The Top Five.

Okay, sports fans, here we go!

#5
Seinfeld.
I've already written fairly extensively about it.
It's negatives are Jerry's inability to act convincingly, and the buy that you have to make that any character could quite easily run into any other character within the Metropolitan area of New York without it seeming to matter that it smacks of major coincidence.
But, as is true of every entry in the Top Five, it is gut-busting funny.
I place this entirely at the doorstep of Larry David.
"Seinfeld" was a mastery of story architechture, and Larry David is the Frank Lloyd Wright of sitcoms.
He managed to take four story lines in each episode, weave them together, and build a pyramid out of them, placing the final block on top at the end, much like one would put a maraschino cherry on top of a beautifully formed cake.
One of the results of this is that you can watch a rerun of "Seinfeld" and not recall that a particular story line was in that episode.
It was never not funny.
When it wasn't slugging you with roundhouse rights, it was peppering you with jabs.
It really never missed.

#4
Two And A Half Men.
Probably makes me laugh harder and more consistently than any other show currently on television.
I don't miss Charlie Sheen at all.
To me, it never was about Charlie Sheen.
It was always about great, punchy, imaginative storytelling and dialogue.
Chuck Lorre's best work so far.

#3.
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
A real high wire act.
Larry David working without a script.
A real further tribute to his architechtural abilities.
I'm in awe of the process, and how hard he can make me laugh with it.
He is a major comedic presence.
And it scares me how much I am like his character in real life.
Unlike "Seinfeld" and "Two and a Half Men", this is one show where the star can not walk away from it successfully.

#2
The Dick Van Dyke Show.
The first show to successfully work well in two arenas: the office, and at home.
And you wanted to go to both places.
It was one of two shows that had a great Show Runner and a great star. Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke.
It had the license, which it used liberally, to have the characters sound like comedy writers, and not cause there to be a layer of believeability missing.
That's because they WERE comedy writers.
When Van Dyke was at home, they pretty much stuck to character writing.
And you had Mary Tyler Moore in those Capri pants.
What more could a young adolescent lke myself want?

#1
Sergeant Bilko.
The other show that had a great Show Runner and a great star.
Nat Hiken and Phil Silvers.
And I think they were both more overtly great.
Never was there a show with more positive energy.
I am in awe of Nat Hiken for another reason: years later, I was in a position to cast the sitcoms I worked on.
We brought in all the old Bilko regulars to read for me at one point or another.
The only one we used consistently was Billy Sands, who played Private Papparelli.
But we also brought in people like Joe E. Ross and Al Lewis.
How Nat Hiken was able to drag acceptable, much less hilarious performances, out of them, is beyond me.

Phil Silvers was really in his prime, and Hiken gave him pretty much free rein to improvise within the context of tremendously well-crafted scripts, and he only improved upon them.
They shot thirty-nine episodes a year for five years, and to my recollection, only slightly missed on maybe two episodes.
What a tremendous batting average!
And what a high slugging percentage!
The largest overwhelmingly positive output in sitcom history.
There is no show that I would rather watch, even though I have seen them all over and over again.
Most of the others, at this point, I have no reason to go back to.

So that's it.
Feel free to disagree and express yourselves about the overall list.
Just be aware that I'm not easily swayed.

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I'm on my way to Chicago for the Hollywood Collector's Show, and will be away from my computer until next Tuesday.
Hope to see you all then.

*****

More Of The Top Ten.

Continuing on:

#9
Car 54, Where Are You?
The second greatest show from the all-time greatest show runner, Nat Hiken.
Probably among the best single-camera sitcoms ever produced.
Hiken had a great sense of editing technique.
Always knew how to cut to the joke and away from the joke, to make the jokes even funnier.
The show had a very New York Jewish sensibility.
It had great imaginative storytelling.

One entire episode was devoted in trying to convince one of the patrolmen that it was Thursday instead of Friday.
This requires imagination.
It had great dialogue, which was Hiken's signature.
The only thing it didn't have was a major star to carry the proceedings, like he had with Phil Silvers.
It's two leads were essentially supporting players.
More help was needed.
But Hiken so outclassed the competition in all other respects, then and now, that I rank "Car 54" this highly.

