The Rob’s Top 5 Sitcoms of All-Time

Earlier this week, and numerous times throughout my broadcast career, I've noted than I am not a big fan fan of sitcoms.  I know that pretty much since the advent of television, the situation-comedy, or sitcoms as they're more popularly known, have been an incredibly successful mainstay.  Something about their absurd premises, their try-way-too-hard-to-be-relatable characters, and barf-inducing laugh-track never resonated with me.  Their ability to always establish and resolve a problem inside of 22 left me often times unable to attach myself to the characters involved.  However, they're not all bad, and during my formative years, some of them I even liked.

I have never seen a single episode of "Two and a Half Men," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "King of Queens," "Big Bang Theory"...  None of the modern day classics.  But, here is a list of five sitcoms that I consider the best of all-time:

#5 - HOME IMPROVEMENT: This show's run was coincidental with my late-elementary/junior high school years.  Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, his family, his coworkers, and his wise, faceless neighbor always had me laughing along with that phony laugh-track.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#4 - FAMILY MATTERS: Urkelmania hit the Hirschbuhl household hard.  My mom thought Steve Urkel was the funniest thing ever, so in turn a 7-year-old Rob did, too.  Heck, I loved Urkel so much I dressed up as him for Halloween in third grade!  Every time he would laugh, snort, and ask, "did I do that" my entire family would be doubled-over with laughter.  Remember, my brain was still developing at this point.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#3 - SEINFELD: "Seinfeld" is like the Beatles of sitcoms, to me.  If you're going to ask "what is the greatest sitcom of ever," the RIGHT answer is probably "Seinfeld."  And, like the Beatles, while I think they're great, they're not MY favorite.  "Seinfeld" had brilliant writing and cultural impact, and I definitely loved the show, but two more tickled my fancy a bit more personally.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#2 - FULL HOUSE: I swear, when I was growing up, I felt like I was a member of the Tanner family.  The backbone of the ABC T.G.I.F. Friday night lineup (in my opinion the true highwater mark of sitcoms), the warmth and charm of this motherless family made me feel something every episode.  I loved "Full House"!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#1 - MARRIED...  WITH CHILDREN: There are a small handful of shows I can honestly say I own EVERY episode of...  "Married...  With Children" is one of them.  To me, "Married... With Children" had more laughs and BIG LAUGHS per episode than any other sitcom, and its raunchy reputation was right up my sense of humor's alley.  Growing up, I had the impression that I "shouldn't be watching this" and that made it all the better.  "Married...  With Children" will always have a special place in my heart, and I consider it the greatest sitcom of all-time.