
(Photo by NBC)
200 Best Comedy Series of All Time
You’ve had your say in our Fall TV Survey, crowning Seinfeld your favorite comedy of all time. Now it’s our turn.
To choose the top 200 best comedy TV series of all time, we put funny to the test, looking at Tomatometer data culled from critics’ reviews, consulting some reputable “best of” lists, and exercising some editorial discretion, asking ourselves which classic comedy shows still hold up, which have been the most influential in the realm of comedy, and which have created comedy superstars.
Turns out, all of those factors led to some of the very same classic TV comedy shows and beloved sitcoms Rotten Tomatoes readers chose as their favorites.
We’ve also included international English-language comedy shows that made a big impression on U.S. audiences through broadcast, cable, or streaming — look for some top titles from the U.K., Canada, and Australia.
Read on to review our ranking of the best comedy series and sitcoms, and perhaps discover some new shows you may not have seen yet. And before you ask, we made a separate list for the “Best Sketch Comedies of All Time.”
Is your favorite comedy series missing? Tell us in the comments.
Best Comedy Series
200-151 | 150-101 | 100-51 | 50-1
Synopsis: Two and a Half Men is a comedy about men, women, sex, dating, divorce, mothers, single parenthood, money, love and...
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Synopsis: A mockumentary satirizing life at an Australian public high school, focusing on a narcissistic drama teacher, a conceited popular girl...
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Synopsis: Spin-off of "The Big Bang Theory" follows 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper as he grows up in East Texas and attends high...
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Synopsis: Animation about a renowned scientist and his two sons being pursued by various villains....
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Synopsis: Teens study, date and scheme at a California high school, where silly storylines didn't stop droves of kids from watching...
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Synopsis: A sitcom about the complications arising among friends of a seemingly perfect couple who break up....
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Synopsis: Comedy about a power struggle between two high-school administrators who are vying for the top job of principal....
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Synopsis: Comedy series about Tracey Gordon, a religious, Beyoncé-obsessed twenty-something who is fast finding out that the more she learns about...
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Synopsis: American Vandal is a half-hour true-crime satire that explores the aftermath of a costly high school prank that left twenty-seven...
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Synopsis: A long-running sitcom about Park Avenue millionaire who adopts two Harlem orphans after the death of their housekeeper mother....
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Synopsis: A long-running `Diff'rent Strokes' spin-off set at a girls boarding school, with the Drummond's former housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett, now a...
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Synopsis: Savvy single women run Sugarbakers, an Atlanta decorating business, in this saucy sitcom with feminist sensibilities, which also endured its...
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Synopsis: The adventures of four eccentric students sharing a dilapidated house in North London....
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Synopsis: A popular, broadly played hoot about a city couple enjoying life down on the farm. The show came on the...
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Synopsis: A pro football player's girlfriend adjusts to life in the NFL, which is sometimes glamorous but often stressful....
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Synopsis: An optimistic girl from the heartland moves to New York and is forced to live with a party girl who...
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Synopsis: Three friends cope with the responsibilities that come with being a modern woman of a certain age....
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Synopsis: The clean-cut 1950s sitcom, about young `Beaver' Cleaver, his brother Wally and their folks was a family favorite over its...
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Synopsis: Comedy series about a hard-drinking, chain-smoking bookstore owner who dislikes customers and has trouble parting with his beloved books....
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Synopsis: Astronaut David Lister survives a disaster in space that wipes out the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf in...
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Synopsis: Comic Jerrod Carmichael's relationships with his family and his girlfriend are charted in this sitcom. The opinionated North Carolina family...
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Synopsis: A British series about former lovers reunited by chance after a 38-year separation chronicles their awkward courtship and eventual marriage....
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Synopsis: A med-school grad must practice in a remote Alaskan village to repay his education in this quirky, fish-out-of-water dramedy. The...
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Synopsis: A dramedy following the personal and professional lives of a trio of gay men in San Francisco....
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Synopsis: After getting fired from her job as a cosmetic saleswoman Fran Fine becomes nanny for a wealthy Broadway producer's...
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Synopsis: A slick long-running ensemble sitcom set at a glossy women's magazine run by a bombastic publisher. Marked by sly repartee...
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Synopsis: The gender tables are turned when widower Tony Micelli takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for divorced executive Angela...
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Synopsis: A ghoulishly funny sitcom about a family of misfits residing at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Patriarch Herman, whose green complexion and...
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Synopsis: Playful, popular sitcom about astronaut Tony Nelson and the sexy genie he releases from a bottle. In the blink of...
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Synopsis: A widower with three sons marries a widow with three daughters. It's a sitcom family for the ages, with plenty...
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Synopsis: A suburban Chicago family is pestered by nerdy, nosy neighbor Steve Urkel in this long-running spin-off of 'Perfect Strangers' (Harriette...
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Synopsis: Marriage does not work out for Michelle and Brett who live in an apartment in Los Angeles. As they stumble...
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Synopsis: Chip Baskets has always dreamed of being a classically trained clown. After flunking out of French clown college, he returns...
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Synopsis: Set in a geriatric broadened mind wing of a down-at-the-heels hospital, Getting On takes after put-upon medical caretakers like nurses,...
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Synopsis: Comedy about a ghoulish household, created by the cartoonist Charles Addams....
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Synopsis: Former sitcom "It Girl" Valerie Cherish tries to jump-start her career with a series of ill-advised forays into reality TV....
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Synopsis: Atypical is a coming of age story that follows Sam (played by Keir Gilchrist), an 18-year-old on the autistic spectrum...
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Synopsis: The year is 2022, and after an unlikely event, only one man is left on earth: Phil Miller, who used...
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Synopsis: Beavis and Butt-head's mouthy and sarcastic pal, 16-year-old Daria Morgendorffer, left the boys for her own series. Daria relies on...
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Synopsis: A British sitcom about a graying gay couple with a fractious relationship....
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Synopsis: An eccentric Irish priest is banished to a rain-swept island to live with two clerical misfits and their tea-hawking housekeeper...
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Synopsis: Emmy-winner Patricia Heaton stars as Frankie Heck in this warm and witty comedy about raising a family and lowering your...
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Synopsis: A sturdy sitcom about brash football coach Hayden Fox, who began with the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles when the series...
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Synopsis: A spin-off of 'The Cosby Show' finds Denise Huxtable on her own at Hillman College. Although Denise only remained at...
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Synopsis: Farcical tales of Allied POWs in World War II at the expense of their bumbling German captors. Bob Crane, in...
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Synopsis: Comedian Bob Saget stars in this heartfelt comedy series as Danny Tanner, the widowed father of three young and rambunctious...
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Synopsis: The lives and loves of a magazine editor and her roommates living in a Brooklyn brownstone, with plotlines revolving around...
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Synopsis: Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) is your average guy. He has a best friend named Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) from the...
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Synopsis: A crass comedian struggles to seek legitimacy in his life and career....
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Synopsis: An ex-cop suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder solves crimes with various (and usually exasperated) sidekicks in tow in this first-rate mystery...
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Best Comedy Series
200-151 | 150-101 | 100-51 | 50-1