Is The Fresh Price of Bel Air the greatest sitcom of all time?
 

I'm kinda thinking it is. I'm not prepared to make some elaborate, drawn out statement to back up my opinion, but I am prepared to discuss with you good people the finer points of it.

Phoenix Nights and The Royle Family are both better, but as far as long running sitcoms go yeah definitely up there.

FPoBA ( :shifty: ) was awesome. But far away from being the best ever. It was always good tea time telly imo, but nothing more. Carlton Banks is funny as fuck though:lol:

DAMN was Hillary fine:drool:

Great show even if you're not fuckdup in any way, IMO.

I don't count British shows, obviously.

I like how they dealt with some issues that had previously been untouched. Also, Will Smith really is a great actor, and when they had 'serious' scenes, they actually felt serious. Will and Carlton's chemistry was just PERFECT, and Jazz made me laugh almost every time. God, I love that show.

Seinfeld is the great sitcom of all time.

Awesome show but I can't watch it anymore because they've shown each episode about 20 times on tv.

I dunno, I think Fresh Prince reached a broader audience. For every person that loves Seinfeld (myself included), there seems to be a person who can't stand it. I never hear people say they don't like Fresh Prince.

I dunno man, it's good but Seinfeld is the greatest, Cheers is pretty damn close, Friends is up there, along with Home Improvement and yes even Rosanne (I hated that show but people loved it).

Fresh Prince was the best among "tier 2" sitcoms. IE Family Matters, Full House, Saved by the Bell.

I dunno, Fresh Prince might have a more "diverse" audience in terms of demographics, but Seinfeld drew much larger ratings. I think Fresh Prince was also kind of limited to our generation, as I don't think many people over the age of say... 40, watched it. Awesome show none the less.

Good, I was getting worried!!

But yeah, didn't realise it had run for quite as long as it did.:y:

Beats Kenan and Kel at least - are they still alive?

Unfortunately, they are still alive. Keenan is on Saturday Night Live, and I think Kel was in some Pepsi commercial with a fat chick.

Yet again I have to mention Hillary, by far the hottest girl on tv in like ever

Her and Ashley are both crazy hot.

Fresh Prince was really good. You could probably throw it in a top 10. They did touch on some really deep issues, and had some funny moments. But let's not forget some other good shows like Step by Step, Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Seinfeld, etc.

Ashley + Hillary + Me = Heaven....Crerial!

Tremendous show. Might go with Friends for best ever tho. Or maybe Boy Meets World.

Veronica's Closet!

Not counting the massive amount of incredibly fantastic British sitcoms...O B V I O U S L Y

I would probably say the UK Office as the best sitcom of all time, but I don't consider it a sitcom.

Prince and Seinfeld are my 2 favorite comedies. EVER

Friends sucks IMO

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Fresh Prince, Friends and Seinfeld are prob my three favourite of all-time. Just amazing.

Let's go get some barbeque and get busy.

Rapheal Del A Ghetto

Wonder Years

Friends was awesome. Full House wasn't bad, but Fresh Prince is probably my favorite ever

All in the Family :shifty:

tbh. I watch a lot of tv. And Arrested Development was by far the best comedy on TV.


Best show on TV period? 24. Sorry. Jack Bauer> everything no matter how bad season 6 was.

Nope

Riveting argument, Sickboy.

I'm sorry but Growing Pains does it for me. Not that I don't love Fresh Prince, but they don't have Alan Thicke

Fresh Prince was awesome. Will Smith is an amazing actor. The serious scenes they had were amazing.

Seinfeld was definitely better, but Fresh Prince is up there.

Fresh Prince is definitely up there, but I'd put Three's Company above it. Probably a few others if I really think about it.

Three's Company is definitely not 'up there'.

Fresh Prince is good, but I think Friends and Roseanne are funnier (usually). Seinfeld is good too.

Is for me.

Fresh Prince is great, up there with just shoot me, everybody hates chris and will and grace as one of my favorite sitcoms.

Same :kiss:

Just Shoot Me was pretty good up until towards the end.

The fresh prince was awesome. I remember watching repeats on 4.30 on channel 9 down here in australia which was the first time i saw them because i think i was too young to see them the first time around.

And Hillary at the start of the series and then Ashley near the end where stunning. They have great characters like Carlton, Hillary and Geoffrey and the relationships and chemistry between will and carlton, hillary and will and Geoffrey and Hillary where spot on.


Not best sitcom of all time but def in the top five. I would put arrested development, office uk in front of it.

Listen guys. Arrested Development was funny, yes. But even considering it in the top five of all time is downright silly.

Carlton is fantastic. That episode where he accidentally takes speed out of Will's locker and dances until he passes out is classic.

