ANYWAY, what am I ranking today? Sitcoms. But there are way too many of them. So let me cut it down to a timeframe. How about just the 21st Century? Great. So we’re in agreement. Here are the top 21 Sitcoms of the 21st Century (because 10 isn’t enough… so… 21 for the 21st century. Get it?).
What you absolutely will not find listed here: Big Bang Theory.
I’m also omitting animated shows, even though arguably some of those could be considered sitcoms (some lists have even called “The Simpsons” the greatest sitcom of all time). Animated stuff could, like, be something for another day.
21. Malcolm in the Middle
There have been a million “family” sitcoms following the misadventures of a dysfunctional middle-class families. This is the best one of the 21st century for obvious reasons: Bryan Cranston and Frankie Munez.
20. Atlanta
Donald Glover’s second best sitcom, a surreal take on the Atlanta rap scene. I honestly haven’t watched a ton of this, though what I have seen was quality. Could easily rise up the rankings if I, you know, got around to watching it more often.
19. Scrubs
Another one that everyone raves about, but I never made a dedicated effort to watch it. What I did see was usually pretty funny. At least when it leaned more on the comedy side. For a while, it began to lean a little more melodrama on the comedy-drama scale. Mainly, what most people remember about this show was it simply being a bromance.
18. Black-ish
The a modern version of The Cosbys but with less terrible sweaters and drugging girls. It maintained funniness while exploring hot button issues of race, culture, and identity through the lens of an upper-middle-class African American family.
17. Modern Family
Another one where I never made a dedicated effort to watch this, but if it just happened to be on the TV, I’d watch it. Although, to be honest, I don’t love the “mockumentary-style” sitcom where cameras follow around everyone for no logical reason making a documentary that takes 10 fucking years to film. I’ll rant more about this when I get to “The Office” though.
16. The Thick of It
A fucking British political satire that offers a fucking scathing and hilarious fucking portrayal of the inner workings of fucking government, known for its sharp fucking dialogue and fucking biting satire. Fuck. Oh, and Peter Capaldi swore a fucking lot. If you’re a fan of this Armando Iannucci… good news. This won’t be the last you’re seeing of his shows on this list.
15. Flight of the Conchords
A delightfully weird-ass show follows the misadventures of a New Zealand folk duo trying to make it big in New York City with their fellow dipshit Kiwi manager. Deadpan humor and just the craziest, strangest musical performances. I’m not sure what drugs people were taking when the concept of this show got greenlit, but I’m glad they were taking them.
14. Arrested Development
Gonna admit… another once that I haven’t seen every episode of, and which some others might rank a lot higher. Again, what I’ve seen (especially from the show’s exacerbated straight man character played by Jason Bateman, and manipulative alcoholic matriarch played by Jessica Walter) is fantastic. About the dysfunctional Bluth family. Apparently full of a ton of running jokes that I’m sure I’d like a lot more if I sat down and marathon’ed the whole thing.
13. The Office
The story of mundane office life at Dunder Mifflin, led by the eccentric and clueless regional manager, Michael Scott. I’m sure this is a lot of people’s #1, and I get it. It is funny. Although let’s not pretend Steve Carrell doesn’t play that exact same character in every thing he’s in. Jim and Pam are great. Dwight is great. Tons of great characters. But I do have a bone to pick with just how successful this show made the “mockumentary” format so that dozens and dozens of sitcoms for the next decade afterward the standard go-to. And logically… it made no sense. The original British version of the office was a limited serious, and you could totally understand why a documentary crew would hang out in an office for a couple of weeks to record an interesting story about life. But why would a documentary crew spend like 9 goddamn years filming there? What documentary were they recording that took 9 years to film? It was all just a framing device for people to break the fourth wall and turn to the camera with their “WTF” faces, I get it. But there was a logical breakdown there. The other problem other than logical consistency when this show went on for 9 years is the obvious issue of what happens when a show goes on for 9 years. It jumped the shark. Look, James Spader and Catherine Tate are perfectly fine actors, but everyone knows this show should have ended long before they showed up.
12. Parks and Recreation
A story about the quirky local government employees led by Leslie Knope, the absurdity of their jobs, in the fictional town of Pawnee. This is ranked next to the Office because it is the EXACT SAME SHOW AS THE OFFICE. I’m not just saying that because Rashida Jones. It was basically a cookie cutter of that Office mockumentary concept, moved from a paper company to local government. So if they’re basically the same show and technically the Office came first – why does this one rank higher? Ron Swanson and April Ludgate. That’s why.
11. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Not unlike Steve Carrell, Andy Samberg also plays the same character in everything he’s in. But add to that Andre Braugher (RIP, Detective Frank Pembleton) and this was a funny show. Again, for the times I tuned in. Honestly, everything from 21 to 11 are sort of the “sometimes I watched this if it was on and I had nothing better to do” shows.
10. Fleabag
A dark comedy following the life of a troubled and irreverent young woman navigating love, loss, and family in modern-day London. And trying to bang a priest I guess. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is very funny. This show is very funny. My favorite part is that the show opens in Episode 1 with her masturbating to a video of Barack Obama, and Barack Obama later made a list of his favorite TV shows of the year – and Fleabag was on it. So you KNOW he saw that scene and nodded to himself saying, “Yep, great show. I’m putting it on my list of TV shows of the year.”
