Sitcoms that defined or best captured the feel of the decade

00s Sex and the City

10s Mad Men, American Horror Story

70's All in the Family/Mary Tyler Moore

Well, if you were gay that is OP.

R2, mad men is a sitcom?

No, but American Horror Story is, R5

'60s: 'That Girl"...'Well, if you were gay that is '

1977-81...Soap

What was that show set in a garage with the Mexican?...it captures the mid 70s for me for some reason.

MTM Show... 70s

Julia...late 60s

50s I Love Lucy 60s Dick Van Dyke Show 70s Mary Tyler Moore Show 80s Cheers 90s Seinfeld 00s 30 Rock

'00s Sex & the City '10s Girls

00's: I'd say "Survivor". Reality TV really started to spawn off after the first season of this show.

70s Good Times

Bewitched was the typical American family of the 60s? I think The Dick Van Dyke show was much more the typical family although a little to show business to be really typical.

Bump.

50s - I Love Lucy - Truman Era 50s - Leave It To Beaver - Eisenhower Era

60s - Dick Van Dyke - Kennedy Era 60s - Bewitched - Johnson Era

70s - All in the Family - Nixon Era 70s - Mary Tyler Moore - Ford Era 70s - Three's Company - Carter Era

80s - Cosby Show - Reagan Era 80s - Roseanne - Bush Era

90s - Friends - Clinton Era

00s - Everybody Loves Raymond - Bush Era

10s - Modern Family - Obama Era

R14 makes sense

I loved Elizabeth Montgomery. Idolized her from an early age. Witch or not, I wished my own mother was more like her. I also read her bio - Twitch Upon a Star - and now love her even more. She was such a great supporter of the gay community. Paul Lynde was her favorite guest star, and she co-Grand Marshaled the LA Pride Parade with Darrin II when he came out.

She's still on from 6-7 weeknights on Antenna TV, I think.

80s -- Cheers, anything else and you're nuts

I prefer Seinfeld as a show but Friends seems to typify the 90s more.

"Bewitched was the typical American family of the 60s?"

Bewitched's whole "witch is married to a mortal" plot is just one of several sitcoms that began to feature women unable to easily controlled by men that seem to be a sort of subliminal response to the burgeoning women's lib movement from the mid-60s to the early 70s. Shows like "I Dream of Jeannie", "The Flying Nun", "The Girl With Something Extra" feature women unable to be contained within a traditional role.

I loved Cheers and think it s a better show than Cosby, but Cosby was huge at the time and helped save NBC and brought a resurgence of the sitcom. The clothes, hairstyles etc. also have a very 80's look to it. Cheers in some ways could have been set in any decade. A runner up might be Family Ties -- definitely a product of the Regan era.

90's - I could see either Seinfeld or Friends.

For the 60's - Dick Van Dyke and Bewitched are good choices. Other runners up might be the Monkees for capturing the growing and changing youth culture - it might not have accurate but it did present a different perspective. Not exactly a sitcom, but Batman could maybe be lumped in there. Not sure if this fits or not, but I feel like the Beverly Hillbillies and its spawn also tapped into some unique 60's elements.

As much as I disliked Entourage, it did capture the douchebag culture that is now pervasive.

the 1960's was defined by the Patty Duke show

I believe your talking about Chico and the Man,R7.

'50s - I'd throw in "The Honeymooners", too.

R14 for the win.

TV's Gayest Shows

1950s

Mr. Peepers -- Wally Cox and Tony Randall are "straight" high school teachers.

1960s

Bewitched -- Samantha is a housewife with a secret. Her mother is a drag queen, her uncle is a flamer, her cousin is a bisexual swinger. The sheer number of gay actors on the show makes it super gay.

Batman -- Two men live together and then don masks and tights to go out and catch the bad guys. They are regularly captured and tied up. Cesar Romero as the Joker. High camp.

Early 1970s

The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol plays dress up every week and puts on a Broadway show. Lyle Waggoner takes his clothes off from time to time, and beautiful male dancers with muscular asses wear tight Bob Mackie costumes.

Maude -- Maude and Vivian seem more like lesbian lovers; Walter seems more like a servant.

Late 1970s

The Dukes of Hazzard -- The Duke boys spend all their time together, are often working outside shirtless, and never get married or even have girlfriends for more than one episode.

