The Simpsonsintroduced the notion of adult-oriented animation. And, of course, for the past two decades, every network on the airwaves has been trying to come up with the nextFriends.
10Cheers
Cheersestablished a lot of the tropes that are now commonplace in the sitcom genre. It revolves around the staff and regulars of a Boston bar where everybody knows your name. It introduced sprawling ensemble casts full of colorful characters, a touching sense of community in a dysfunctional setting, and, most importantly, the “will they or won’t they?” couple.Sam and Diane’s on-and-off romance inCheerspaved the way for Ross and Rachel inFriends, Tim and Dawn inThe Office, Jim and Pam in the American version ofThe Office, and Janine and Gregory inAbbott Elementary.
9MAS*H
UntilMASHcame along, save for the odd bit of cloying melodrama, the sitcom was used purely as a vehicle for humor. With its occasionally harrowing story set during the horrors of the Korean War,MASHproved that sitcoms could mix some more serious dramatic elements into their humor.MAS*Hwas a really funny show, but it wasn’t afraid to kill off characters. A lot of other comedies followed suit and introduced darker elements to the standard sitcom setup, from fellow classics likeTaxiandThe Jeffersonsto more recent efforts likeBoJack HorsemanandOrange is the New Black.
8Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towerslaid out the template for the British sitcom. A lot of classic British sitcoms have even copiedFawlty Towers’ episode count and called it quits after two seasons:Spaced,Fleabag,The Office,Extras,The Young Ones,I’m Alan Partridge.Fawlty Towers’ farcical storylines and cringe humor had a massive influence on British comedy. John Cleese’s turn as Basil Fawlty — one ofthe greatest sitcom performances of all time— created the archetype for British sitcom characters. From David Brent to Alan Partridge, British sitcom protagonists tend to be bumbling buffoons with a complete lack of self-awareness and social skills.
7The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Showhas influenced just about every workplace comedy that came in its wake. This series introduced the idea of co-workers as found family. In the final episode, Mary delivers a touching monologue about how the people she works with are as good as family, because she loves them and they make her feel less alone. This concept of the workplace family would later be copied byCheers,The Office,Superstore,Parks and Recreation,Night Court,Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and even the decidedly unsentimentalIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
6The Office
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant brought the mockumentary format to the small screen with their highly influential masterpieceThe Office. With talking-head interviews, awkward glances at the camera, and characters that are aware they’re on TV,The Officepioneered a whole new way to make a sitcom. After it was successfully adapted for American television, it promptly became a new subgenre. The mockumentary style ofThe Officehas since been emulated byParks and Recreation,Modern Family,Abbott Elementary, andWhat We Do in the Shadows. Shows likeCommunity,Entourage, andWandaVisionhave featured one-off episodes in the mockumentary format.
5All In The Family
All in the Familywas renowned for tackling taboo subjects that most network TV shows of its era wouldn’t dare to broach. It created comedic conflict by placing curmudgeonly working-class conservative Archie Bunker under the same roof as his ultra-liberal son-in-law Mike Stivic. Archie and Mike were conceived as extreme caricatures of either end of the political spectrum. Archie’s satire of bigotry was a major influence onSouth Park’s Eric Cartman, and the clash between his and Mike’s ideologies has influenced TV pairings like Stan and Hayley inAmerican Dad!and Alex P. Keaton and his parents inFamily Ties.
4The Honeymooners
Jackie Gleason expanded a recurring sketch about a married couple from his variety show into its own half-hour sitcom withThe Honeymooners. Gleason plays New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden opposite Audrey Meadows as his wife Alice. This show introduced the classic, somewhat problematic dynamic of the husband as a boorish, loudmouthed slob and his beautiful wife as a deadpan foil. It was later seen inThe Flintstones,Married… with Children,The King of Queens, andFamily Guy. More recently, the trope was brilliantly subverted and satirized in the underratedKevin Can F**k Himself.
3The Larry Sanders Show
Garry Shandling pioneered a brand-new type of sitcom driven by meta humor with his underappreciated gemThe Larry Sanders Show. Set behind the scenes of a late-night talk show, it was the first of manyTV shows about making a TV show, later followed by30 Rock,The Comeback, and Aaron Sorkin’sSports Night,The Newsroom, andStudio 60 on the Sunset Strip.The Larry Sanders Showdemonstrated how much fun it could be to have celebrity guest stars playing unflattering versions of themselves, a conceit that has since been borrowed byCurb Your Enthusiasm,Extras,Episodes, andHacks.
2Friends
Networks have beentrying to come up with the nextFriendsfor the past two decades. There’s nothing that makesFriendsparticularly unique — it’s just about six twentysomething pals hanging out in New York — but its feel-good tone, its broad humor, and the fizzling chemistry between its perfectly matched actors all came together to make it a smash hit whose popularity endures to this day. Shows likeNew Girl,Coupling, andHow I Met Your Motherhave all tried to recapture what madeFriendsso successful. EvenThe Big Bang Theoryeventually became aFriendsclone.
1The Simpsons
Although it started off as a series of shorts to fill out airtime onThe Tracey Ullman Show,The Simpsonsended up making television history when it got its own half-hour series.The Simpsons’ blend of absurdist cartoon comedy and relatable family situations went on to influence the creation ofKing of the Hill,Family Guy,American Dad!,Bob’s Burgers, andF is for Family. None of those shows would exist withoutThe Simpsons.
And it’s not just family shows that were inspired byThe Simpsons; its influence goes even further than that. More broadly,The Simpsonsproved that animation doesn’t just have to be for kids, and there’s a huge audience of adults that are itching to watch inappropriate cartoons. It paved the way forSouth Park,The Boondocks,Archer,Rick and Morty,BoJack Horseman, and countless other adult-oriented animated shows.
