1970s sitcoms for newcomers around the world to start with

[george ho]

I've been watching briefly All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Three's Company, Maude, etc.

I've also watched Britcoms, like Man About the House, The Good Life (aka The Good Neighbours), Fawlty Towers, etc.

I don't know whether to count Monty Python's Flying Circus as the sitcom; it's too non-linear and farcical... and thematic and plotless as well.

I just can't figure out which 1970s shows are good for newcomers to start with, including ones who've not watched 1970s shows before.

I figured that Three's Company is a good show to start with, but then too many misunderstandings and too much farce are everywhere. Nevertheless, this is the best start for broad or wider demographics. (RE-EDIT) Actually, I'm unsure anymore. Minorities are portrayed as caricatures, like gays, but then I can't be too sure whether many people don't mind such portrayals.

I thought that All in the Family would be good for right-winged (or conservative) audiences to start with, but then the show also promotes tolerance toward minorities. I feared today's right-winged or conservative audience would have a hard time to sit through, but then I could be wrong.

Sitcoms centering on African-American characters... I haven't watched them much. I've heard Good Times, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, What's Happening, etc. I don't know whether those from The Bible Belt areas would like to watch those shows, but I doubt it.

IMHO, 1970s animated shows are not the good shows to start with, especially Fat Albert. The drawings and framerate look too archaic and too ancient to bear anymore.

Personally, I bought The Mary Tyler Moore Show because I grew to like it somewhat, despite not attracting today's audience very much. It also matches my intellect well enough to buy it. Well, some episodes are too hard to watch again, especially when one plot is resolved at the end of one episode.

Please feel free to comment and/or respond to my opinions here.

[icecream]

WKRP in Cincinnati, Barney Miller, Happy Days, M*A*S*H are all good 70s sitcoms to start with.

[george ho]

I already watched some episodes of Taxi years ago, and I am amazed by the writing, cast, storytelling, premise, etc. However, this is set in the pre-Uber era, so I wonder whether the viewers heavily using Uber and Lyft will be interested with the show and appreciate how taxi drivers and passengers interact... comically and/or dramatically.

I started to watch M*A*S*H. At first, the early episodes are too grating to watch mainly because of the war setting, dramatic direction, and one despicable, incompetent superior. However, I ended up growing to like it more, despite atrocious and unnecessary laugh tracks. I'm close to finishing the first season. Yikes, ten more seasons to go...

Just wondering, would younger demographics of today, including teenagers and younger children, like the shows from the 1970s? What about The Brady Bunch, though it debuted in 1969? Why isn't it good to start with, especially for them?

[LUNCH]

^^ If anything I love the fact that I do NOT see any later 90s and 21st century technology, innovations etc. on the older shows. In this case that would be shows from the 1970s. I do not want to see things like smart phones or computers or cars that all look the same and the list can go on and on. As far as the shows I would start off with something like Three's Company and go from there.There are so many good-great 1970s sitcoms to recommend.

[TSMIV]

Why would anyone feel obligated to watch a TV series? Everybody should watch what they enjoy and forget trying to please anybody else. It's just TV. It's supposed to exist to entertain us and sell advertising and that's it.

[DORVID]

Three’s Company