40 Best Sitcoms of All Time, Ranked

Sitcoms have been a television staple for essentially as long as there have been television sets in most households. Everyone likes a laugh or two, and some would argue that humans may well need a laugh or two every now and then, given that old cliché of laughter being the best medicine and whatnot. And with sitcoms being a reliable and popular source of humorous entertainment (especially for viewers in need of a chuckle in the times before the internet), there have been plenty of great ones made over the decades.

The word sitcom is an abbreviation of situation comedy, essentially meaning a show where the same group of characters are continually shown being involved in amusing situations. For the purposes of ranking the best sitcoms of all time below, the term is applied loosely, as indeed, some of the shows below – while funny – do branch out into other genres, including drama (sitcoms don’t mind getting sad sometimes, after all). But the following comedic shows can all be labeled as sitcoms, representing this type of TV at its best, and are shown below from great to greatest.

40 ‘Black Books’ (2001-2004)

Creators: Dylan Moran, Graham Linehan

An unfortunate tradition when it comes to British sitcoms is the fact that most don’t seem to last very long, so ranking the best episodes of Black Books ultimately leads to ranking a sizable number of Black Books episodes. It’s a show that revolves around a cranky, hard-drinking man who runs a bookstore, all the while treating his sole employee terribly, and complaining about things to his solitary friend.

Black Books is a mean-spirited but very funny show, revolving around an unapologetic misanthrope that gets treated terribly by the world around him, but always deserves it. It’s a downbeat sitcom that has an unusual tone, standing out even among other British comedy shows for how bleak it’s willing to get; appropriately enough, black comedy is the order of the day when it comes to Black Books.

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39 ‘Spaced’ (1999 – 2001)

Creators: Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson

Nowadays, Spaced is best known as the show made before Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright became legends within the world of film for the excellent Cornetto trilogy, directed by Wright and starring Pegg and Frost. Those movies – Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End – all served as excellent parodies while also being good examples of the genres they parodied, and there are certainly hints of the excellence to come found throughout Spaced’s two seasons.

The show follows two young people trying to get by in London while not having the most rewarding of lives (not in the traditional sense at least). Together – and with some other supporting characters – they frequently get into misadventures that sometimes border on surreal, or at least feel like they take place in a heightened reality. The energy level is always high, the jokes come frequently, and even if it’s not as good as the aforementioned trio’s later trilogy of movies, Spaced is still very good when judged as a sitcom.

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38 ‘Vice Principals’ (2016 – 2017)

Creators: Danny McBride, Jody Hill

Feeling like a two-part miniseries, Vice Principals only ran for two seasons, but they were both consistent and each played a part in telling a complete story that was over before it could be unnecessarily milked. Broadly speaking, that story involves two high-ranking officials at a high school both competing to become the principal of said school, and then forming an uneasy alliance when someone else is selected to be principal.

Picture a very small-scale Game of Thrones, set in a high school, and involving characters who want to run the school instead of being a kingdom’s ruler, and you’ve got Vice Principals. It’s compelling and rather easy to binge through, and the fact that one of its main characters is played by the always scene-stealing Walton Goggins definitely helps things overall.

Creators: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Just as Vice Principals revolves around vice principals, Extras revolves around extras; the actors who take on very small roles and often appear in the backgrounds of movies or TV shows. Another British sitcom that has a small number of episodes, Extras feels funny and satirical, but also has something of a dramatic throughline when it comes to its main characters, all of whom have aspirations of acting beyond the realm of background work.

It’s not just a TV show that relies on its cameos, by any means, but the guest stars are a big selling point of Extras, with each episode having at least one noteworthy celebrity playing themselves and having the episode they appear in bear their name. It’s a show that feels like it’s been a little forgotten, first airing close to 20 years ago now, but it holds up well and is a high-quality British sitcom.

