Wednesday, April 30, 2008

SIMPSONS, GREATEST COMEDY EVER OR GREATEST SHOW EVER? How about both? According to two new lists, those lovable scamps from Springfield star in both the best TV comedy of all time (AOL Television) and the best TV show of all time (British magazine Empire). I give the latter list a lot more credence, given the appearance of Arrested Development at No. 18, as opposed to 36 on the former (behind such perhaps-funny-once-but-now-pretty-awful shows as Mork and Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter, Happy Days, and the never funny Will and Grace).

Besides the Simpsons, only two more shows from AOL's top 10--Seinfeld and Friends--made Empire's entire list, which skewed heavily toward current and recent shows (I think the original Star Trek was the oldest show on the list, but one or two of the British shows on the list may hail from the same era).

In addition to the four shows already mentioned, seven other shows are on both lists (Sex and the City, South Park, Scrubs, Frasier, Family Guy, and Curb Your Enthusiasm). The British Office was 23rd on Empire's list, while the American version was 14 on the AOL list. Family Guy was 47th on AOL's list, but 12th overall on Empire's. Futurama was the only American comedy on Empire's list to not even rank on AOL's.

One other similarity between the two lists? Annoying click-through set ups that don't allow you to view the whole list or even a fifth of the list at once.

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