by Scott Steehn

Created on: April 30, 2009   Last Updated: May 01, 2009

Picking the best sitcoms of all time is a tricky business. There's all the standard disclaimers about how it's a subjective process, types of comedies, funniest star, funniest supporting cast, best written, etc. But what makes this an especially challenging subject is the fact that there are really four distinctive eras for the half-hour situation comedy. Roughly those eras are as follows:

1) The Golden Era - This period was ushered in by I Love Lucy. In most ways, this is the first "true" sitcom. The elements that are still recognizable to this day (Recurring characters, recurring location, non-episodic plot lines) are still seen today in the sitcoms of the 21st century. Likeable main characters, simple stories and an overall sense of escapism characterized this period. This was a time when people tuned into sitcoms to forget about a sometimes unpredictable real world of the late 50's and 60's. TV sitcoms provided an escape from the nuclear threat, assassinations, wars and riots that were an all-too-real part of everyday life. Some of the great shows in this era included The Dick van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. As the 60's drew to a violent close with the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King riots in the streets and the killings at Kent State, America was losing its innocence. We were ready for shows that reflected the times. One man was poised to deliver.

2) The Socially Aware Era - More than any other, this era belongs to one man: Norman Lear. In 1971 Lear introduced us to a gruff but lovable blue-collar bigot, his occasionally ditzy but surprisingly savvy wife, his strong-willed, opinionated daughter and her book-smart, liberal, but naive husband. They all lived in a lower-middle class home in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York and together they formed the nucleus for the most groundbreaking sitcom of all-time. All in the Family broke the mold of what had been considered the successful sitcom paradigm for twenty years. America was growing up and Lear's show and characters reflected that. Among such formerly taboo subjects he tackled were racism, religion, abortion, menopause, politics and women's rights. All in the Family ran in its original format for eight years and produced two other highly successful Lear spin-offs, The Jeffersons and Maude. He also was executive-producer for Sanford and Son, Good Times, One Day at a Time and Different Strokes. This

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