http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html

The sitcom is a staple of the American television experience. Wholesome, simple, for years its familiar laugh track has served as the cue for us to turn off our brains, curl up on the couch and descend into a blissful, stupid nirvana. But beneath the placid simplicity of these shows which have contributed mightily to television’s well deserved nickname of the idiot box, there occasionally lies a disturbing world of weirdos, degenerates and outright freaks. We thought we’d take a look at a few of these shows and hopefully, through this, you can learn that sometimes the simple sitcom isn’t so simple, but is a roiling cauldron of sin, depression and utter depravity. Ahem. I’ll calm down now. Anyway, let’s do this.

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#2-7-saved-by-the-bell

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#3-6-charles-in-charge

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#4-5-alf

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#5-4-full-house

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#6-3-everybody-loves-raymond

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#7-2-small-wonder

http://guyism.com/entertainment/tv/most-depressing-sitcom-premises-of-all-time.html#8-1-hogans-heroes

They were way off base with Everybody Loves Raymond. Marie was a bit of a shrew, but Frank was golden and a good father to his sons. Debra would get bitchy because Raymond as lazy and did not help much in the home. To me, it was quite realistic.

The most depressing comedy series to me was Married With Children. I hate, hate, hate this show. Here is this 40 year old loser whose best memory of his life was scoring four touchdowns in a high school football game, in a loveless marriage to a woman he cannot stand. The wife is a shrew, incredibly lazy, not supportive of Al. The son Bud was also a clueless, stupid loser who could never get a date, while the daughter was a slut.

Then there was Marcy and her two husbands, the first, a depressed man who also hated his wife, an annoying, non stop talking broad. The second husband was the idiot Ted McGinley whose very face kills a TV series.

I hope Ed O'Neill is remembered for Modern Family and not that piece of trash.

I haven't watched most of these shows, so I can only comment on "Full House" and "Alf".

I agree that it's not exactly common for three men to raise three girls together (although Jesse was their uncle and Joey almost was like an uncle to them as well). And in real life, Becky surely would have insisted on that Jesse would leave Danny's house. (But they also did throw in a bit of realism by having Jesse protest, saying that it was weird for him and Becky to live in Danny's attic.) I guess sitcoms tend to stretch realism a bit, and if Jesse would have moved, it would have changed the show too much.

As for "Alf", the most depressing bit wasn't that Alf was reckless, but that he was almost the last of his kind (only two or three other Melmacians had survied), and that he had to spend most of his time locked up inside the house. Hey, I think many people would have started acting weirdly under the same circumstances! And let's not forget the horrible last episode (which I haven't seen myself, but just reading about it makes you shiver), or that it obviously was a terrible experience to work on that show.