The 32 greatest TV sitcoms (that aired after the 1990s)
Nov. 27, 2024As studio audiences vanished, sitcoms soldiered on
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Sitcoms enjoyed a serious renaissance in the 1990s, only to sputter out by the new millennium. But that didn’t mean the sitcom genredied. It just changed. And there’s at least 32 great sitcoms that came out after the 1990s to prove it.
Throughout the 1990s, hit TV shows like Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, Full House, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mad About You, and so many more defined the decade, a time when families still gathered around the same television sets. But the eventual rise of the internet and fractured viewing, not to mention changing taste and sensibilities, sent the laugh-track sitcom packing to give way to new forms of situational comedy. Many shows took on a mockumentary-style approach, which gave the hysterical antics a touch of authenticity that traditional sitcoms never could. Towards the streaming era, comedies introduced more intricate filmmaking – with cutaway gags, elaborate transitions, sometimes even stunts – which weren’t possible with a traditional studio audience.
Sitcoms didn’t die out with the advent of high-speed internet and smartphones. It just changed. Here are the 32 greatest sitcoms that aired after the 1990s.
32. Modern Family
Easily one of the biggest and most successful TV sitcoms of the social media era, Modern Family lives up to its title to follow several different families in contemporary Los Angeles. The families are connected through wealthy businessman Jay (Ed O’Neil) and his two adult children with families of their own, one of them a same-sex couple. (This was abigdeal when gay marriage was still fiercely debated in national politics.) Jay is also divorced from his first wife and remarried to the passionate and fiery Gloria (Sofia Vergara in her star-making role). A juggernaut with critics and audiences, Modern Family mixes traditional sitcom conventions with mockumentary formatting and cringe sensibilities to mark a new phase in the sitcom canon.
She’s a single mom who works too hard, who loves her kids and never stops. When multi-cam sitcoms were a dying breed, country singer Reba McEntire kept it on life support with her own successful TV sitcom, simply titled Reba. The ‘Can’t Even Get the Blues’ singer stars as Reba Hart, a middle-aged divorcee who is just trying to keep her Houston home together after her husband has an affair with a younger woman – dim-witted but well-meaning dental hygienist, Barbara (Melissa Peterman) – while her own teenage daughter becomes pregnant. Reba doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the show was popular both for McEntire’s sharp comic timing and her show’s honest (and funny!) portrayal of broken home dynamics.
At a time when America was all too eager to move past monuments to its problematic past, Rutherford Falls balanced the importance of heritage with empathy for the marginalized – all while keeping things funny. From Parks & Recreation’s Michael Schur, Rutherford Falls was a Peacock sitcom that followed Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms), descendant of a local dynasty who is determined to preserve his family’s history in their namesake town of Rutherford Falls. He is sometimes aided, sometimes at odds with his lifelong best friend Reagan (Jana Schmieding), a Native activist. Although it ran for a short two seasons, Rutherford Falls packed a lot in its run, highlighting difficult topics – such as systemic oppression, capital as an uneven distributor of power, and the importance of preservation – with a truly delightful sense of irony and humor.
Broken Lizard, the manic minds behind cult comedy classics Super Troopers and Beerfest, grew out their mustaches and slid down poles for the underrated workplace sitcom Tacoma FD. Set inside a firehouse in Tacoma, Washington – one of America’s wettest cities, climate-wise – the bored firefighters put up with all kinds of day-to-day problems while ensuring their relevance against local bureaucracy. Basically “Super Troopers with firefighters,” Tacoma FD put some late-2000s raunchiness back on cable TV for four solid seasons.
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Long before he was Robert Baratheon on Game of Thrones, he was blue-collar Bill raising three children in suburban Chicago. In the overlooked CBS sitcom Still Standing, Addy and Jamie Gertz co-star as two parents still struggling to grow past their wild and carefree days of their own youth. The parents are flocked by their unbelievably mature kids, in particular their booksmart eldest son. During its run on network TV, Still Standing failed to stand out against other likeminded shows (see also: The King of Queens), but the show was smarter than its basic sitcom premise seemed, with a grounded and honest look at what it really takes to grow up.
Shortly after Elijah Wood saved all of Middle-earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he moved on to playing a depressed lawyer suffering a breakdown in the psychological black comedy Wilfred. A remake of an Australian TV show, Wilfred stars Wood as a suicidal lawyer whose life changes when he meets a gorgeous neighbor (Fiona Gubelmann) and her dog Wilfred, who appears to Wood as a foul-mouthed man in a dog costume. (Jason Gann, who played the same role in the Australian original, reprises his part for the American version.) Talk about man’s best friend: themed around mental health and the importance of companionship, Wilfred enjoyed cult success on FX with its blend of vulgar humor and dashes of surrealism.
In Sarah Silverman’s self-titled farcical sitcom, which ran for just three seasons on Comedy Central, the comedienne plays a fictionalized version of herself – an immature 20-something woman in the San Fernando Valley with a childlike view of the outside world. She is surrounded by supportive if also neurotic friends, namely her gay neighbors Brian and Steve (played by Brian Posehn and Steve Agee) and her more responsible sister Laura (Laura Silverman, also Sarah’s real-life sister). Nothing reallyhappenson The Sarah Silverman Program, just episodic escapades that always take a turn for the worse and sometimes surreal, like Sarah’s one-night stand with “God” and what is really on Brian’s iPod.