9. Schitt's Creek
If being in amazing reaction gifs on Discord is an indicator of the success of a character or a show, then Dan Levy’s David Rose and Schitt's Creek in general must be, like, the best. This one follows the journey of the Rose family, who lose their fortune and are forced to live in a small town they once bought as a joke. Hell yeah.
8. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
They say that Seinfeld was a “show about nothing,” which isn’t true at all, because it was about a bunch of self-centered douchebags who border on sociopathic tendencies. And if that’s what Seinfeld is, It’s Always Sunny dials that concept up to 11 and goes full in with this dark comedy following the absurd and amoral exploits of the self-absorbed owners of Paddy's Pub. Just a group of stupid assholes who think they are smarter than they are and always get into the worst possible situations.
7. What We Do in the Shadows
Okay, another mockumentary-style comedy that follows the daily (erm… nightly?) lives of four vampire roommates living in Staten Island (oof), as they navigate modern life, centuries-old feuds, and the challenges of being undead. But this one is so full of absurdist, R-rated and dry humor that I’m willing to overlook the insane mockumentary style format. I mean what film company would keep really allowing all their cameramen to keep getting murdered? How does the world writ-large not actually know about vampires being real amd how do these secret vampire societies stay secret when someone is filming a multi-year documentary project about them? If this show took itself more seriously these questions would bother me, but the show is so ludicrous that it feels like it’s more making fun of the mockumentary format than playing into it.
6. Fresh Off the Boat
Based (more loosely as seasons went on) on chef Eddie Huang's memoir, the show offered a look at the immigrant experience through the eyes of a Taiwanese-American family adjusting to life in Florida. Fortunately the show quickly figured out that Eddie as the hip hop loving main character was sort of meh and refocused to largely make the show about the mom and dad. Which was a good call. Things sort of blew up towards the end when Constance Wu went all “I’m a huge star now and I’m bigger than this show!”… but for a while this show was my absolute jam and a can’t-miss.
5. Community
Ah, a patently absurd meta-comedy that explored the dynamics of a diverse study group at a community college, known for its wacky episodes, running jokes, and pop culture references. Amazingly funny characters and it had an opportunity to be a #1 or #2 show, if not for some of the slip ups with getting rid of Dan Harmon as showrunner, jumping around networks, and losing Donald Glover later in the series. Not losing Chevy Chase though. That happened at exactly the right time, if not slightly too late. Great show. “Six seasons and a movie"? We’re almost there.
4. New Girl
This show still holds up. I thought it would be one of those shows I liked at the time, but if I watched it again later I’d be like “Oooh wow, this is so dated.” Nope. It’s amazingly rewatchable. Yes, it initially centers around the “quirky” Jessica Day and focuses on her much more than her roommates. But as the show progresses - Nick, Schmidt, Winston, Coach, and Cece all get fully fleshed out and often the best stories and running jokes on the show were Jessica-lite or didn’t even involve her at all. If you’re not a fan of this, you’re a douchebag. Which means you need to put a coin in the jar.
3. Curb Your Enthusiasm
What if Seinfeld was even more Seinfeld than Seinfeld was? And allowed to go so much darker and inappropriate because it’s a) on HBO, and b) not linked to any specific demands for a network schedule so that Larry David could basically make the show whenever he had good ideas, and then go on several years of hiatus until he could think of new terrible, terrible things for his characters to do. This semi-improvised sitcom starring Larry David and friends as fictional versions of themselves is all about the cringe. The lengths this show will go to make the view totally uncomfortable with everything that is happening is amazing.
2. 30 Rock
Speaking of shows where people played fictional versions of themselves, although the characters on 30 Rock weren’t actually named “Tina Fey,” “Tracy Morgan,” etc… it was pretty clear that 30 Rock was absolutely an inside baseball show that barely hid the fact that it was about Saturday Night Live and the insane actors and crew behind the scenes at NBC studios. This show was a non-stop barrage of rapid-fire jokes, meta humor and odd flashback/cutaway scenes that would make Seth MacFarlane blush. It had a cast of amazing characters and often ludicrous stories. It shit on NBC so much, it’s a wonder NBC even kept allowing it to air. Although maybe the people who had the authority to try to block episodes and stories dared not, because that would make Tina Fey write an episode about a barely-masked asshole authority figure at NBC who tried to block episodes and stories.
1. Veep
Ah yes, the great HBO political satire following the absurdities and power struggles of Vice President Selina Meyer and her dysfunctional staff, as well as the dysfunctional staffs of the President, congressmen, and basically the entire US government. Even if I wasn’t a US government employee, I would find this show to be incredible hilarious in a “I can’t believe any shit this crazy would actually happen” kind of way. As a US government employee, I know it does. Which makes this show even funnier (in a way that is also sad and scary). The characters on this show all exist. I’ve met them. In real life they have different names and appearances. But anyone who works around political appointees and their staffs in the US government have met these characters. They are all over. Any one who said “holy shit, no way can it really be that bad” got a reality check come the Trump administration. Every episode of this show made me laugh out loud… but also cry a little on the inside.
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