"Why so serious", the immortal quote from Heath Ledger's Joker. Indeed! We all need laughter in our busy and stressful lives. So for today's blog post, I thought I'll highlight my favorite sitcoms. Please note that the shows are listed based on personal preference, and span the period between the 80's and present.
Perfect Strangers
This takes the top spot for me. I have fond memories of watching this with family and it helped shape my funny bone. The story, set in Chicago and follows the exploits of Balki Bartokomus, a native of a fictional Greek island of Mypos who travels to Chicago to meet his distant cousin Larry Aplerton, haaaha sorry Appleton. It's the typical fish out the water story as Balki learns how to adjust to life in a big city, as opposes to the simple life as a sheep herder. Bronson Pinchot really shines as awkward, vest wearing Balki. His chemistry with Mark Linn Baker's straight laced portrayal of Larry is unmistakable. So many great moments in the8 seasons like the exploding baby bubka episode, or when Larry tries to change his girlfriends shower head and proceeds to utterly destroy and flood her bathroom. And who can forget 'The dance of Joy' that Pinchot and Baker improvised on the fly that became one of their signatures, or used Balki's iconic line 'Don't be Ridikulous'. Physical comedy at it's best.Even my 12 year old got hooked and watched it over and over, which speaks volumes!
Mind Your Language
This is a really old sitcom from the late 70's and was my first sitcom.I love this BBC for mostly sentimental reasons. I recently rewatched this and while dated, the jokes hold up, although in this WOKE age, this sitcom would probably not fly since it pokes fun at different cultures and racial stereotypes, with emphasis on the accents of the characters. The series revolves around a night language class run by Barry Evans Mr Brown. He has a multi racial group of students, an Indian, Jamila (a quiet housewife who calls Mr Brown 'masterji' and frequently mispronounce words like good evening, 'gud hefening'); a Pakistani, Ali; a Punjabi, Ranjeet (who is always at odds with Ali and says 'a thousand apologies'); a Chinese, Su Lee (who always quotes chairman Mao and argues with Taro due to ideology differences); a Japanese, Taro (who adds O to every word like 'thank-o'); a German, Anna; an Italian, Giovanni (his favorite quotes 'santa maria', 'holy ravioli ', 'scuzi' and 'okey cokey'); Greek, Max (who becomes best friends with Giovanni); Spanish, Juan ('soar'right' and 'por favor' being his signature quotes) and finally the object of all the male students attention, Danielle, who is French and only has eyes for Mr Brown. Season 1 still remains my favorite season. The series ran four seasons and always had me and my grandma in stitches.
Seinfeld
For a show about nothing, this series really attracted a sizable audience. From the creative mind of Larry David, of whom the main character is loosely based on, this series made megastars of stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louise Dreyfuss (Elaine Benes), Jason Alexander (George Costanza) and Michael Richards (Kramer). Who would have guessed that a sitcom centered around Jerry, his best friend George who aspires to be an architect, which he often claims to be, Elaine, Jerry's ex who's always over, and the bumbling klutz Kramer, who is constantly crashing into things could last for 9 seasons and become such a cultural phenomenon. I guess there's something immediately relatable to the mundaneness of their lives.In fact there is a very meta episode where Jerry and George go to NBC studios to pitch their show about nothing! There are so many memorable episodes like the soup Nazi episode, the mall episode where they go to a mall and Kramer can't remember where he parked the car or when Jerry decides to shave his chest with disastrous consequences. And who can forget Elaine's crazy dance, Kramer overtanning and 'marinating' himself in a home tub, or when the water pressure was low and everyone had flat hair.This sitcom definitely cries out for a rewatch.
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