Sitcoms have been a television staple for essentially as long as there have been television sets in most households. Everyone likes a laugh or two, and some would argue that humans may well need a laugh or two every now and then, given that old cliché of laughter being the best medicine and whatnot. And with sitcoms being a reliable and popular source of humorous entertainment (especially for viewers in need of a chuckle in the times before the internet), there have been plenty of great ones made over the decades.

The word sitcom is an abbreviation of situation comedy, essentially meaning a show where the same group of characters are continually shown being involved in amusing situations. For the purposes of ranking the best sitcoms of all time below, the term is applied loosely, as indeed, some of the shows below - while funny - do branch out into other genres, including drama (sitcoms don't mind getting sad sometimes, after all). But the following comedic shows can all be labeled as sitcoms, representing this type of TV at its best, and are shown below from great to greatest.

45 'King of the Hill' (1997-2010)

Created by Greg Daniels and Mike Judge

Apparently, 250 episodes across more than 13 years isn’t enough, because King of the Hill is another older show that’s joined the ranks of old shows getting rebooted in the 2020s. The animated sitcom has, admittedly, continued to hold onto some level of fame in the years since King of the Hill went off the air, having a dedicated fanbase and getting many of its moments recontextualized/reborn as internet memes.

On paper, King of the Hill is one of many animated sitcoms revolving around a dysfunctional family and largely centered on the patriarch, but it makes it work – and stands out – thanks to its unique style of humor. The animation is simple and things are generally grounded, but the style and humor of Mike Judge – who co-created the show and voices its main character (among others) – shine through and make King of the Hill feel distinctive.

44 'Louie' (2010 - 2015)

Created by Louis C.K.

Any mention of Louis C.K. in a post-2017 world does have to acknowledge the controversies around the man, and the fact that his public image was forever altered by such events. The actor/comedian has had a lower profile since, never really achieving the level of fame he had before, with the entire story being explored in a 2023 documentary called Sorry/Not Sorry.

While it might be harder to watch some of C.K.’s material nowadays, it is still worth pointing out how his 2010-2015 sitcom, Louie, was often brilliant, subversive, and unique. He plays a fictionalized version of himself dealing with, initially, everyday struggles that seem to become more absurd and surreal as the show goes on. Dark, occasionally funny, and often uncomfortable, it is one of the most distinctive sitcoms of the 2010s.

43 'NewsRadio' (1995 - 1999)

Created by Paul Simms

Often regarded as one of the most underrated sitcoms of the 1990s, NewsRadio accumulated nearly 100 episodes, which is impressive for a show that never quite had the ratings success or audiences that other ‘90s shows like Seinfeld and Friends built. NewsRadio nevertheless was charming and always entertaining for those willing to give it a shot, and is one of the better workplace comedies out there.

Said workplace is a news radio station known as WNYX NewsRadio (remember, this was a time before everyone got their news from the internet), and the characters there are all colorful and entertaining. With plenty of great banter and a little by way of exploring the characters’ love lives for good measure, NewsRadio found a great cast and a good formula and stuck with it, being an all-around winning sitcom as a result.

42 'The Larry Sanders Show' (1992 - 1998)

Created by Dennis Klein and Garry Shandling

In the pantheon of underrated TV drama shows, HBO is quite well-represented, especially given the network helped redefine what TV could be, both in terms of adult content and in scale. However, it’s not just the dramatic shows that are worth talking about when it comes to HBO’s legacy in television history, as the network also produced/aired plenty of great comedy shows, with The Larry Sanders Show being one of the very best.

Garry Shandling plays the titular Larry Sanders, with the show being about all the behind-the-scenes chaos at a fictional late-night talk show. Predating the likes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Veep by many years, The Larry Sanders Show was groundbreaking in showing what could be done on a cable station when it came to comedy, feeling like a breath of fresh air when compared to other more formulaic and safe (but still often fun) sitcoms that were shown on free-to-air TV.

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41 'Bob's Burgers' (2011 - )

Created by Loren Bouchard and Jim Dauterive

It may have started as a fairly small and unassuming show back in the early 2010s, but Bob’s Burgers has just grown in popularity more and more as the years have gone along. The series had a film in 2022 appropriately called The Bob's Burgers Movie, and has been renewed for a 14th and 15th season, which will ultimately take the episode count close to 300.

It’s done all this while being very simple and good-hearted as a show, serving as a less stressful version of Beef by being about a father dealing with the ups and downs of running a burger shop while also trying to raise his family. Bob’s Burgers has a charming and distinct style of animation and is overall easy to recommend for anyone who’s after a feel-good/easy-to-watch sort of sitcom.

40 'Black Books' (2001 - 2004)

Created by Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan

An unfortunate tradition when it comes to British sitcoms is the fact that most don’t seem to last very long, so ranking the best episodes of Black Books ultimately leads to ranking a sizable number of the series' episodes. It’s a show that revolves around a cranky, hard-drinking man who runs a bookstore, all the while treating his sole employee terribly, and complaining about things to his solitary friend.

Black Books is a mean-spirited but very funny show, revolving around an unapologetic misanthrope who gets treated terribly by the world around him, but always deserves it. It’s a downbeat sitcom that has an unusual tone, standing out even among other British comedy shows for how bleak it’s willing to get; appropriately enough, black comedy is the order of the day when it comes to Black Books.

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39 'Spaced' (1999 - 2001)

Created by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson

Nowadays, Spaced is best known as the show made before Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright became legends within the world of film for the excellent Cornetto trilogy, directed by Wright and starring Pegg and Frost. Those movies – Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End – all served as excellent parodies while also being good examples of the genres they parodied, and there are certainly hints of the excellence to come found throughout Spaced’s two seasons.

The show follows two young people trying to get by in London while not having the most rewarding of lives (not in the traditional sense at least). Together – and with some other supporting characters – they frequently get into misadventures that sometimes border on surreal, or at least feel like they take place in a heightened reality. The energy level is always high, the jokes come frequently, and even if it’s not as good as the aforementioned trio’s later trilogy of movies, Spaced is still very good when judged as a sitcom.

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38 'Vice Principals' (2016 - 2017)

Created by Danny McBride and Jody Hill

Feeling like a two-part miniseries, Vice Principals only ran for two seasons, but they were both consistent and each played a part in telling a complete story that was over before it could be unnecessarily milked. Broadly speaking, that story involves two high-ranking officials at a high school both competing to become the principal of said school, and then forming an uneasy alliance when someone else is selected to be principal.

Picture a very small-scale Game of Thrones, set in a high school, and involving characters who want to run the school instead of being a kingdom’s ruler, and you’ve got Vice Principals. It’s compelling and rather easy to binge through, and the fact that one of its main characters is played by the always scene-stealing Walton Goggins definitely helps things overall.