Your medal will be in the mail. ;)

Jennifer Anniston was so hot at the start of that.

What sitcoms do you enjoy?

Guys our age are treading a fine line. On one side, the response to that is, "Wow, it was such a cool show! I can't believe you didn't try it even once!"

The other response and the one that grows more likely every day is, "Oh, surprise me again, Gramps."

I’ve seen the show and watched it in syndication and will probably tune in tomorrow night to see the final episode. I never thought that Jennifer Aniston was particularly hot (it seemed more hype than anything) but I do like some of the writing and it is a pretty funny show.

My favorite sit coms (which I don’t watch regularly) would have to be Frasier, Married with Children, and the Drew Carey Show which I watch in syndication. I suppose if you include the Simpsons, King of the Hill, and This Just In as half-hour animated “situational comedies,” then I do watch some sit coms on a regular basis.

About the only shows that I make a point to watch are Angel (going off the air), BtVS (syndication), NYPD Blue, Alias (Jennifer Garner is to me what Marissa Tomei is to Mitch, plus it’s a great show), and Andromeda and Enterprise (I’m a Trekker but the shows are pretty weak). I sometimes tune in to Law & Order, the Practice (going off the air but it jumped the shark a long time ago) and sometimes (shudder) the West Wing.

It probably seems like a lot but it works out to less than ten hours a week and will be even less when a couple of these shows go off the air. Just as well since I’m starting LS in the Fall and don’t need the distraction.

I loved Friends. It was a true ensemble piece, which is kind of rare in TV sitcoms - at least recently. They all were only as good as they were because they worked together. Sad to see it go, but it's definitely time, I think.

I've heard great things about "Friends", and I've actually been unexpectedly impressed with the acting of some of the cast in other roles: Aniston was great in "Good Girl", and David Schwimmer was great in a couple of very beefy roles (Capt. Sobel in "Band of Brothers" and "Uprising", the story of the Warsaw Ghetto revolt). My post was not meant to knock the show, although it may have read that way.

Oddly, Red, quite a number of my actor friends felt the same way, almost word for word.

I just never have time to watch TV. By the end of my day, vegging out to "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" is about the best I can manage.

Although I also loved both epis of "Frazier" that I saw, and liked the couple dozen "Drew Carey" reruns that I used to catch late at night.

Ah, good I'm not alone. :)

Other than Futurama, Family Guy, South Park, Simpsons, and Deadwood, the only TV I watch are one of the 24-hour news channels. I'll tune in for Enterprise every once in a while (although now that it's gotten somewhat good it's on my regular viewing list). It's ironic that some of the best writing and insightful social commentary on TV comes from cartoons these days.

Given the choice between watching a sitcom and having a colon exam performed by Dr. Hook I'd have to give it some thought.

Brian,

What sitcoms do I watch? Hmmm - none. Well, maybe "Ed" and "Scrubs" once a month or so, but I really just don't watch much TV.

Oh, and Red - I mean that my actor friends echo *your* view word for word, not mine...

You too, eh?

Oh goodness, Mitch, that's not what I meant with my comment! I was just adding my voice to the fray. :) There are plenty of shows which I have never seen - which the rest of the world is highly addicted to.

I'm not a huge TV watcher myself, but when I'm a fan of something, look out.

You best not be calling me on Sunday nights when 6 Feet Under is on. I will not pick up the phone.

:)

note to self...

It's tomorrow night actually ;)

The only true sitcoms on the air right now that are watchable in my opinion are Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens. I've heard good things about Scrubs but haven't caught more than five minutes of it.

I also watch South Park and occasionally the Simpson's, although the current episodes are a pale shadow of the previous golden years, especially seasons 3-6. Luckily the best sitcom ever is still on in syndication. I've probably caught ever episode of Seinfeld at least fifteen times, closer to twenty on a few of them, yet I still watch it every chance I get and I don't see myself getting tired of it ever. Which means in ten to twelve years my entire verbal communications will consist of nothing except references to the show.

I watched Friends the first few years it was on and found it mildly amusing. It will go down in my books as one of the most overrated shows in history.

I smell a third-hour topic for Saturday!

Never seen it either. Whenever I ran across references to its contents, I was shocked and offended that anyone would consider it a "family show" or suitable for children.

(Now it reruns during the dinner hour, which I find incomprehensible. We fine Stern for post-11 p.m. antics, but let trash like Friends run during prime hours for children?!)

And yet, I've met many people who considered it okay for the whole family. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't see the redeeming value in glamorizing casual, premarital sex or sex with multiple partners, or partner swapping, or no doubt many other of the hundreds of unsavory topics this show exploited in the name of "humor."

"Trash" is a more apt description.

Dadmanly - that's one of the reasons I don't watch much TV; less explaining to do with the kids. Plus who wants to remember their entire childhood with Dad spent sitting in front of the TV, right?

HH - shows you how much attention I pay to prime time TV...

Jay - I don't catch 'em much, but I also like the animated shows you brought up. "Family Guy" is a guilty pleasure (thanks, Flash). A VERY guilty one.

Anyone else watch “This Just In” on Spike TV?

http://newportsblog.spiketv.com/

I've seen "TJI" maybe twice.

Pretty good, actually.

D’uoh, speaking of sitcoms there are two that I try to catch regularly –My Hero and The Good Neighbors (both British and on PBS).

My Hero is about a superhero from Ultron named Thermoman who has to protect his secret identity while pretending to be an Irish health food store owner. The humor is mainly in the cast of characters and its pretty recent (2003) for a British sitcom that is broadcast in the United States.

The Good Neighbors is from the 1970s and about two sets of neighbors who are good friends. One is an upper middle class corporate set (a manager and his high society wife) and the other is a former draftsman and his wife who decide to try self-sufficiency by growing crops and raising livestock in their yard. What makes the show so special IMO is the chemistry between the characters and that the writers avoided the obvious trap of making any of the characters unlikable. It’s quite a bit like Frasier with the terrific storytelling and the way the actors play off of each other and unlike Friends, totally suitable for family-viewing although smaller children may not get some of the humor.

Oh gosh, Mitch, I thought I was the only one on the planet who has never seen Friends. It's so nice to find another. Are we the only ones, do you think?

you can add me to the list of 'Never Watched It'.. along with just about every other network program during the past 10 years

I do admit a fondness for South Park.. that's the only tv show I would consider worth taping

I've never watched a complete episode either. And Seinfeld is another I was never able to get past the first 5 minutes of.

Family Guy is GREAT and I think they are making new episodes now. I may have to borrow you my DVDs, Mitch.

South Park is also on my TIVO list. Many of you may appreciate this article, it is called 'South Park Republicans'

http://www.techcentralstation.com/100702A.html

Flash

Amazing, a post that is essentially nothing more than "no comment" gets 20 (now 21) comments! Mitch, you should say less more often!