#8
The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
A true groundbreaker.
It gave every young woman something to aspire to.
The writing was top-notch.
The surrounding cast was first-rate (except for Gavin McLeod, often referred to as the world's luckiest white man).
Great storytelling.
Who knew before this that Ed Asner was funny?
The "Chuckles The Clown Bites The Dust" episode deserves all the accolades it received.
Mary even transcended Laura Petrie, and that's saying something.

#7
The Jack Benny Show.
The real shame of it all is that every year, fewer and fewer people remember him.
His show was brilliant.
Brilliantly written, brilliantly performed.
It relied heavily on the use of "callbacks'----setting up a joke early in the script, and paying it off unexpectedly later on to hilarious effect.

Benny created such an indelible character, someone so vain, so cheap, so petty, such a crappy violinist, and made you love him for it.
He invented the concept of making sure that everyone else was funny around him, often just playing straight to the other characters.
And this worked because all the other characters' jokes were essentially about HIM.

That he has faded from America's consciousness is a disgrace.
I have a cousin, a smart kid, whom twenty years ago, when he was a teenager, engaged me in a conversation about sitcoms.
I asked him what he thought about Jack Benny.
He replied, "Oh, he's pretty funny. The way he chases around those English girls and they speed up the tape...."
He thought I was referring to Benny Hill.
He had never heard of Jack Benny.
And that was over TWENTY YEARS AGO.
Jack Benny should be forcefully re-injected into the public's consciousness.

#6
Louie.
Louis C.K. is perhaps the most inventive performer on the current scene.
Easily the best stand-up comic we have.
He is very much the auteur of "Louie".
Besides writing, producing, directing, and performing in it, he even edits it.
A man in total control.
It started out being what "Seinfeld" started out being----a way to show that his real life was distilled into his stand-up routines.
Except on "Seinfeld", I never believed a word of it.
It was a concept that they gave up on rather early.
Louie has been doing the same thing.
Except with Louie, you believe EVERY WORD of it.
As a result, you often see a man in pain going through life, wishing it was something else.
This makes it darker than most sitcoms.
It has the ability to be gut-busting funny.
It also has the freedom which he takes to virtually NEVER be funny during the entire half-hour.
But it is always fascinating, as is he, and you are always in total awe of what he is doing.
He did an episode with Joan Rivers this year, which, if there is any justice, she should win an Emmy for.

Next, we approach the top five.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has two hours of an interview I did on it's podcast in their archives.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find them if you're interested.

******

The Top Ten List---- #10.

There has never been a show as quotable as #10 on my Top Ten list.
Therefore, I am devoting most of this page to notable quotes from this series, and I'll get to the other nine anon.

#10
The Honeymooners.

Some pertinent quotes:

Pipsqueak in the poolhall: I've got a friend named Harvey who's bigger than me.
Ralph: I've got a friend named Shirley who's bigger than you!

Norton: In the words of the immortal Pierre Francois De La Brioschi, "La Plume......"
Ralph: Aww, shuddup!

Ralph: See? That's the difference between you and me, Alice. You're the kind of person who'd bend way over on April Fools Day to pick up a quarter. I wouldn't.
Alice: You couldn't!

Ralph: Wait a minute! What's goin' on here?
Alice: Ralph, Carlos is teaching us the Mambo.
Ralph: Ohhhhh! Carlos is teachin' you the Mambo. Carlos is teachin' you the Mambo.
For a minute there I didn't know WHAT you were doin'. Carlos is teachin' you the Mambo..........
Everybody out!
Mrs. Manicotti: But Mister Kramden, it's fun!
Ralph: And YOU, at YOUR age, should be ashamed of yourself!

Ralph: (To his Mother-In-Law, after many catty remarks by her)
YOU are a Blah-bermouth!!!
Mother-In-Law: Well I never.......
Ralph: YOU! Blabbermouth! OUT!! OUT!!!

Quizmaster: And what do you do for a living, Mr. Kramden?
Ralph: Homma, homma, homma, I brive a dus.....

Ralph (to Alice): Hoo hoo, are you going to get yours! Bang! Zoom!