Sick kids aren’t funny – they’rereallyfunny. In this dark comedy satire that originated as a low-budget webseries for TheWB.com, creator Rob Corddry also stars as Dr. Arthur Childrens, a misguided pediatrician whose hospital in Brazil (or is it?) is staffed by some of the most eccentric doctors you’ll ever see on TV. A brilliant parody of medical shows like ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, and movies like Patch Adams, Childrens Hospital boasts a strong ensemble cast – including Lake Bell, Ken Marino, Megan Mullaly, Malin Akerman, and even Henry Winkler – to surgically rip the genre open a new one.
A workplace sitcom unlike any other, Better Off Ted is about what it means to do good in a place where evil is business. The show follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), the likeable lead of research and development at soulless megacorporation Veridian Dynamics. The show’s comedy comes from the juxtaposition between Ted’s positive demeanor and inspiring leadership against the sinister work of his company. Portia de Rossi co-stars as his elegant but cold boss Veronica Palmer, with whom he shares a relationship that would send HR into a panic. While Better Off Ted drew critical acclaim and is now seen today as a cult classic, the show’s low ratings led to its premature cancellation after just two short seasons.
Just before Bill Lawrence found success with Ted Lasso, he and co-producing partner Kevin Biegel defied the odds and bad show titles with Cougar Town, a critically acclaimed sitcom that lasted an impressive six seasons. The series follows Courtney Cox as a recently divorced woman in her 40s who starts all over with the help of her teenage son and supportive (if also wine-drunk) friends. While the show’s gaudy title failed to draw in audiences at first – with name changes considered virtually every season – the show cultivated a dedicated fandom who deemed it one of the best and smartest shows during its run on both ABC and TBS.
As Michael Scott once said: “I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” A generation-defining success story, The Office’s rise is parallel to that of the internet and streaming. Originating as a sandpaper dry British comedy, the American version of The Office takes audiences inside the beige offices of a Pennsylvania paper company to chronicle the ups and downs of a workplace in disarray. Steve Carell is unforgettable as frequently misguided but earnest Michael Scott, a dreamer whose reach never quite matches his ambitions. Synonymous with mid-2000s comedy, The Office made mind-numbing 9-to-5 jobs look like an adventure.
Who’s that girl?It’s Jess! What started out as a vehicle for Zooey Deschanel to flex her manic pixie dream girl image slowly became so much more. Set in L.A., New Girl sees Deschanel as quirky 20-something Jessica Day who moves into a loft apartment full of dudes after a breakup. Over time, these housemates – including Jess' best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) – grow close, taking on the ups and downs of life with gritted teeth and tight hugs. (Megan Fox steps in for a time, during Deschanel’s real-life pregnancy which is written off as “jury duty.") While roommate-oriented sitcoms are hardly anything new, New Girl’s specific brand of improvised comedy and cast chemistry made it so much more worthwhile than its “adorkable” surface implied.
With the advent of high speed internet, people knew enough about computers even if they didn’t understand them. Enter the boom of information technology departments, which inspired one of the greatest British comedies of the 2000s. The IT Crowd revolves around the eccentric, mostly antisocial IT department of a London corporation. The story begins when clueless Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is hired to oversee the department as their official Business Relationship Manager, only for her to wind up their personal relationship manager. Like most British TV, The IT Crowd ran for a mere 25 episodes, but the show enjoys a prolific legacy as one of the funniest shows on any side of the pond to (affectionately) roast a new breed of freaks and geeks.
They’re no Superman, but they’re trying their best. While most medical TV shows go hard in relationship melodramas and the high-stakes race to save the sick and wounded, Scrubs sought the funny bones of the medical genre. The series takes place in Sacred Heart Hospital to follow young interns J.D. (Zach Braff), Turk (Donald Faison), and ambitious Elliot (Sarah Chalke) as they learn about what it means to live life while saving them. Across a whopping 180-plus episodes, Scrubs expertly balanced slapstick humor and comical surrealism – thanks to dalliances into J.D.’s daydreams – while never forgetting the heart and soul of the sacred profession.
What appears to be a run-of-the-mill sitcom about adolescence is actually one of the sharpest and wittiest shows of the 2000s. Premiering on January 9th, 2000, Malcolm in the Middle follows titular Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), a young boy with a genius intellect who is “stuck” with his dysfunctional family, including clueless dad Hal (Bryan Cranston), his domineering mother Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), and his numerous siblings. Though he’s a certified genius, Malcolm still isn’t mature enough to handle life’s curveballs, which inspires all kinds of episodic hijinks. One of the first network sitcoms to ditch studio audiences and laugh tracks for more intricate filmmaking, Malcolm in the Middle was as clever as it was jagged, foreshadowing a specific mood that was settling in amid the new millennium.