Early 1980s

Voyagers! -- John Erik Hexum travels through time and space with his only companion, an 11 year old boy, creating many nighttime wet dream fantasies for pubescent boys.

Late 1980s

My Two Dads -- A young girl's mother dies and two unmarried guys both want to be her daddy. Greg Evigan provides the beefcake and Chad Allen provides additional queerness.

1990s

Frasier -- Many gay actors and writers. Niles is gay but straight. Roz is a gay man in a woman's body.

Caroline in the City -- Caroline (Lea Thompson) is surrounded by gay men but cannot tell. Malcolm Gets, Eric Lutes, and Andy Lauer spend extra time together behind locked doors in their shared dressing room.

2000s --

Would add Wild Wild West as a part B to the Batman in R27 s post.

A sitcom set in 1950s Korea best captured the feel of the 1970s?

50's - Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver

60s - Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl,

70's - Partridge Family, All in the Family, Maude, Mary Tyler Moore Show,

80's - Roseanne, The Golden Girls

90's - Friends, Seinfeld

00's - Will & Grace, Arrested Development, The Office

10's - Modern Family, Nurse Jackie

OP, how could a sitcom about a war in the 50's define the 70s?

50s - Lucy 60s - Leave it to Beaver 70s - All in the Family 80s - Cosby 90s - Seinfeld 00s - Big Bang Theory

80s- Cheers.

I Love Lucy is a classic comedy, but did it "capture the mood of the decade"? Was the mood of the 1950s one of racial tolerance, where Latin men routinely married Irish girls and had their first child after the age of 40? I'd argue that the Ricardo marriage was as much an enigma in the 1950s as the marriage of Darren Stevens to a witch was in the 1960s, or even bachelor astronaut Tony Nelson living with a a woman (even though she did have her own room/bottle). Wild and strange and different -- but not indicative of an era.

MASH, although set during the Korean War, was really about Vietnam. In the 70s everyone understood this.

Exactly, R34. The life of a New York City Cuban bandleader and his wife and Jew friends was more like 3rd Rock from the Sun than Father Knows Best.

I think the premise is faulty. By definition, a sit-com has a narrow focus and by its nature it is artificial, so it is hard for a sit-com to capture something as broad as the feel of a decade.

I lived in the worlds depicted by The Brady Bunch and Seinfeld. They may make me feel nostalgic for the time in whch I enjoyed them, but not because they were remotely real.

The Jeffersons! With Weezy, callin' to you from The Help Centah.

How to Make it in America for late 00s early 10s

I can't believe that no one mentioned The Facts of Life for the 89s.

FOL ran practically the entire decade (79-88) and it hit every 80s era

The early 80s/70s hangover of the Eastland years (79-83)

The mid 80s feathered hair slightly more glam era aka the Ednas Edibles years (83-85)

The major big hair, cheesy neon and pastel over glammed

Mulleted Over Our Heads era of the mid to late 80s (85-88)

That show WAS the 80s

Not to mention that basically every 80s actor or actress seemed to appear on the show

From Molly Ringwald to Jami Gertz to the dude from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to half the cast of Grease 2 to Chunk from The Goonies etc.

Not to mention appearances from the Diff'rent Strokes cast

"Whatcha talkin' bout Tootie"!

R14 has it the most right. R20 makes some good points too.

Would also add Will and Grace as a runner up for the Bush era. And I guess SATC, like it or not.

Full House captured the Bush I era's zeitgeist to the point of nausea.

Nobody but nobody ever mentions my favorite show of the 70s and a huge long running hit 'The Odd Couple.'

I guess it doesn't really define the era but if I were to watch one show from those years it would be that show.

Though MASH was set in the 50s it certainly captured the zeitgeist of the 70s with its' obnoxious smugness and self-righteousness.

God I hated that show.

'10s: The Beverly HIllbillies

Grew up in the 70s, so not sure about the 50s and 60s.

For the rest, I'll throw in another agreement with R14. I also agree with R20 for Family Ties capturing the 80s Reagan Era. I agree with R20 that Cheers was the best show but could have been set in any decade.

I think Roseanne captured from 1988-94, so Bush I Era and beginning of Clinton Era. Then Friends took over. I'd throw in Sex & The City and Will & Grace for 1998-2004. Everybody Loves Raymond rounded out the 2000s.

Modern Family captures the 2010s.

