The sitcom industry is thriving – streaming giants churn out dozens of shows every year, many of which fail to pass the first season test. Those that survive, however, carry on a legacy that's been a part of television for a long time. Many modern sitcoms are exceptional works of art, using humor to explore the nuances of politics, culture, society, and human relationships.

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However, it is important to remember that every sitcom produced today owes its existence to one or more TV comedies from the last several decades. While rating individual shows according to their influence is nigh impossible, it's easy to identify a few sitcom classics that remain as relevant as ever.

10 The Golden Girls Combines Refreshing Wit With An Array Of Social Issues

Cast Of The Golden Girls

The Golden Girls, although rooted in women-centered sitcoms of 'the 70s and '80s, was revolutionary in terms of its cast members' age bracket. While all four protagonists are well over retirement age, they are as full of zest as ever.

Fresh wit paired with a range of social issues turned The Golden Girls into a sitcom benchmark, earning it dozens of awards over its seven-season run. Besides, few actors can claim to have the sparkling chemistry shared between Betty White, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, and Rue McClanahan.

9 Blackadder's Jokes Are Too Inimitable To Become Tropes

Blackadder and Baldrick

Blackadder combines the incomparable brilliance of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Miranda Richardson, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry into a surreal tear-down of the British class system.

Observed through Edmund Blackadder, four characters separated by fate and time, Blackadder takes audiences through a roster of jokes that are too inimitable to turn into comedy tropes. Atkinson's deadpan charm and Robinson's inane banter are two reasons to rewatch Blackadder over and over again.

8 I Love Lucy Is Arguably The Source Of The Sitcom Concept

Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred laugh on the promo banner for I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy is practically prehistoric by sitcom standards, but what matters is how the show influenced the history of television itself. The series lasted for six seasons, before accruing the honor of "most-watched TV program" in the U.S. for its time.

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The strength of I Love Lucy doesn't lie in its agelessness, but in the impact it had on television as a medium of entertainment. It can be argued that the core concept of the sitcom can be sourced directly back to I Love Lucy.

7 All In The Family Works Because Its Stories Are Universal

The Bunkers On Their Porch

All in the Family was revolutionary in every sense of the word – the sitcom openly discussed difficult concepts like feminism, queerness, racism, war, cancer, and so on, which is why it is considered among television's most important creations to date.

All in the Family achieved such widespread recognition that it spawned innumerable parodies and references, not to mention obtaining a postage stamp dedicated to the show in 1998. All in the Family works for everyone, regardless of the cultural time period, because its stories are universal.

6 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Doesn't Sacrifice Humor While Delivering Its Message

Mary Tyler Moore On The Mary Tyler Moore Show Laughing

The Mary Tyler Moore Show didn't so much break ground as prove that TV shows could be powerful tools for change when designed well. The series was different from its counterparts at the very outset, preferring to talk about the world as it was, at least when compared with overly sanitized series that were common in the seventies. Most importantly, The Mary Tyler Moore Show doesn't sacrifice humor in the process of delivering its message to viewers.

5 Maude Displays Its Protagonist In Both A Negative And A Positive Light

Bea Arthur in Maude

Bea Arthur's Maude is an eternal landmark in the history of the sitcom. One of the first spin-offs to become a TV powerhouse in its own right, it pushed the envelope on issues without alienating most of its viewers.

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The progressive thing about Maude is that it displayed its titular protagonist from all viewpoints rather than play to stereotypes: painting truth as a mixed bag instead of as objective fact. Maude's comedic style may have been controversial for its time, but the show is now considered an evergreen gem.

4 Allo 'Allo! Is A Comical Pastiche Of Stereotypes And Slapstick

Allo Allo cast

'Allo 'Allo!, an uncharacteristically bright perspective of the Second World War, is a comedic pastiche of stereotypes and slapstick. There is no dearth of humor in this British TV comedy, although it must be noted that a few of its jokes would be considered politically incorrect in the present era.

Regardless, 'Allo 'Allo! is a powerhouse of comical innovation, especially considering how English was ingeniously remodeled into German, French, and Italian with the addition of accents and other idiosyncrasies.

3 Murphy Brown's Candice Bergen Is The Heart Of The Show

Murphy Brown

Murphy Brown earned universal acclaim over its 247-episode run, not to mention a short-lived revival that aired in 2018. Although the latest season was not well received, the original series helped shape television for future generations.

Murphy Brown's brand of humor set itself apart by exploring hitherto taboo ideas, like single motherhood, a progressive trend ignored by many '90s sitcoms. It's always a pleasure to watch the sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued, and sharp-witted Candice Bergen take news coverage comedy to the next level.

2 Cheers Is As Witty Today As It Was Thirty Years Ago

The Cast of Cheers together in the titular Bar

Cheers is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest sitcoms ever made, even though its first season tanked in the Nielsen Ratings. Over the next eleven seasons, the show garnered an incredible 117 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning 28.

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Cheers fever took the late eighties and early 90s by storm, and is only slightly less incisive and witty today (as can be expected for a show more than thirty years old). The series was eventually spun off into Frasier, another wildly popular TV series that won more Emmys than Cheers.

1 Coupling Retains Its Authentic British Flair Despite Comparisons With US Sitcoms

Coupling — Sally and Patrick

Before Doctor Who and Sherlock, Steven Moffat created a quaint and bawdy sitcom known as Coupling, which managed to embed itself in the pop-cultural fabric with a meager 28 episodes (and four seasons). Critics praised the show for retaining its authentic flair despite comparisons with Friends and Seinfeld, explaining why its comedy is fresh even today. That said, Coupling made several off-color jokes that – to put it lightly – have not aged well at all.

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