What is the worst sitcom currently on TV?

[Frank Cannon]

I know the term "worst sitcom" is redundant, but there is one show that I absolutely can't fathom in the slightest: "Yes, Dear".

I cannot believe this piece of crap has been on for something like three years now. I can't even tell you what the "situation" is. All I ever see is four obnoxious men and women wandering about in a living room and spouting dialogue that is so unfunny, it's almost surreal. This would be a typical exchange:

OBNOXIOUS MAN #1: I went to see Fred today.
OBNOXIOUS MAN #2 (ALWAYS WEARS BALL CAP): Oh, how's Fred doing?
OBNOXIOUS MAN #1: Fred's fine. You know, his wife's a Swede.
(audience chuckles)
OBNOXIOUS MAN #2 (ALWAYS WEARS BALL CAP): That's right. What's her name again?
OBNOXIOUS MAN #1: Helga.
(audience erupts into raucous laughter)

God, I hate that show with a burning passion. And now my local UPN affiliate gives me TWO reruns of this garbage every night.

Can there possibly be a worse "comedy" than this on TV?

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. The War At Home

makes Yes Dear look like Fawlty Towers

[underpants]

3. I've never understood the animosity towards "Yes Dear"

Nothing ground breaking but the guy from Danville was always funny. I think the whole thing (including "The Rick") was from folks who didn't like how they all made some serious money off one show ...or something.

Yes Dear IS in syndication.

[Frank Cannon]

9. You sound like a fan

Then maybe you can at least tell me what in the he11 this show is about. All I ever see is four people: a dude with a ball cap, a whiny guy with a strange accent, a semi-hot curly-haired woman, and a semi-hot voluptuous woman wandering around a living room and spouting dialogue that is so unfunny, I almost think the "joke" is that the show is SUPPOSED to not be funny.

[underpants]

17. I haven't seen it in several years*

except once last year I ran into it for some reason.

I THINK it used to be on Monday nights before Raymond (my wife watched it) so that is where I know it from. The one guy is from Danville and the other guy is from NoVA so I think that is why I was interested in it at all (aside from "The Rick" aspect and some Comedy Central stand ups).

I just never understood the incredible annimosity towards them and when I ran into it again it seemed that they had really gotten their feet undr them and have a pretty good show. I don't know but that is how it appears to me. I don't know what night it is on now but it is still on and between the four of them (and producers) they have made a boatload of money off it and seeem to be having a very good time doing it.

Dunno

[DanCa]

40. Hey Tim Conway is a guest star occasionaly

It Cant be all that bad.

[HEyHEY]

22. I love that show

It maka me laffa

[Loonman]

2. Any series with a stupid oafish guy and a hot wife

Which is most of them. Ray Romano sucks ass as well.

[Crazy Dave]

16. Newhart had a pretty hot wife

But hey, he was funny.

[fishwax]

30. i've been watching the first bob newhart series on dvd lately

it was before my time, and for whatever reason i never caught it in reruns, but i've enjoyed it quite a bit. there's a rather bizarre combination of conventional 50s/60s sitcom humor and vaguely subversive inuendo :)

[HughBeaumont]

46. That's how it is on TV commercials too.

Nearly everyone you see pairs a portly, balding, inarticulate Joe Sportsbar with a hot wife WAY the hell out of his league. King of Queens Syndrome, I calls it. When did Artie Lang become America's Newest Sex Symbol?

[peekaloo]

4. Is that the one with Muffy Tupperman (Square Pegs) ?

on edit: I believe I'm thinking of Still Standing(?) which is just as bad.

ABC has something called 'Rodney' which does indeed both suck and blow.

[terrya]

5. "Joey"

Dear God, is that sad excuse for a "comedy" painful to sit through. Matt LeBlanc seems to have turned Joey Tribbiani into the most unlikable person on Earth.

I'm hoping that NBC will put this sad, sad show out of its misery soon.

[Frank Cannon]

6. Well, if "Yes, Dear" is any indication

"Joey" will not only be on TV for four or more years, but you can look forward to two back-to-back episodes every night for your enjoyment on your return from work.

[LSK]

7. all of them?

You mean there are sitcoms after Seinfeld? :shrug:

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Here's a harder question to answer:

Are there ANY watchable sitcoms on TV these days?

[Frank Cannon]

10. "King of Queens" is still pretty funny

I can count on getting at least two belly laughs out of that show.