36 ‘The Inbetweeners’ (2008 – 2010)

Creators: Damon Beesley, Iain Morris

Plenty of movies and TV shows have revolved around the struggles of growing up and coming of age, but few push things as far into uncomfortable territory as The Inbetweeners was willing to go. Airing three seasons between 2008 and 2010, as well as having two movies released after (in 2011 and 2014), The Inbetweeners is about four British teenagers who live miserable and awkward lives, but viewed from the outside, it’s all quite funny.

The Inbetweeners never feels like a drama necessarily, but there’s an authenticity to it where it feels like you’re watching real people trying – and pretty much always failing – to be cool. The realism may make the cringe comedy too cringe-inducing for some viewers, but the audacity and commitment to awkwardness is also strangely admirable, and leads to countless iconic scenes that are impossible to forget (even though you might want to).

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35 ‘Peep Show’ (2003 – 2015)

Creators: Andrew O’Connor, Jesse Armstrong, and Sam Bain

Co-created by Jesse Armstrong, who’s now best known for creating Succession, Peep Show was a long-running British sitcom that was presented in a fascinating and unique manner. Almost every single shot in the show’s run was from the point of view of a character within – or sometimes just outside – every scene, with frequently heard inner monologs from the two main characters also furthering this sense of getting inside people’s heads.

Peep Show is also legendary (and perhaps infamous) for the cringe comedy it contains, with such uncomfortable moments of humor being all the more squirm-inducing because of the way the show is presented. Those who don’t want to be witnesses to/borderline participants in a variety of awkward scenarios might want to sit this show out or get through it gradually, but those who enjoy dark and unsettling comedy ought to make watching this singular sitcom a priority.

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34 ‘Scrubs’ (2001 – 2010)

Creator: Bill Lawrence

Having a consistently good run throughout the 2000s (with a less-than-great final season that was also a spin-off – kind of – that aired in 2010), Scrubs was quirky, silly, and heartfelt in all the right ways. It followed a group of young doctors starting out as interns at Sacred Heart Hospital, gradually learning about the profession and themselves, and slowly growing and maturing as people as the seasons went along.

Not many sitcoms that last eight seasons (again, ignoring that “season 9”) stay as steadily good as Scrubs, with it generally holding up well and remaining entertaining when watched today. It feels distinctly of its era, in some ways, but it’s now old enough for at least the earlier season to feel nostalgic. Despite its age, however, few sitcoms in its wake have managed to mix such a zany sense of humor with genuinely sad and effectively dramatic moments, because Scrubs can get quite heavy when it wants to.

33 ‘The Office’ (2001 – 2003)

Creators: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

Though the American spin-off might be more well-known and have more fans nowadays, there’s an argument to be made that the original British version of The Office is superior (or at least more consistent and cutting-edge). Its tone is darker overall, and the characters are generally less pleasant to be around, which means that while it can be very funny, it’s also bleaker and more cynical.

Parts of The Office can be hard to watch, but it’s still easy to admire the then-groundbreaking way it was presented and the fact that it centered on people who worked remarkably mundane jobs. With just two short seasons and a Christmas special to tie everything up, the UK version of The Office is quite easy to recommend and proves undoubtedly interesting to compare and contrast to the better-known U.S. version.

32 ‘Flight of the Conchords’ (2007 – 2009)

Creators: James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, and Bret McKenzie

A sitcom that was short-lived, silly, and wholly distinct, Flight of the Conchords might well be one of the most underrated shows of the 21st century so far. Perhaps that comes from its style of humor being an acquired taste, but it wouldn’t be nearly as memorable if it wasn’t so weird. The show revolves around a comedic duo of musicians known as Flight of the Conchords, and their continually unsuccessful attempts to find fame in New York City.

Continually out of their depths and sinking further into obscurity with every passing episode, there’s an odd sadness inherent to Flight of the Conchords that would probably be depressing if the show wasn’t so funny and the music so catchy. The songs are genuinely good while also being expert parodies of certain artists and genres, being the best of both worlds and adding so much to what’s already a funny and quotable TV show.