It never went the whole distance of “Six seasons and a movie,” but just like your own college years, it was good while it lasted. From Dan Harmon, Community is the story of a diverse group of students at a suburban community college who come together as a Spanish class study group after slick ex-lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) inadvertently makes one up to get the attention of Britta (Gillian Jacobs). Inspired by Harmon’s own experiences going to community college and forging strong friendships with unlikely people, Community made the most of its unconventional yet mundane setting and unforgettable characters. (Most notable of all: Britta’s slow-burn transformation into an actual idiot is nothing short of impressive.) From suspenseful games of paintball and Dungeons & Dragons to zombie outbreaks at Halloween parties, Community did so much to earn its extra credits.
Vote Meyer! In the HBO hit Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines as Vice President Selina Meyer, an ambitious politician who starts the show having fallen short of her Presidential dreams. Settling for the role of VP, Meyer deals with her loyal yet buffoonish staff who breathlessly race to cater to her every whim. If The West Wing was about the best in politics and House of Cards the worst, Veep was about how hysterical the dweebs in DC can be. Political blunders galore, Veep is easily the funniest sitcom ever about the (second) most powerful office in the free world.
Attention Cloud 9 shoppers: If you haven’t seen Superstore, check it out now. Set in a fictional big box store in St. Louis, Superstore chronicles the daily lives of the store’s employees as they put up with bizarre customers and corporate overlords. Much of the show primarily revolves around the budding romance between cynical supervisor Amy (America Ferrera) and intelligent business school dropout Jonah (Ben Feldman), who is hired in the pilot episode. A workplace comedy that was boldly unafraid to get real – with episodes about everything from illegal immigration to dealing with COVID-19 – Superstore is anything but a budget discount.
You gotta set the tone, boys. Spinning off from the dry and quick-witted Letterkenny, Jared Keeso laces up his skates for the similarly acerbic Shoresy. Keeso stars as Shore, a rough and aggressive yet calculated hockey player for a regional Ontario league. Following a massive losing streak, Shoresy takes control of his team, the Sudbury Bulldogs, by promising his impossibly beautiful owners (Sudbury has a strange concentration of beautiful women) that they’ll “never lose again.” Shoresy is all about winning by any means necessary, and the show’s endless dispensary of insults, clever comebacks, and cutting remarks make it as hard-hitting as the boys on the ice. Are you ready? Good, ‘cuz you’re going!
It’s a show where Larry David, loosely playing himself, yells at everyone around him. And it’s been one of HBO’s most successful sitcoms since it debuted in October 2000. Curb Your Enthusiasm follows David playing a fictionalized version of himself, that of a stubborn, semi-retired TV writer in Los Angeles who puts up with the mind-numbing minutiae of everyday life. A masterclass of improv comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm epitomizes David’s own cantankerous and cynical outlook, believing that everyone around him who projects empty enthusiasm ought to be taken down a peg.
Welcome! Everything is fine. In this modern classic broadcast on NBC and created by Michael Schur, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kirsten Bell) dies and goes upstairs to “The Good Place,” where she’s paired by Good Place architect Michael (Ted Danson) with her soulmate, a neurotic ex-ethics professor named Chidi (William Jackson Harper). And life seems heavenly at a glance, except Eleanor hides a secret: She’s not who The Good Place thinks she is. And there’s an even bigger secret about The Good Place that’s only revealed at the end of the first season. Lauded by critics and audiences for its exploration of social ethics and philosophy mixed with dirtbag humor, The Good Place is an uplifting sitcom that finds hilarity in the bigger picture.
While it started off on the wrong foot as a sort of “The Office in local government,” Parks & Recreation quickly found its own voice as an optimistic sitcom about the good things people are capable of in service to their communities. Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, a perky government official working in the suburban nowhere of Pawnee, Indiana. Never mind how she behaves in Season 1. Starting in Season 2, Leslie shines as a confident go-getter who inspires everyone around her to do their best – even against their own wishes. Featuring a charismatic ensemble that made stars out of talent like Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, and more, Parks & Recreation is a modern sitcom triumph.
Cold opens, Halloween heists, and karaoke line-ups: These are just a few things that make Brooklyn Nine-Nine so arresting. Centered around irresponsible but capable cop Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and his relationship to strict new chief Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), Brooklyn Nine-Nine turns the 99th precinct of the NYPD upside down with episodic antics. Initially a hit on FOX before moving to NBC in its final years, Brooklyn Nine-Nine found success with both its gut-busting hilarity and occasional sincerity at difficult topics, ranging from police profiling to queer sexual identity.Nine-Nine!
In the immortal words of Jack Donaghy: “Good God, Lemon.” A modern classic with an embarrassment of riches, Tina Fey’s 30 Rock takes audiences behind the scenes of a weekly sketch comedy show that is totally not Saturday Night Live. The show centers around head writer Liz Lemon (Fey), a type-A “know it all” who must deal with the drama of having a sudden new star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), a total loose cannon. Through the ups and downs of making TV, Liz clashes – and receives guidance – from her new boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), a suave but controlling executive. Brimming with comic genius and self-referential humor, including many jabs at NBC’s corporate culture and many acquisitions during its run, 30 Rock is simply one of the greatest TV sitcoms to ever make it to air.
Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he’s your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also appeared at Vulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.
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