https://screenrant.com/tv-comedies-tragedy-premise/

Some of the most hilarious comedy series ever have originated from devastating circumstances. Here are ten of the most tragic TV comedy premises.

Any sitcom with a wartime theme.

I don't necessarily agree with the selection of Who's the Boss? I never really considered it a "tragic sitcom" like say Full House, where the whole premise is spring boarded by the fact that the mom was violently killed in a car accident.

Yes, the wife of Tony Danza's character and Alyssa Milano's character's mother is deceased at the start of the show, but the premise is very aspirational. And Judith Light's character essentially becomes a mother figure for Alyssa Milano's character, so it isn't like the whole becomes bogged down by the whole "if only mom hadn't died" mentality.

You might as well put any other sitcom with a widowed dad regardless of rhyme or reason on this list like My Three Sons, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Bachelor Father, etc.

With that being said, I'm surprised that Webster isn't on this list if you're gong to put Diff'rent Strokes. I mean, the whole premise is that Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis' character) lost both of his parents in a car accident and is soon taken in by Alex Karras and Susan Clark's characters.

Family Affair is another one that you could put on this list since Buffy, Jody, and Cissy are all orphaned at the start of the series.

Punky Brewster is another '80s sitcom that I think falls into the "tragic sitcom" conversation better than Who's the Boss? I mean, at the start of the series, Punky's mom just senselessly abandon her and we don't know where her father is. Gimme a Break also has the "mom is dead/absent" premise to start the series and spring the plot forward. And then, you later had to cope with the death (both on screen and in real life) of Dolph Sweet, thus causing the Kanisky girls to become orphans.

Thanx TMC!

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em would qualify for this, the Britcom starring Michael Crawford before he became an opera star. Frank Spencer is a clumsy sad sack at everything he does (except Frank did have a pretty wife who was there for him).