Just Shoot Me was funny. And Mya was HAWT :drool:

Cheers was pretty solid.

http://www.donandmurph.com/petepeteintropic.jpeg
G.O.A.T.

I don't know if you'd call that a Sitcom though. Regardless, it's the greatest television show of all time.

My favorite sitcoms:
Married With Children (How has this not been mentioned yet?)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Sitcom?)
Seinfeld
The Wonder Years
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Fresh Prince of Bell Air
All In The Family

Did Just John seriously just say Will & Grace was one of his favorite sitcoms?

yes

How about the one where Will's Dad came back in his life. At the end of the episode Will is crying on Uncle Phil's shoulder. Touching, very touching.

lol

My favorite Fresh Prince moment is when Will Smith is wearing short ass shorts, a long ass old black Nike Swoosh tank top and those cheep ass sunglasses you get at like Bar Mitzvahs with the colored part that goes over your ear, and is dancing washing the convertable he just purchased.

I like when he made up that rap for the periodic table and did that ridiculous dance where he was kicking his leg out to the side.

'L-I lithium, N-A sodium' etc....

Seinfield is one of the most overhyped and overrated shows of all time.

:n:

Is there seriously no mention of Saved by the Bell in this entire topic? I mean not saying it's #1 but come on

Also, I'd put Seinfeld at the #1 spot. Fresh Prince was good but I dunno it isn't one of my favorites.

I remember the scene when Will got shot, and the episode and scenes that followed. Still chokes me up when I see it.

Fresh Prince was a great show. Prolly not a top 5 greatest sitcom of all-time, but def a top 3 sitcom in the 90's

Uncle Phil ''Will I am gonna be watching you like a shadow!''

Will '' Do you mean a lunar eclipse Uncle Phil?''

I'm just gonna say the words "Different Strokes."

I agree.

It was still awesome though.

Just not as much as people make it out to be.

A lot of it was the whole "wow I don't get it... I'm going to laugh and talk about how much I love it so that I won't look like the only dork who doesn't get it."

Seinfeld is the best TV show of all time. It stands the test of time as well.

To say the Fresh Prince is better than Cheers or MASH or Seinfeld is bogus. It's a good underrated show, but the masses watched other stuff way more than Fresh Prince....they probably couldn't buy a rich black family as entertaining...

The Fresh Prince >>> The Cosby Show

And people loved that shit.

ahhhh good point.

My sister actually guest starred on that show a couple times, I went to a live taping when I was a little kid but was too young to get any of the jokes. :o

Seinfeld is probably the best long-running sitcom of all time. You could make an argument for Friends or The Simpsons too.

Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm are awesome, but the runs have been too short to really say "best ever" because you can't really judge their consistancy, in comparison to the others.

Fresh Prince was okay... but didn't really break any new ground, make a cultural difference, cross any lines... it was just safe, ordinary TV... good at what it did, but hardly must-see TV.

I thought only girls liked Friends. Come on.

Friends is hilarious.

Friends is actually shit. Was popular but the show was cookie cutter. Frasier was better.

But yeah, Seinfeld is pretty much untouchable. I think only Curb Your Enthusiasm can come close, and I wonder why.

More like innovative and influential.

Loved the way the shows were scripted and written. Like Larry David had this great talent at making something that seemed to be totally minute and seemingly inconsequential to the story actually end up being an integral laughing point to the show, by the end. Something would always occur to a character and his storyline thanks to something that seemed so insiginificant earlier in the show. He was great at finally weaving all the different angles of the story so that they meshed into each other by the end. The guy was a fucking genius, scripting a fucking genius sitcom.

EDIT:

What I also like about Seinfeld and Curb is that the shows arent telling you when to laugh. On Curb it's obvious as there isnt any laugh track or anything like that, but with Seinfeld the jokes arent prepped up or built to finally hitting that punch line. Seinfeld didnt run like that. With other sitcoms, like Friends, or Will and Grace or whatever, the jokes are seen coming at you from a mile away. It's like a bunch of punch lines, and when they are said, you have to laugh. On top of the shows being generic and cookie cutter.

Friends was not cookie cutter.

The best Friends episode was when they were all supposed to go to an awards ceremony for Ross and nobody was ready. Either that, or the trivia game with the apartment on the line. I don't see how anybody could watch those and not think something pretty good was going on in the Friends camp.

This conversation proves that Frasier is the most underrated sitcom ever.

Also the greatest.

lol threes company

fresh princes was great, def a top 5. also, that 70s show is one of my fav's ever

For me, it's a toss up between Seinfield and Fresh Prince.

I love both shows equally.