R44 it's my favorite too but like you said it doesn't quite define the era in the same way. But it is the most timeless and probably the funniest.

R46 I'll add that Family Ties captured that early 80s Preppy Handbook transitional era really well.

The Brady Bunch is a perfect time capsule for 1969-74

00's definitely belongs to Arrested Development and Sex and the City. Arrested Development perfectly captured the perverse absurdity of the Bush years, while SATC is emblematic of the crass materialism that led to the Great Recession.

I have to agree with R48 that the Brady Bunch captured the early 70s as far as how kids viewed them. The fashions were spot on.

I also agree with R49 that Arrested Development did capture "the perverse absurdity of the Bush years" in many ways.

80s - Cheers. Best writing of that decade, and the best acting too.

Ugh Friends? No. Everyone I know hated it when it was on. My sister watched it so I have seen it enough to hate it.

I thought Lucy Riccardo was primarily of Scottish heritage, not Irish. Neither Lucille Ball nor the Lucy character were Catholic.

"Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" may have best represented the 1950s, but "I Love Lucy" got better ratings.

r52 Glad you agree with r29 and myself about "Leave It To Beaver" and/or "Father Knows Best? I might add "Ozzie and Harriet," as well. Those three series typified the postWWII 50's most clearly and definitively. It was a great, optimistic and "We're on the right track" era, that is if you were male, white and straight. Still love these series, I try to catch FKB, we have daily reruns here in Philadelphia.

90s - Absolutely Fabulous

1950s - Ozzie and Harriet

1960s - The Andy Griffith Show

1970s - The Brady Bunch

1980s - Family Ties

1990s - Roseanne

2000s - Will & Grace

Rosanne deserves a nod, for sure.

r49 you dumb fucker it's the walking dead. arrested dev and sex in the city. are you that f'ing lame

70s--Mr T and Tina

80s--Small Wonder

90s--Step by Step

00s--Everybody Loves Raymond

10s--The Middle

I would say that Roseanne captured the early 90s perfectly.

R57: Am I missing something? The Walking Dead premiered in 2010 and isn't a sitcom.

'50s: I Love Lucy

'60s: Get Smart

'70s: Barney Miller

'80s: Cheers

'90s: Seinfeld

'00s: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

'10s: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Roseanne definitely captured the late 80s-early 90s. I was unemployed and Congress was fighting whether to extend unemployment benefits. I tuned in to watch Roseanne and it was a season where she was a telemarketer trying to sell magazines from home. I nearly cried because her desperation was reflected in my life.

R62, Roseanne did capture that desperation. I took a year off from college in 1990 and worked at a nice restaurant in town as a waiter. I remember being terrified because some other restaurants in town were closing left and right, or their payroll checks were bouncing. There was a rumor the place I worked was in financial trouble, which I later found out was true, but the wealthy owner sank some of his own money in to save the place.

Later, when I graduated with honors from college in 1991, I couldn't find a decent job for nearly a year. I did temp work for like $6.25 an hour. After Clinton got in, things seemed to start to turn around and I got my first real college entry level job in Jan. 1993. I used to watch Roseanne and during that time she worked as a waitress, then the motorcycle shop failed, and finally in the Clinton years she opened her own business. The show really reflected the times.

r60 yes you're a fuckin idiot

Come on, nobody has mentioned "Big Bang Theory" as zeitgeist sitcom for current times? The nerds have taken over the asylum times? The nerds are the new studs times?

And it's a real sitcom in the truest (and worst) definition, live audience and all. "Middle" and "Modern Family" rewrote the rules for the better so they get style points for that this decade.

"I used to watch Roseanne and during that time she worked as a waitress, then the motorcycle shop failed, and finally in the Clinton years she opened her own business."

I don't know why she dropped the loose meat restaurant. Maybe the writers couldn't get enough comedy out of it, but I thought it was such a positive thing for a family that had gone through so many negative situations.

A commercial to define this thread - Depends.

I think the '10s are captured most accurately by 'Community' and 'Girls,' much as I hate to concede the latter.

I also agree with the poster who mentioned 'It's Always Sunny...,' but to me that show merely picks up where 'Arrested Development' left off in showing how weird things have gotten in America post-9/11.

70s All In The Family 90s Frasier

Yes, definitely Girls for the 2010s.

Makin' It captured the 70s, the slightly slutty dreamers wearing bell bottoms in NYC.