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31 ‘Fawlty Towers’ (1975 – 1979)

Creators: John Cleese and Connie Booth

Perhaps the most famous project John Cleese is known for outside the groundbreaking and satirical works of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers was another short-lived British sitcom that prioritized quality over quantity. With just two seasons made up of six episodes each, the show was never in danger of outstaying its welcome and managed to be a near-perfect example of farcical comedy for its entire run.

The series is primarily set in the titular Fawlty Towers, which is a hotel run by the incompetent Basil Fawlty that falls into further disarray and chaos as the show goes along. It’s got a simple premise and a fairly confined location, but manages to mine a surprising amount of comedic gold out of it all, and is one of those rare older shows that feels just as funny now as it would’ve been back in the 1970s.

Creator: Dan Harmon

Running for six seasons with a potential (and long-promised) movie on the way, Community might not sound like anything out of the ordinary right away, but it grows into something weird and wonderful as it progresses. It’s centered around Greendale Community College, following the eccentric staff and students who find themselves there, with odd yet endearing bonds forming between the people in the core study group, all of whom have experienced some sort of failure in their pre-Greendale lives.

The infamous gas leak year (Season 4) is a bit rough, but much of Seasons 1 to 3 of Community make for comedic gold, and there’s also a good deal to like in Season 5. Season 6 may be spotty, but that finale really hits the mark and makes it all worthwhile, making fans of the show understandably excited to see where a grand finale Community movie might take their favorite characters.

29 ‘Schitt’s Creek’ (2015 – 2020)

Creators: Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy

Schitt’s Creek has a premise that sees an affluent family lose much of their wealth in an instant, in turn getting forced to move to a small town where life is far less lavish than what they’re used to. The show becomes about them rebuilding their lives and reassessing what makes life worth living, becoming better and more likable people in the process.

The reception to Schitt’s Creek got more favorable as the family at its center grew more lovable, making the show something of an underdog one, while also being – in a strange way – its own kind of underdog story featuring people who used to be top dogs. This culminated with a sixth and final season that aired in 2020 and became the show’s most beloved, especially when it came to awards recognition.

28 ‘Sex and the City’ (1998 – 2004)

Creator: Darren Star

Though it’s had a divisive recent reboot, the original run of Sex and the City stands out as a classic sitcom for a couple of key reasons. One is that it helped establish HBO as a place for premium TV programs, given it began airing one year after Oz and one year before The Sopranos, and the other is that it tackled themes regarding sexuality and relationships from an honest and female-centered perspective.

You could critique it for any number of reasons, especially because times have changed, content doesn’t always age well, and some shows have pushed things even further than Sex and the City did (Girls, for example, feels like a grittier and more intentionally confronting take on a similar premise, centering on four slightly younger women in New York City). But Sex and the City‘s an important show, an undeniably popular one, and stands as a sitcom that still has plenty of fans to this day.

27 ‘Atlanta’ (2016 – 2022)

Creator: Donald Glover

One problem with viewing the term sitcom in the broadest sense is that when you get to describing a show like Atlanta, calling it a sitcom feels a little inaccurate. It is a largely comedic show (with some dramatic elements), but it’d also have to be up there with the strangest and most surreal sitcoms of all time, if it does indeed count as a sitcom.

It takes place in the Atlanta hip-hop scene, and centers on a rapper and his manager exploring a version of said scene that seems to get more fantastical and bizarre as the show goes on. It bowed out gracefully after four seasons in 2022, and is so utterly singular and bold as a piece of television that Atlanta kind of has to be seen to be believed (good luck understanding 100% of it, but either way, it’s still a blast to watch).

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26 ‘Freaks and Geeks’ (1999 – 2000)

Creator: Paul Feig

Many fans of Freaks and Geeks will still bemoan the fact that the show was canceled after just one season, though others may be thankful there was just one borderline-perfect season that never got undone by future (potentially inferior) ones. It’s hard to know what the show could’ve been, of course, without some sort of time machine, and that kind of abrupt ending can hurt.