[Sanity Claws]

34. King of Queens was going to be my choice for worst sitcom

Before posting my answer, I wanted to see whether anyone had beat me to it. I was very surprised that someone actually found it funny. I find it vulgar and stupid. I also don't understand the relationship between the husband and the wife -- they seem to dislike each other so much. BTW, I'm originally from Queens. Maybe I'd be less offended by the show if it were set somewhere else, like some red state where I think people really are that stupid and vulgar.

[Frank Cannon]

48. Stupidity and vulgarity are the current gold standard for sitcoms

That having been said, I at least expect at least one genuine laugh out of any given half-hour of any modern-day sitcom. "King of Queens" usually fills that quota. I think that show's pretty funny, but I can understand if you think it is not. Like every other sitcom, it is indeed stupid and vulgar.

But "Yes, Dear", despite being stupid and vulgar, commits the cardinal sin of comedy: It's just not funny, period.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

53. I hate shows where the wife is MEAN to her husband....

And that is one show that is built on that premise. She thinks she's a genius, but he would be drooling and dragging his knuckles when he walks if it weren't for her. I hate that show.
Duckie

[Senator Lamb]

54. boooo

King of Queens is my favorite. Arthur steals the show though.

[Frank Cannon]

57. Arthur DOES steal the show

They don't use him as much as they have in the past, but I love all the Arthur episodes. That Jerry Stiller has still got it.

[Senator Lamb]

55. boooo

King of Queens is my favorite. Arthur steals the show though.

[peekaloo]

11. 'Scrubs', 'My Name is Earl' , 'The Office'.

imho :-)

p.s. no audience or canned laugh tracks.

[Rob H.]

15. Those are the ones that sprang to mind for me, too

I don't always catch 'The Office,' but I'm a faithful viewer of the other two you mentioned. :)

[blockhead]

33. I think "the office' is the funniest show on TV.

[antigone382]

36. All quite hilarious.

Boston Legal can be pretty funny too, although it's not exactly a sitcom.

[gizmo1979]

39. Except for the Office they are the best

comedies on tv Earl and Scrubs Rock.And I know funny.

[peekaloo]

44. I did not find the first season of 'The Office' funny. I think they're

hitting their stride this year.

:-)

[gizmo1979]

47. Maybe I'll give it another chance.nt

[Celeborn Skywalker]

12. I like "two and a half men"

It's pretty damn funny.

[antigone382]

35. That show killls me.

I love the kid...he reminds me of my little brother.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. You have asked the right question. If there are any, I haven't

seen them. Of course, to be honest, I have seen so little on the major networks worth watching, lately, that there are a lot of the newer sitcoms that I haven't watched at all. Just the promo clips are enough to turn me off.

[hopein08]

29. "Out of Practice" is pretty good...

as was the first episode of "Crumbs" but it's entirely too early to tell on that one.

[Patiod]

31. "Everybody hates Chris"

The kid's story lines are a little painful, but the parents' are a riot

[eyepaddle]

14. Would you consider HBO's Entourage

a sitcom?

If you do,it's pretty damn hilarious. I know tey have advantages that the networks can never match in terms of story choices and what-have-you, but entourage always makes me laugh.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

18. "My Hero"

Which stars Ardal O'Hanlon from Father Ted and is a very, very poor Mork and Mindy / Third Rock From The Sun affair which incredibly keeps getting commissioned (next time with O'Hanlon taking a sabbatical, he's that interchangeable). Sadly Ardal hasn't learnt from the shiteness of the show as he was the lead in Ben Elton's more recent offering Blessed which was a truly turgid affair.

There are worse sitcoms out there, to be sure. I've caught the odd episode (or start of one) on some obscure channel and wondered how the hell it got made, but My Hero is treated as one of BBC1's top prime-time comedies by the schedulers - signs that generally BBC comedy standards are slipping severely.

[Love Bug]

20. Is "My Hero" the one with the alien who marries an earth woman

and has a baby? If so, I've seen it -- and it sucks. Now funny sci-fi comedy is Red Dwarf (well, maybe not so much in it's later seasons).

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

26. Yes, that's the one.

A new BBC sci-fi comedy started last week called Hyperdrive starring Nick Frost (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and boy was the pilot a stinker. There were barely any jokes, let alone laughs and it outright pinched bits from a couple of Red Dwarf episodes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/hyperdrive/

I love Red Dwarf but I'm with you - I don't think it worked after Rob Grant left, although you can see the decline in series 6. Still, I enjoyed both Grant & Naylor's individual novels (although not a patch on the wonderful "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" / "Back to Reality") and really hope that funding for the film materializes at some point.

[Love Bug]

56. I'd love to see a Red Dwarf movie!

I agree with you that the quality went down after they "rematerialized" everyone on the ship. It was more fun to think of poor Lister abandoned millions of years in the future with an android, a hologram and Cat! Now it looks like a Babylon 5 parody.

