Daily Dirt: Best sitcoms by decade and the winner is…

Many of our comedic geniuses earned their tributes before cable, before satellite, before streaming (whatever that is) … let’s all sit back and enjoy. Welcome to Vol. 135 of the Daily Dirt and today’s three thoughts.

1. If any specific type of TV program could be considered the most popular it would arguably be the sitcom. That genre has dominated the ratings through the years, which is a pretty good indication of its continued popularity.

Using that framework, here are my sitcom medal picks of each decade, beginning with the 1960s:

1960s

• Gold medal: “Andy Griffith Show”. Andy’s name was on the marquee, but it was Barney Fife (Don Knotts) who was always the star.
• Silver medal: “Dick Van Dyke Show”. If nothing else, this was the series that introduced us to Mary Ltyler Moore.
• Bronze medal: “Addams Family.” It was only around for a couple of years, but Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Lurch, Thing, Uncle Fester and Grandmama are legendary to this day.

1970s

• Gold medal: “All in the Family”. Best sitcom in TV history. Period. Those Archie-Meathead arguments are the stuff of legends. (Throw out the last few years when it drifted into never-never land.)
• Silver medal: “Mary Tyler Moore Show”. This program would probably be No. 1 in any other decade. For the record, I was in love with Mary Tyler Moore for the entire duration of this show.
• Bronze medal: “WKRP in Cincinnati”. This show actually splits its time with the early 1980s, but its funniest years were in the late 1970s. Let’s all tip our hats in respect for the comedic genius of Les Nessman (Richard Sanders).

1980s

• Gold medal: “Married  … with Children”. Every married man in America sympathized with Al Bundy.
• Silver medal: “Cheers”. The show lost a little sizzle when “Coach” (Nicholas Colasanto) was replaced for health reasons.
• Bronze medal: “Newhart”. The highlight of each show was the appearance of Larry, Darryl and Darryl.

1990s

• Gold medal: “Seinfeld”. Kramer alone could have earned a No. 1 rating. Add Jerry, George and Elaine to the core group and this was a runaway choice.
• Silver medal: “Friends”. My favorite character was always Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).
• Bronze medal: “Third Rock from the Sun”. John Lithgow was another comedic genius.

2000s

• Gold medal: “Two and a Half Men”. Once Charlie Sheen exited, the show snowballed toward mediocrity, but those early years were tremendous.
• Silver medal: “King of Queens”. Kevin James and Leah Remini were perfectly cast as the husband and wife on this memorable sitcom.
• Bronze medal: “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” An underrated Larry David production.

2010s

• Gold medal: “Big Bang Theory”. Most of the show’s long history was in this decade, and so were its funniest episodes. Even the name “Sheldon Cooper” still makes me smile.
• Silver medal: “The League”. A program built around a fantasy football league? Yeah, it worked — for six seasons.
• Bronze medal: “Modern Family”. For me, the most valuable figure in this rather large cast was Phil (Ty Burrell).

2. My five favorite Al Green songs:

• “Let’s Stay Together” (1971): Marvin Gaye said Green a major influence on him.
• “Tired of Being Alone” (1971): This was Green’s first major hit.
• “Call Me” (1973): From the album of the same name, which Rolling Stone magazine named as one of the top 500 of all-time.
• “I’m Still In Love With You” (1972): At one point in the early 1970s, Green had four straight million-sellers.
• “Here I Am (Come And Take Me)” (1973): Green was at the peak of his career when he felt the calling to become a preacher.
• Honorable mention: “You Ought To Be With Me” (1972).

Green has released 29 albums during his career and has been called the last great singer of the soul era. I can’t argue that.

3. I thought you would enjoy a few more musings from our “Found on Facebook” feature. Over the past couple of days, these items popped up:

• “When I find it, I don’t need it. When I need it, I can’t find it.” (I know the feeling … )
• “A tub of margarine fell on my foot 3 weeks ago, and it still hurts. I can’t believe it’s not better.” (I get it! I get it!)
• “Does anyone actually eat fruitcake?” (An excellent, excellent question.)
• “All you who love (squash spaghetti) can have it. I will not be consuming it again.” (No offense, but I wouldn’t have tried it in the first place.)
• “It was an emotional wedding. Even the cake was in tiers.” (Booo!)

Steve Fact O’ The Day
Steve always wanted a role on “Newhart,” envisioning himself as a third Darryl.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. His sit-com “Steve at Lunch” is being picked up by MeTV.