But speaking of time machines, it often feels like the makers of Freaks and Geeks genuinely went back in time to film this show, because it feels like it captures the early 1980s in an unbelievably authentic way. It follows various teens in a Detroit high school, and perfectly blends comedy, drama, and genuine heart while having a cast of flawed yet lovable characters to grow attached to.

25 ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ (2005 – )

Creator: Rob McElhenney

For nearly two decades now, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has continually found ways to push boundaries within the confines of a typical sitcom setup. On paper, a show about five terrible people (or four in the first, Danny DeVito-less season) being terrible and alienating themselves from the world at large might not sound out of the ordinary, but with its execution, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is anything but ordinary.

It can be loud, crass, and wonderfully stupid, but its sense of anarchy is what makes it so compulsively watchable, and there are undeniably funny characters at its center. There’s little here to take seriously or get moved by; it’s just pure, chaotic comedy, finding ways to go to some extreme places and touch on sensitive subjects appropriately and fairly, given the terrible main characters are usually the butt of the joke.

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24 ’30 Rock’ (2006 – 2013)

Creator: Tina Fey

From the late 1990s until 2006, Tina Fey was well-known for being a cast member and eventual head writer for the long-running sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. When she left the show, she developed 30 Rock as her next creative project, with it being a sitcom largely based around her experiences with working on Saturday Night Live.

It’s arguably one of the most successful cases of “write what you know,” because 30 Rock was a huge show between 2006 and 2013, maintaining a strong level of quality over seven seasons and 139 episodes. It pushes the odd things that can happen with working in the world of TV entertainment to bizarre, sometimes surreal heights, and in the process became a wonderfully meta and super fast-paced show, and one of the more novel workplace comedies out there.

23 ‘Friends’ (1994 – 2004)

Creators: David Crane and Marta Kauffman

Love it or hate it, Friends is a behemoth of a sitcom, and perhaps the most popular show of its kind airing at the turn of the century. It’s about as straightforward as sitcoms get, following six young people who are indeed friends, tracking the ups and downs of their lives while they live in Manhattan, New York City. Loved by some, disliked by others, Friends is still Friends, and it’s inevitably hard to overlook when it comes to discussing sitcoms.

It had a 10-season run, and in the end, it aired an impressive 236 episodes. It’s the sort of hangout show that can provide comfort and familiarity for viewers who get on its wavelength, making it understandable why its fans returned to the show, its characters, and its sense of humor again and again, all the way until its 2004 finale, which was the most-watched episode of any show during the 2000s.

22 ‘The Jeffersons’ (1975 – 1985)

Creators: Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, and Bernie West

Running for 11 seasons and having more than 250 episodes, The Jeffersons is one of the most groundbreaking sitcoms of its day, mainly owing to the representation it offers. It wasn’t the very first sitcom to focus mostly on Black characters, but it was an early one that did so while finding strong mainstream popularity and acclaim.

The sitcom is centered on a Black couple who move from Queens to Manhattan after their dry-cleaning business, Jefferson Cleaners, finds considerable success. It was a traditionally presented sitcom that also proved unafraid to talk about racial and social issues at times, making it easy to admire and appreciate now, in hindsight, all the future diverse comedy shows it helped pave the way for.

21 ‘BoJack Horseman’ (2014 – 2020)

Creator: Raphael Bob-Waksberg

There have been almost too many animated sitcoms to count that have been released in the 21st century so far, but something like BoJack Horseman does stand out from the crowd. It begins as a funny (and perhaps slightly too silly) show about an anthropomorphic horse who was a famous sitcom actor in the 1990s, but feels past his prime in the present. As it goes on, it gets considerably darker, more experimental, and almost uncomfortably introspective.

BoJack Horseman has some incredibly silly humor (much of it pun-based) and plenty of satirical swipes at Hollywood, while also exploring the dark side of fame and things like alienation, depression, and substance addiction that can come from it. It’s colorful and harrowing in equal measure, and at its best, BoJack provided some of the greatest dramedy episodes of the 2010s (and the first year of the 2020s, given that’s when its sixth season finished airing).