The seventies is often viewed as a Golden Age for the sitcom, but I believe that another ocurred in the nineties - on both sides of the Atlantic - think about it...

British:
The Vicar of Dibley
Father Ted
Absolutely Fabulous
Bottom
Men Behaving Badly
The Thin Blue Line
The Office
Spaced

US:
Cybill
High Society
Frasier
Seinfeld (Haven't got into it - but seems clever and popular)
Married With Children
Murphy Brown
Roseanne (Okay - it sterted in '88 - bit was mostly nineties).

I'm sure other people have suggestions from both sides of the pond - I might even disagree!
Join the chat!

The Office is not a 90s sitcom. Every decade has gold and crud.

Quote: ToddB @ March 10 2011, 12:47 PM GMT

US:
Cybill
High Society
Frasier
Seinfeld (Haven't got into it - but seems clever and popular)
Married With Children
Murphy Brown
Roseanne (Okay - it sterted in '88 - bit was mostly nineties).

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Out of that list only Frasier and Seinfeld are worthy of note. The rest are pretty forgettable, even Roseanne, which was at its peak in the early, gritty years, ie., the eighties.

Married With Children ditto: best in the early years, and it began in 1987. Some of the best episodes of The Simpsons are from around 1991 to 1996 though.

Quote: chipolata @ March 10 2011, 1:15 PM GMT

Out of that list only Frasier and Seinfeld are worthy of note. The rest are pretty forgettable, even Roseanne, which was at its peak in the early, gritty years, ie., the eighties.

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Yes, making a very good point and then immediately demolishing it by mentioning Cybill, Seinfeld and Murphy Brown did seem an odd way of making an argument.

Quote: Afinkawan @ March 10 2011, 1:20 PM GMT

Yes, making a very good point and then immediately demolishing it by mentioning Cybill, Seinfeld and Murphy Brown did seem an odd way of making an argument.

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Seinfeld is amazing.

EDIT:

Wait, are you saying because Seinfeld started in the eighties?? Almost all episodes of the show went out in the nineties.

And Cybil was a nineties show.

I only state "Murphy Brown" as it was an (unusually for the time) female-centred sitcom with a great lead actress.
My full support is thrown behind "Cybill", however. It may be a little sentimental at times, but it is mauture, clever, bold in its bitterness and discusses womens' issues frankly and subverseively. It was a travesty that it was cancelled and was forgotten for many years because it was left with a cliff-hanger.
"High society" is largely forgotten - but paved the way for the much more diluted "Will and Grace".

Quote: ToddB @ March 10 2011, 1:26 PM GMT

My full support is thrown behind "Cybill", however. It may be a little sentimental at times, but it is mauture, clever, bold in its bitterness and discusses womens' issues frankly and subverseively. It was a travesty that it was cancelled and was forgotten for many years because it was left with a cliff-hanger.

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I don't remember it being anything special, merely a star vehicle for Cybil Shepherd. It was a Filler-Com, in that it filled the schedules and that was about it.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ March 10 2011, 1:21 PM GMT

Wait, are you saying because Seinfeld started in the eighties??

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No, because it was rubbish. I watched about three episodes. some of it was OK but they had a really irritating tendency to telegraph jokes and then thrash them to death for a couple of minutes afterwards.

Everyone ranted about it so I tried again and I think that if I was going to waste 20-odd minutes on Seinfeld, it would be more productive to spend it slapping him vigorously than watching him.

People keep telling me, "Oh you only saw some of the first series, that was the shit one...and maybe part of the second series...and some of the third...but it definitely gets good by about series 27." and frankly I can't be arsed.

I'll probably try Curb some day but the 'by the makers of Seinfeld' is incredibly off-putting.

Ahh! You just don't get it! >_< Sooooo much more mature than other US sitcoms of the nineties. The preformances of the lead actresses were also superior! When I was a little younger I missed the significance, but watching it again, it is seriously loaded with smart stuff.

Quote: chipolata @ March 10 2011, 1:29 PM GMT

I don't remember it being anything special, merely a star vehicle for Cybil Shepherd. It was a Filler-Com, in that it filled the schedules and that was about it.

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Meh. the only decent thing about Cybill was Alicia Witt.

Quote: ToddB @ March 10 2011, 1:32 PM GMT

Ahh! You just don't get it! Sooooo much more mature than other US sitcoms of the nineties. The preformances of the lead actresses were also superior!

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I'm sure they were very good performances, but it wasn't that funny. And if you want a truly great sitcom starring a woman in the lead, 30 Rock knocks virtually everything else into a cocked hat. And that's from now.

Quote: ToddB @ March 10 2011, 1:32 PM GMT

Ahh! You just don't get it! >_< Sooooo much more mature than other US sitcoms of the nineties. The preformances of the lead actresses were also superior! When I was a little younger I missed the significance, but watching it again, it is seriously loaded with smart stuff.

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I didn't say it wasn't better than most other US sitcoms...

Quote: Afinkawan @ March 10 2011, 1:31 PM GMT

No, because it was rubbish. I watched about three episodes. some of it was OK but they had a really irritating tendency to telegraph jokes and then thrash them to death for a couple of minutes afterwards.

Everyone ranted about it so I tried again and I think that if I was going to waste 20-odd minutes on Seinfeld, it would be more productive to spend it slapping him vigorously than watching him.

People keep telling me, "Oh you only saw some of the first series, that was the shit one...and maybe part of the second series...and some of the third...but it definitely gets good by about series 27." and frankly I can't be arsed.

I'll probably try Curb some day but the 'by the makers of Seinfeld' is incredibly off-putting.

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Rubbish? Oh dear-! I'm not prejudiced about a lot of things, but I always assume that any comedy writer who doesn't like Seinfeld must surely be awful. It's the best sitcom ever.

Quote: chipolata @ March 10 2011, 1:35 PM GMT

I'm sure they were very good performances, but it wasn't that funny.

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Meh - a mercurial term. Are you telling me Christine Baranski wasn't funny? I laughed at most of her one liners, and just about any time she strutted on!
Anyhow...
Does anyone even remember "High Society"? Such a shame that it was cancelled for being too extreme - forgotten, but certainly broke ground for following comedies.