Alice (reacting to Ralph's balking at buying a TV set): Well I don't want to look at that sink, that icebox, that stove, and these four walls!
I wanna look at Liberace!!!!

Ralph: (Filling out a questionaire for Norton's job application) "What do you think of the applicant's overall character?"
(As he's writing) The--applicant--is--a BUM!!!!

Ralph: The first thing it says here is to take the club, approach the tee, and address the ball.
Norton: (Following instructions)......Hello ball!

Ralph: How'd you like to go sailin' over the Clubhouse, Alice??!!

Norton (As the Chef of the Past): And who, pray tell, are you?
Ralph (As the petrified-by-the-camera Chef of the Future) Homina homina homina Chef adda Future!!

Norton: So tell me oh Chef of the Future, what does your Handy Housewife Helper do? Can it core a apple?
Ralph: Ooohh, it can core a apple......hah hah!

Ralph: (To Alice) Baby, you're the greatest!

Ralph Kramden was one of the great comedy protagonists of all time.
He was played so realistically by Jackie Gleason that you always felt his pain, which was almost always intense.
Ed Norton, as played by Art Carney, was a perfect comic character.
It would be impossible to capture in quotes all the times that Norton, in attempting to line up a billiard shot, or to write something,
would flail his arms interminably, in front of Ralph, causing Ralph to completely lose it and smack Norton on the back, and yell
"Come on!!!!!!"

The acting was usually better than the writing. Whenever they went for jokes, they more often than not just laid there.
And all of these quotes can be found in the original 39 episodes.
When Gleason unlocked the vault, and exhumed the "Lost Episodes", they proved to be not nearly in the same league as the original 39.
Very little to quote there.

Still......baby, you were one of the greatest!

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has the second hour of a 2 hour interview I did on their podcast. The first hour is in their archives, and the second hour will be next week.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find it if you're interested.

******

The Top Five Honorables.

As we head into the Top Five Honorable Mentions before we get to the actual Top Ten list, you'll see some rather exotic choices.
Without further ado:

#5
It's A Great Life.
This is a show that probably most of you have never heard of.
It was on for two seasons on NBC in 1954 and 1955.
It was wonderfully funny.
I remember seeing it when I was in the fourth and fifth grade, and remember laughing my head off.
I also saw a whole lot of episodes of it on cable on something known as the Nostalgia Channel about ten years ago.
It was as funny as I remember it being in the fifties.
It starred Michael O'Shea, James Dunn, and William Bishop.
For the most part, not exactly household names.
Michael O'Shea made some minor movies, and had minor parts in major movies.
He was probably best known for being married to actress Virginia Mayo.
Michael O'Shea was a GREAT comic actor.
He talked with his hands.
In a most unique fashion.

James Dunn had won an Oscar ten years previously for his role as the father in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn".
He was wonderful in that.
He was not required to be funny in that.
If not for "It's A Great Life", no one would have had any idea how funny he was.

William Bishop was the handsome straight man who was really just there along for the ride.

O'Shea and Bishop played WWII veterans who sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door.
For whatever reason (I never really knew) they were boarders at Earl and Amy Morgan's house.
James Dunn was Earl, usually called "Uncle Earl", and was the laziest cheapest man on earth.
Amy was Frances Bavier, creating the mold for Aunt Bee some five years later. But much funnier than Aunt Bee ever was.

It was as good as it was because of the writing.
It was run by two of the most unheralded writers ever in the trenches-----
Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat.
They were brilliant storytellers and dialogue writers.

My other primary contact with their work was on the Phil Harris-Alice Faye radio show.
Arguably the funniest radio show ever. Certainly the best written.
I'll make that argument, anyway.
And I'll write about it more extensively at some point.

There's an episode of "It's a Great Life" on YouTube, but for whatever reason, Michael O'Shea isn't in it.
So it's not one of it's best.
But it does capture the flavor of it, and most of all, it's almost breakneck pace.

#4
I'm Dickens, He's Fenster.
John Astin and Marty Ingels teamed up as a pair of carpenters.
Both men are excruciatingly funny in it.
I think it only ran one or two seasons on ABC in the early sixties.
Leonard Stern, also responsible for the writing on "He and She", was in command here.
He did great work.

