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15 greatest, funniest and underrated sitcoms to watch before you die!

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Mohammad Kanchwala
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sitcoms to watch before you die

There are so many, just so many Television shows out every year, that it really has become really hard to keep track and watch the good ones. Fear not, for the list of sitcoms to watch before you die, is here to the rescue!

These every day shows with laugh tracks and sub-standard jokes are popular, yes, but are they really any good? No, they aren’t. Some sitcoms are merely sinful indulgences of their audiences, like The Big Bang Theory, a show so dependent on laugh tracks, that literal pauses are inserted between punchlines to notify the audience that they are supposed to laugh along. Our list of sitcoms to watch before you die do not cater to an audience with dead brain cells because these shows are masterpieces.

Leave behind those Friends cults of feelings and nauseating mush-fests, and Two And a Half Men days of nostalgia when Charlie Sheen’s self-aware debauchery added that something special to the sitcom. Social Ketchup brings you some of the best, highly rated, critically acclaimed, revolutionary and successful list of sitcoms to watch before you die.

If you watch every show on this list, it has been said that your brain expands three sizes and you automatically get promoted to the most intellectual person title in your family, your workplace and among your friends. Now without further ado, let me back my words up with proof.

Community

“The series follows an ensemble cast at a community college in the fictional town of Greendale, Colorado. It makes heavy use of meta-humour and pop culture references, often parodying film and television clichés and tropes. Since its final episode, Community has appeared on a number of lists determining the greatest television shows of all-time.”

Created by Dan Harmon, Community is one of television’s seriously underappreciated works that has managed to achieve a cult following among the youth who possess a liking for shows that are not dependent on laugh tracks.

This show is one of my personal favourites and I rate it extremely highly on the list of sitcoms to watch before you die list, as you can see!

Arrested Development

“The show follows the fictitious Bluth family, a formerly wealthy and habitually dysfunctional family. After its debut in 2003, the series received widespread critical acclaim, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Golden Globe Award, and has attracted a cult following, including several fan-based websites.”

Another criminally underrated show, Arrested Development truly is not for everyone. But if you understand and love this show, we can be really good friends and I guarantee that.

The Office

An adaptation of a UK based series of the same name, The Office depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It’s cast includes the hilarious Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and B. J. Novak as the main cast.

The recipient of numerous awards including four Primetime Emmy Awards, the show ran for 9 seasons and continues to captivate its loyal fan base to this day.

Modern Family

Let me begin this description by saying, Phil Dunphy is God. Phil Dunphy is my God. If you were ever granted three wishes by a Genie, it would take three simultaneous wishes of self-confidence for you to come close to Phil Dunphy and his greatness.

On a side note, Modern Family is about three different, but related families and the eccentric day-to-day lives of the characters featuring, a homosexual couple with an adopted Vietnamese daughter, a sixty year old rich Caucasian man, married to a ridiculously hot 30 something Latina with a fastidious son, and lastly, Phil Dunphy and his family comprising of him, his wife, and three children of varying degrees of intellectual capacities.

Shameless

The story of a dysfunctional family, as many are in comedy, Shameless is pivoted around William. H. Macy’s Frank Gallagher, a drunk father-of-six who owing to his addictions, is unable to raise his vast brood of offsprings.

Shameless covers the Gallagher family, it’s inebriated patriarch and the six children and their uphill task of growing up, and sustaining themselves at the same time, often with funny and lovable results.

Seinfeld

Considered to be the most influential and one of the greatest TV shows to ever be created, Seinfeld has played a huge role when it comes to making Jerry Seinfeld, the richest celebrity in the world! Yeah, RICHEST.

Inspiring, and being emulated by many standup comedians and actors over the years, not only was Seinfeld’s format mimicked repeatedly, and has been named as the second best-written TV series of all time! Its reruns continue to be hugely popular all over the world, to this very day.

Chappelle’s Show

Oh, this description is going to be SO biased because I am a HUGE Dave Chappelle fan, and let me just tell you one thing, even if you devour the entire three seasons of this show in a week, you will still be craving more Dave Chappelle because the man is truly that good.