[Frank Cannon]

51. I've seen a few "My Hero"s, and they're pretty funny

Although the hero in "My Hero" is about the lamest actor I've ever seen, the writing is pretty good, and the woman who plays "My Hero"s wife is somewhat hot.

[Initech]

19. Not a sitcom but an animated one - King Of The Hill

The first two seasons were funny, but I stopped watching it after it started preaching extreme RW values.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

21. Typical Sitcom

Clueless/putz/buffoon male lead character - usually fat or not the least bit attractive

Bitchy/Whiny female character - always smarter than her male counterpart & 9 times out of 10 is pretty attractive

Obnoxious over the top male sidekick - usually less attractive than male lead character something of a weirdo on the show

See this formula is repeated and repeated time and time again. They use the male as stupid and woman are smart so to get the female audience. Then they make male unattractive while female is attractive to get average joe to watch thinking they might have a chance with a pretty woman in real life. Question have you ever seen a sitcom in reverse, where the male is smarter of the too and woman is the putz. I can't think of any shows like this. Also have you ever seen a show where you think in real life he'd never be married/dating her because of what she looks like.

Here's a list of examples
Everbody Love's Raymond
According to Jim
George Lopez
Rodney
Yes Dear
King of Queens
Home Improvement
I'm sure there's dozens of more!

[underpants]

23. Question have you ever seen a sitcom in reverse....

Roseanne

but then she was one of them "forceful womens" and such

Actually that was what made that show ( I like it but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it) very special.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

25. I was actually

thinking about that one when I made that post, that It the only show of that the couple you could seem together in real life and breaks that formula. I mean John Goodman was still all of those things I mentioned, but Roseanne wasn't some stick thin woman. I think the difference was that Roseanne was the star of that sitcom where all the other sitcom I mentioned the male was the star. Roseanne was a good sitcom during it's time, the shows actually aged well. I just think the last few seasons sucked because it seemed like they were just throwing stuff out at the wall to see what would stick, like let's turn this person gay for shock value. I noticed shows with families can't last as long as shows like Seinfeld or Frasier because the kids grow up in time and move on to college sometimes changing the show completely.

[hfojvt]

28. is it fair to put Rodney on that list?

His wife is not that hot, certainly not like his sister in law. He's not that dumb, childishly goofy maybe, and his sidekick is not that much of an oddball. He's the more balanced one of the two.

The females are not always that attractive - Raymond's wife seems about equal to Raymond in looks. I am not sure Home Improvement was a mismatch either. I only have seen a couple episodes.

Are the male leads of Yes Dear, Rodney, Home Improvement, and George Lopez totally unattractive? Are the females always bitchy/whiny?

It is probably hard to have a sitcom without buffonery, although often that comes from the kids of the show. Did I dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and the Brady Bunch have reasonably competent and attractive male leads? What about Growing Pains or Full House?

[Initech]

45. I've got an example of a reverse sitcom - Titus

The dad is an evil lunatic, the mom's a paranoid schizophreic, and Titus' girlfriend is more neurotic than he is. It's great, check it out on DVD.

[Frank Cannon]

52. You just described the "Honeymooners/Flintstones" formula.

Pretty amazing how that keeps showing up again and again and again and again.

[reelcobra]

24. My name is Earl is like an evening with W's family

featuring inbred humor and roasted Red Meat

[Efilroft Sul]

27. "The O'Reilley Factor" EOT!

[jeff30997]

32. Shitting in the Closet.

[DanCa]

37. Anthony Clark was much better on Boston Commons

as for yes dear it's mediocre at best . I watch it because it is so dry and it relaxes me. I also love the tim conway episodes. Call me old fashioned but when I see a toy airplane get flown into someones onions I find it funny.

[DanCa]

38. Whats the new show with henry wrinkler on cbs?

That's the one I can't stand. I dont know the name of it. They play of family of doctors or something.

[lectrobyte]

41. It something like "Out of Practice" Being a HW fan, I gave it a

look, pretty horrible. I'd have thought a series with him and the wife from West Wing would have had to have been great.

[DanCa]

42. same here

man he doesn't even look like fonzie any more does he :D But I agree with you 100 percent it's horrible.

[bertha katzenengel]

43. Name one. Sitcoms suck. The last one I liked was "Grace Under Fire,"

only because it starred Brett Butler (hubba, hubba). Otherwise it sucked like all the rest.

[Joey Liberal]

49. They are all bad n.t

[Fox Mulder]

50. My answer is what the person in post #2 put.

:)