Can anyone name 5 truly great situation comedies that ABC has aired in the entire time that it has existed? I'm talking since ABC and NBC split back in the old time radio days. Have there been 5 truly well written, well acted and produced shows that made you laugh out loud.

Anyone?

I can come up with "Taxi" (which they unceremoniously cancelled before its time), "Drew Carey Show" (which they buried in re-scheduling hell until the ratings died) and "Roseanne." "Grace Under Fire" and "Ellen" had their moments but far too few of them. If I go back much further in time there's just a whole lot of hacky Gary Marshall poop.

I'm sure there's others but damned if I can think of one. A little help?

I'd say the following:

Roseanne, Who's The Boss?, Dharma & Greg, Spin City and Modern Family.

my top 10 sitcoms that have aired on ABC
1. Barney Miller
2. Happy Days
3. Benson
4. The Middle
5. Mork & Mindy
6. Bewitched
7. Boy Meets World
8. Coach
9. Laverne & Shirley
10. Too Close for Comfort

Bewitched
The Donna Reed Show
My Three Sons
Coach
Three's Company
Happy Days
Laverne and Shirley
Bosom Buddies
The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
The Odd Couple
The Real McCoys

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
Barney Miller
The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
Dharma & Greg
Home Improvement
Spin City

It seems like nobody ever mentions or admits to watching it, but I'll always love Growing Pains.

My others have already been mentioned. Roseanne, Home Improvement.

It seems like nobody ever mentions or admits to watching it, but I'll always love Growing Pains.

My others have already been mentioned. Roseanne, Home Improvement.
Growing Pains was a great show.

Growing Pains was a great show.
Growing Pains was a great show. But it had the misfortune of being on the air at the same time as The Cosby Show and Family Ties (both on NBC). And because there was some general similarities between the shows Growing Pains was considered at best a poor cousin to the other two shows and at worst a ripoff of them. It never got a chance to be judged on its own merits. At least not by the critics anyway.

Growing Pains was a great show. But it had the misfortune of being on the air at the same time as The Cosby Show and Family Ties (both on NBC). And because there was some general similarities between the shows Growing Pains was considered at best a poor cousin to the other two shows and at worst a ripoff of them. It never got a chance to be judged on its own merits. At least not by the critics anyway.
When GP first went on the air, I considered it a poor imitation of Family Ties. I remember I used to mock the show. I never watched it much during the first season but during summer reruns I started watching some and I really started to like it. By the second and third seasons it was one of my favorite shows. It's too bad that it never gets the credit it deseves. It goes to show that critics don't know everything. I think it was a better show than TCS which got worse as the seasons went along.

While 'The Cosby Show' and 'Family Ties' were high quality, Emmy winning programs, 'Growing Pains' was a just lot of fun. They often broke the fourth wall. One time Jason wanted to have a heart to heart talk with Mike, and Mike said something like 'Can't it wait until after the show is over?' And Jason said, 'Okay, we'll talk during 'Moonlighting'. (The show that followed 'Growing Pains'). 'Cosby' or 'Family Ties' would probably never have had a joke like that. Things on 'Growing Pains' started to go downhill only after they brought in Chrissy and that DiCaprio kid.

While 'The Cosby Show' and 'Family Ties' were high quality, Emmy winning programs, 'Growing Pains' was a just lot of fun. They often broke the fourth wall. One time Jason wanted to have a heart to heart talk with Mike, and Mike said something like 'Can't it wait until after the show is over?' And Jason said, 'Okay, we'll talk during 'Moonlighting'. (The show that followed 'Growing Pains'). 'Cosby' or 'Family Ties' would probably never have had a joke like that. Things on 'Growing Pains' started to go downhill only after they brought in Chrissy and that DiCaprio kid.

And GP also declined when GP became The Kirk Cameron Show (due to his increasing demands for scripts re-writes from his converting to Christianity), too, which was also partially part of GP's eventual decline, too.


But here's my list:

1). Mr. Belvedere - OK so this show wasn't a Top Nielsen ratings show like its other 1980 ABC shows such as Who's the Boss? and Growing Pains all were. But it was pretty fun to watch.

2). Barney Miller

3). Who's the Boss?

4). What's Happening!! - Unlike Good Times and The Jeffersons, this show wasn't as topical as those shows and it was more fun to watch than either of those two shows at times.

5). Bosom Buddies

6). Taxi

7). Just the Ten of Us - another under-appreciated show ABC mistreated.

8). Webster - OK so this show was a Diff'rent Strokes rip-off? There were actually some decent episodes on this show, more than the later seasons of DS did.

9). The Odd Couple

10). Three's Company

1.Three's company
2 Who's the Boss
3 Growing Pains
4 Step By Step
5 Happy Days

The Real McCoys, McHale's Navy, The Brady Bunch, Full House, Hope & Faith.

Glad to see at least a few people agreed with me on Growing Pains! It declined as the kids grew up, but don't most shows?

One of my guilty pleasure shows is Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It might have had limited appeal but was a great show for its target audience.

Thanks to everyone who's answered my question. I really appreciate it. How could I forget "Taxi" and "Barney Miller?" "Spin City" had its moments before the move regime change as well. Other than that, I didn't see any names of shows that actually made me laugh but that's more than enough for what I needed. Thank you all again! :)

P.S. "Growing Pains" hilarious? Really? To each his or her own, I guess.

The Brady Bunch
Family Matters
Happy Days
Laverne and Shirley
Perfect Strangers

Here are my top 5. 1. Ozzie and Harriet, 2. My Three Sons, 3. The Brady Bunch, 4. Bewitched, 5. The Addams Family.

My top 10:

1. Happy Days
2. Leave It To Beaver
3. Bewitched
4. The Partridge Family
5. The Brady Bunch
6. Laverne & Shirley
7. My Three Sons
8. Three's Company
9. Odd Couple
10. Mork & Mindy

How do you forget the Beaver? Come on now!

#10 was a tough call for me. It was between Mork & Mindy and Welcome Back Kotter and it was very close.

Considering LITB an ABC show (season one was on CBS)...

1. Leave it to Beaver

2. The Brady Bunch

3. Happy Days

4. Bewitched

5. Who's The Boss?

Here's my top 5 ABC sitcoms:

1. Head of the Class (Yes, I'm sure some of you saw this coming)
2. Aliens In The Family (If I can include one short-lived sitcom that lasted less than a year, this one from the spring of 1996 would be the one)
3. Family Matters (when it actually focused on the Winslows)
4. Step By Step (mainly when Cody was in the cast)
5. Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (Mark Curry's a great comedian)

1. SOAP the funniest cast ever
2. Three's Company
3. Bewitched
4. Welcome Back Kotter
5. TAXI
6. Step by Step huge Patrick Duffy fan
7. Moonlighting yes it wasnt a sitcom but I was always cracking up at their adventures
8. Laverne and Shirley
9. Mork and Mindy
10. The Partridge Family