1) King of Queens
2) Seinfeld
3) Family Guy
4) The Office
5) The Simpsons
6) American Dad
7) Curb Your Enthusiasm
8) Police Squad!
9) 3rd Rick from The Sun
Friends and Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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shareHello HAL9010,
I'm not quite sure whether you asked for Shows currently running, or if it's permitted to include older ones, too. If you admit "classic shows of the past" to be listed also - then I'd like to mention "Silver Spoons"!
In general I'm not a 100% follower of the format, anyway... because I don't like the "laughter from the tape" which seems to be in every TV Show made in the U.S. (the "laugh box" is a horrible invention!); I think the audience is intelligent enough to decide on their own if a joke is good enough to provoke some laughter, or if it's just dull and would fall flat to the ground, weren't there that "tape laughter"!
But - "Silver Spoons" just worked for me, for the presence of Ricky Schroder, whom I like very much for several of his early movies; so when some time ago, FINALLY there was published an official DVD box of season 1 in European dvd format, I "jumped at it" - it's a welcome addition to my "Ricky Schroder collection" :-)
Now there's only one of his early movies left which is still missing - "Something So Right" (1982) of which I've got only a worn-out NTSC tape... No official dvd version, as yet. But, who knows, one fine day... :-)
For similar reasons as with R.S. in "Silver Spoons" I also bought the 1st season of "7th Heaven"; but I think David Gallagher just hadn't quite the same light-hearted, easy-going style of performance (just don't know how to explain it better, with my limited knowledge of English) like Ricky had. Intelligent, and friendly, too, but "7th Heaven" just lacks something to perfection, in comparison to "Silver Spoons"...
Do you know other U.S. made TV shows of the same time featuring young actors? Feel free to recommend me any that come to your mind ;-)
Kind regards
Andreas (123all4me)
Interesting candidates. I have never heard about "Silver Spoons" until now. I am not a fan of the format of these shows you mention - to me their execution is too much of a theater scene feel to it, if you know what I mean. I felt that with Seinfeld it rocked the world a bit and pushed several to another level (even that the laugh track is still there). As you see, my top favorite is King of Queens and I think largely because the jokes just is in sync with mine, plus (and possibly most importantly) I relate to the comedic situations he finds him self in.
Hello HAL9010,
thanks for your interesting post! In the meantime I thought this one would also fit into the list:
A.L.F. - I always loved that very "special" visitor from Outer Space... just hilarious! (I felt that they could have given Benji Gregory a bit more time on screen; but alas, he wasn't the "centre" of the show :-) ...Again, A.L.F. was wonderful!
Never imagined that "Silver Spoons" has been already largely forgotten - I thought it had excellent viewing figures when it was aired, or am I mistaken?
Here's another one: Have you ever heard about "Crash Canyon"? I watched several episodes, some 2 or 3 years ago... just great: The plot is that two dozen (or more) people are "locked" in a canyon into which they plunged with their cars; no way to get out there - and basically EVERY one of them is weird and/or crazy, in a very special way... Not a single "normal" person to be found down there. Lots of fun (sometimes the jokes are quite cynical, though ;-)
Kind regards
Andreas (123all4me)
Seinfeld
Curb Your Enthusiasm
All in the Family
Keeping Up Appearances