Sadly enough for all of us, Dave Chappelle, discontent with the direction the show was taking, quit, midway into the third season and you will have to satisfy your need for more Dave Chappelle by watching all of his Netflix Specials, which by the way, he was paid, $20 million dollars for. FOR EACH SPECIAL. Yeah, he is that good.

Every episode of Chappelle’s Show features comedy sketches which needless to say, in Dave Chappelle’s trademark controversial yet HILARIOUS style, are pop-a-lung-while-laughing funny.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Will Smith’s propeller into mainstream recognition across America, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air continues to be strong crowd favourite all over the world.

Transitioning Will Smith from a rapper, to what we recognize him as today, an actor, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is a classic television show with an average rating of 7.9 on IMDb and is renowned for it’s clean, yet funny content.

Silicon Valley

Another one of my very highly recommended personal favourites, Silicon Valley parodies, satirizes and ridicules the culture and life of professionals in and around the California based tech capital of America and possibly the world.

Silicon Valley revolves around the reclusive Richard Hendricks, who, while working at a multibillion-dollar tech firm in a menial position, is also attempting to float his own startup compression company. The hilarity that ensues, cannot be described in the character limit I have here.

The Simpsons

Well what do I say about this one. I’m sure you know about The Simpsons, because literally everyone on the planet with access to a television has at least seen or heard about the show. The Simpsons is an automatic inclusion in our list of sitcoms to watch before you die and here is your reason to start watching right now!

And here’s more. This show, is literally older than I am and no one, not one show has had the good fortune or the content to knock The Simpsons off it’s perch. Featuring the lovable yet hilarious exploits of the dysfunctional family comprising of Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie Simpson.

30 Rock

Created by one of the funniest women on Television, 30 Rock was the brainchild of Tina Fey who also plays the show’s unfortunate lead character Liz Lemon. Birthed out of Tina Fey’s experience as the head writer for Saturday Night Live, it is based around the life of the production crew behind the fictional show, The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan.

The supporting cast includes acting powerhouse Alec Baldwin, funnyman Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and more. Throughout it’s seven season long run, 30 Rock maintained high ratings and low viewership which may have contributed to it’s eventual demise.

Everybody Loves Raymond

One of the shows on our list to have been discontinued, Everyody Loves Raymond, it is centered obviously around the lead character Raymond, who is also at the centre of every fight in his family.

Famous for it’s dry wit and sarcasm, the show was and is so popular that it continues to be re-broadcast and remade in countries all over the world more than a decade after it went off air. Everybody Loves Raymond has been the winner of 15 Primetime Emmy Awards during it’s run.

South Park

One of the most infamous TV show, South Park alongide The Simpsons, is one of the longest running, most critically acclaimed sitcoms to still be around. It holds an 8.7 average rating on IMDb, and an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The show revolves around four young boys in a Colorado town, and their adventures make up for various guest voice appearances and episodes for the show. South Park boasts of an unfiltered profanity laced satirical take on many issues of the real world and more.

Brooklyn Nine Nine

Based on a group of NYPD Police Detectives from Brooklyn’s 99 precinct, the show features Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, Andre Braugher, Chelsea Peretti among others who make this show a necessary inclusion in our list of sitcoms to watch before you die.

Andy Samberg plays the juvenile yet brilliant cop, Jake Peralta, with Andre Braugher’s sombre police captain with generous contributions from the entire cast that makes this cop-comedy a must watch show, and I personally recommend it.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

About to become the joint recipient of the Television’s longest running live action sitcom title, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the story of five friends who run an Irish pub called, Paddy’s Pub in South Philadelphia.

“Each member of the gang shows varying degrees of dishonesty, egotism, selfishness, greed, pettiness, ignorance, laziness, and unethical behavior; they are often engaged in controversial activities. Episodes usually find them hatching elaborate schemes and often conspiring against one another and others for personal gain, vengeance, or simply the entertainment of watching another's downfall.” is how Wikipedia describes the show.

Impractical jokers

Let’s just say, every episode, every second and every act on the Impractical Jokers can literally be categorized as the funniest moment of the show because this show has the capability to leave you gasping for air.

The unusually outlandhish escapades of four childhood friends, Joe, Murr, Sal and Q, Impractical Jokers is currently in it’s fourth season and as you can see, is one of the funniest shows on TV right now.

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