80s -We Got It Made

I'm Right now watching an All in the Family ep with a "young" Doris Roberts as a bar cruiser. It's really fucking weird.

But I was in the kitchen making dinner and I heard that voice and knew it was her (well, she for grammar trolls, but that just sounds so wrong and always will).

1970's - Good Times 1980's - A Different World 1990's - Martin 2000's - Tyler Perry's House of Payne 2010's - black-ish

1960's - Dick Van Dyke 1970's - ??? (I've only watched a few 70's shows) 1980's - Cheers, Cosby Show, Roseanne (late 80's) 1990's - Roseanne, Seinfeld 2000's - Everybody Loves Raymond, Arrested Development

1970s- All in the Family

1960s The Dick Van Dyke Show is as good as Bewitched.

R55- I think the Andy Griffith Show producers said they reflected the 1930's as remembered by Andy. Hence the candlestick phones and one operator and general absence of black folk even though the show was set in the South.

!950's---Leave It To Beaver

!960's---Although not a sitcom, "Laugh-In" pretty much captured the craziness and subversiveness of the era

1970's---"WKRP In Cincinnati " & "all In The Family"

1980's---the short lived "Square Pegs"

1990's--"Friends" for the privileged, "Roseanne" for the poors.

I agree with those who voted "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" for the 2000's--2010's.

I'd throw Cheers in the 80s. Frasier in the 90s.

Will and Grace in the 00s. I got beyond sick of it, but it did open up a lot of doors.

Modern Family in the 10s.

R34, exactly. Anyone who doesn't understand that is fucking idiot.

Bewitched is a good one for the 60s because it showed the transformation of the culture from the staid, conventional early 60s to the mod 60s. The clothes alone told the tale. All in the Family fits the whole 70s because Archie's views that country was going to hell in a handbasket reflected how the country felt through Nixon-Ford-Carter. While Alex P. Keaton is the 80s, I have to agree with Golden Girls because it is so chocked full of topical references to the news of the day. For the 90s, I will go with Ellen, the sitcom, because of its vibe. The 2000s feel like Malcolm in the Middle because it has people with angst trying to survive in troubling times.

Besides looking at whole decades, there are some interesting transition periods. The transition from the 80s to the 90s is noteworthy and its own mini-period. Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, and Just Say Julie were during this time.

OP is focusing on "sitcoms."

1950s: [italic]I Love Lucy[/italic] (CBS)

1960s: [italic]Bewitched[/italic] (ABC)

1970s: [italic]The Mary Tyler Moore Show[/italic] (CBS)

1980s: [italic]The Cosby Show[/italic] (NBC)

1990s: [italic]Seinfeld[/italic] (NBC)

2000s: [italic]Malcolm in the Middle[/italic] (Fox)

2010s [so far]: [italic]Modern Family[/italic] (ABC)

R82 here.

My list of particular series were ones that were dominantly aired during their respective decade. Some other series which were worth considering played out almost evenly between two separate decades. This is where [italic]Leave it to Beaver[/italic], which aired on both CBS and ABC, fits. It ran from 1957 to 1963.

1950s: I Love Lucy 1960s: Bewitched 1970s: All in the Family 1980s: Family Ties 1990s: Seinfeld 2000s: Arrested Development 2010s: Parks and Recreations for the Obama era, but for the whole decade: Modern Family

R81/R82 I third MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE for the 2000s.

Everything about it was so spot-on for the period, down to the music and the aesthetic details.

The not so funny Lucy show and Here's Lucy showed the world was changing. Lucy's mod clothing, guest stars like Flip Wilson and Sammy Davis. Her teen kids were always calling her a square. Lucy was always trying to fit in to the new world (Even giant office computers!). Mr Mooney had no intention of changing.

And another five year old thread is resuscitated

Everybody Loves HypnoToad for the 2020s.

I would say Cosby Show, with its emphasis on wealth, family values, conservative behavior, and ridiculous expensive sweaters, was the most emblematic of the 80s.

I'm throwing in a new one for the 00's: Two and a Half Men. As for the 10's, I agree with most of the posters that it's either Modern Family or Girls.

Big Bang Theory= 10s

The Office = 00s

Friends = 90s

Cosby = 80s

Brady Bunch = 70s

I Dream of Jeannie = 60s

I Love Lucy = 50s