>Don't think this has been done before here.....
>
>British
>
>Till death do us part
>Steptoe and son
>Monty Python
>Fawlty Towers
>The young ones
>Blackadder (2,3 and 4 NOT 1)
>One foot in the grave
>Only fools and horses (lots of classics, some mediocre)
>Men behaving badly (as above)
>
>Forgot to add American:

Frasier

er, that's it

League of gentlemen should be down...& men behaving badly shoulden't be..

& there has been plenty of good american comedy..it just get's cut after three eps or the networks make so many adjustments it's destroyed..

all that american stuff is absolute rubbish. All the actors are so far up their own arse i'm suprised you can hear them speak.

British is best!

how about Red Dwarf, Shooting Stars, Father Ted, TV offal and that other funny one on channel 4 on not so long ago with the red titles - can't remember what it was called now.....

Hancock
Dad's Army
Blackadder 1 (Not the Elton crap)
Likely Lads
Taxi
The Good Life (Very good idea, especially because people did actually try to do that sort of thing in the 70s)
Porridge

I did put League of Gentlemen but then couldn't make up my mind if it fell into the comedy series category (and of course it does. Just been taking a few of me thick tables again.)

I also deleted Comedy Nation (which probably isn't a comedy series as such but I'm on the tables, so I'll go with it.) Only the first series with Buller and the man married to the Chinese woman was funny. The second, with Divine David and the other Muppets, was pure shite)
I'm Alan Partridge (You blonde bastard from the future)

Of course we can all fall back on our British self satisfaction and celebrate the fact that America has produced no good sitcoms...

Er...
Frasier
MASH
Cheers
Soap
Seinfeld
The Larry Sanders Show
Spin City
The Simpsons (in a sense...)
Moonlighting (in its earlier days)
Benson
Taxi
and - dare I say it - Friends (actually, Stewart lee makes a very convincing defence of Friends in the L&H guestbook)

If we open it out to series there's Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, Saturday Night Live (got an old Belushi episode of this somewhere and it's fab), Ren and Stimpy, (in fact a vast amount of animation generally) etc etc

UK ones -
how anyone thinks Blackadder 1 is better than the others simply because Ben Elton didn't write for it is a mystery to me. The 3rd BA series is one of the funniest things ever.
Red Dwarf is OK, but loses it after about series 3.
Dad's Army and Hancock - definitely
Python, Hitch-Hikers (even though it's inferior to the radio - but then the thread didn't specify TV so - radio as well!)
The Day Today and Brasseye
Only Fools - even towards the end some belting episodes.
Absolutely - agree with Corpses on this, one of the funniest series ever
A Bit of Fry and Laurie

but best ever - that's a tough call. Being specific:
for reasons of importance and influence - Python
Personally, I'd have to say the Simpsons, because it makes me laugh more than anything, ever.

For some reason I keep writing "tables" instead of "tablets."

I prefer The Blackadder because I find Elton's style really boring and contrived.

Here's my (neatly categorized) lists, each show in order of merit:

UK Sitcoms:
Fawlty Towers
Dad's Army
Young Ones
The Goodies
Father Ted
Alan Partridge
Steptoe & Son
Hancock
Filthy Rich & Catflap (anyone?)
Rising Damp

UK Sketch Comedy:
Python (obviously)
Absolutely
Brass Eye
The Day Today
Q / There's A Lot of It About
Spitting Image (mid 80's golden age only)
Mary Whitehouse Experience
Marty Feldman

US Sitcom:
Simpsons
Duckman
Larry Sanders
Soap
Futurama

US Sketch:
Oh dear. Every single US Sketch comedy (Kids in the Hall, the State, SNL, Rowan & Martin) has left me utterly cold. Is this the only form of comedy the Brits unreservedly kick the American's 'asses' at? Discuss.

from those last three I only recognise kids in the hall ( which was mediocre ) and i cant think of any others. Are there any other US sketch shows?

except of course Saturday Night Live - which was cool. from what i've seen of it.

>from those last three I only recognise kids in the hall ( which was mediocre ) and i cant think of any others. Are there any other US sketch shows?

In Living Color? I think Jim Carey was on that.

>except of course Saturday Night Live - which was cool. from what i've seen of it.

Yes SNL 'was' cool- about 15 years ago. In my opinon it's not been remotely funny or produced any decent talent for years and years with the dubious acception of Mike Myers. There was Phil Hartman though, he was a diamond, but he's dead now.

Kids in the Hall was from Canada, eh? And could be quite funny (I am crushing your head! I AM CRUSHING YOUR HEAD!) But not really good enough to be included in a best comedy series ever list. I can't think of any really good US sketch shows - and Miffy's point on SNL is well made... what I've seen of recent years is weak.

oh yeah...I completely forgot about duckman...although my favourite american sitcom is most definately larry sanders...

>oh yeah...I completely forgot about duckman...although my favourite american sitcom is most definately larry sanders...

Indeed. I only wish that either the BBC would repeat Larry Sanders from the start (and at a proper time), or that Paramount would show the later series'. I've now seen the first few series on Paramount about three times, and most of the last two on the BBC. You'd think the Beeb could just shove it on BBC Choice to get the ratings up, instead of showing turgid crap like the RDA and (for pity's sake) The Christine Hamilton Show.

And Paramount (or the BBC. Or Sky One) should get round to acquiring the final thirty or so episodes of Duckman, instead of endlessly repeating the first three seasons. Grr.

UK
Steptoe
Only Fools and Horses
Blackadder
Python
Q#
Who Dares Wins
Young Ones
Day Today
Hancock's Half Hour

US
Simpsons
Larry Sanders
Taxi
Phil Silvers
Frasier
Fresh Prince of Bel Air (and I'll stand by that till my dying day)
erm... that's it

By the way, has anyone seen 'SCTV', which, I've heard, is the best US sketch show ever (not really a great honour)

A good 'best of' Kids In The Hall would make one of the funniest programmes ever broadcast. However the shows as they stand are patchy as hell, with the occasional excellent sketch surrounded on all sides by wall-to-wall shite. You shouldn't have to persevere so hard with a sketch show.

Rock School.
Lynn Marshal doing yoga on sunday mornings in the early eighties.
ditto "Mad" Lizzie on TVAM.
Mind Your Language
3 up 2 down.
Anything with Yootha Joyce.

The Hitman and Her

Yes, thanks for reminding me about good yankee comedies - soap, taxi, etc
There have been a lot of great ones.