#3
Extras.
My first real taste of Ricky Gervais.
Very British, very realistic, extremely funny look at show business across the pond, from the point of view of some of it's least successful denizens.
Makes me wish I'd seen the British version of "The Office.

#2
It's Garry Shandling's Show.
Broke the fourth wall in very much the same way they did on "Burns and Allen"
He must have been highly influenced by that show.
It was quite innovative in it's own way.
My favorite episode was one they did with Red Buttons as a guest star.
I will devote an entire post to Red Buttons at some point and describe what he did on this show.
But he was hilarious, as was Shandling with him.

#1
The Larry Sanders Show.
Very much a breakthrough for how sitcoms could be done.
Hilarious on so many levels.
Realistic on so many levels.
Great cast, particularly Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor.
Really a borderline Top Ten choice.

Next time, the actual Top Ten begins, with #10 through 6.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has the second hour of a 2 hour interview I did on their podcast. The first hour is in their archives, and the second hour will be next week.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find it if you're interested.

******

The Next-To-The Last Honorables

I've got 10 Honorable Mention candidates left, and I'm back on numerical track.
So I'll list and describe them over the next two posts as #20 down to #11.
Then, we will get to the actual Top Ten, numbered from #10 to #1.
Here we go:

#20
Lotsa' Luck.
Dom Deluise as bus driver Stanley Belmont, and Kathleen Freeman as his mother.
One of the funniest comic actors ever, and arguably the funniest mother ever.
Stanley is beseiged weekly by his family who lives with him.
Great writing. Simply hilarious.

#19
Dharma and Greg.
More of a salute to Chuck Lorre's brilliance.
And I was and am in love with Jenna Elfman.
It's neck and neck between her and Lisa Kudrow.
Great supporting cast as well.

#18
Mike and Molly.
Yet even more of a salute to Chuck Lorre's brilliance.
Everyone in the cast is quite appealing.
Maybe if there was more of a sampling of it, it would rate even higher.

#17
Mister Peepers.
From the early to mid-fifties.
A very gently performed, witty comedy.
Wally Cox as a shy junior high school science teacher.
He was brilliant.
It also introduced Tony Randall as one of the other teachers, Harvey Weskit, which allowed him to perfect the character he played later on in
all those Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies.
And it had Marion Lorne.
If you'd only known her from "Bewitched" or "The Garry Moore Show", mumbling her way through life, you have no concept of just how funny she was. That's where she did her BEST mumbling. What a hoot!

#16
Friends.
Ostensibly born as a "Seinfeld" ripoff, it had very finely drawn characters.
It was hugely funny.
It had everybody in love with everybody else.
In a good way.
It had Lisa Kudrow.
'Nuff said.

Numbers 15 through 11 next time.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has the first hour of a 2 hour interview I did on their podcast. It will remain in their archives, and the second hour will be posted this week.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find it if you're interested.

******

More Honorables.

These shows, to me, are all more honorable than the previous ones mentioned.
And to me, they are more and more prestigious as we proceed down the page.

Amos N' Andy.
I know I've written about this show before.
Let me reiterate what I feel is significant about it.
It was one of the most offensive shows of it's time. And also one of the funniest. Now that we have passed it's time by almost sixty years, the
offensive element is pretty much gone, and it's still one of the funniest.
It's hard to be much funnier than Tim Moore, who played The Kingfish.

The Bob Newhart Show, and Newhart.
An entry.
Virtually indistinguishable, as Bob essentially played the same character.
Both shows had memorable supporting cast members.
Bob has been one of the great reactive comic actors, and showed off this skill equally well in both extremely well-written shows.
Only one of them started the "Hi Bob" drinking game, so perhaps the nod goes to the Bob Newhart Show.

The Tony Randall Show
The one where he played a judge and was as great as Tony Randall always was.
The one where Allyn Ann McLerie played his tight-assed secretary, Miss Reubner.
I wonder why that one hasn't shown up anywhere?

Hey, Landlord!
The first time Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson were in charge of a sitcom.
It was 3-camera, live audience, free-wheeling, and contained some great dialogue, and some great recurring performances, like Michael Constantine's as Mr. Ellenhorn, one of the tenants in the building.
He was a whole lot funnier here than on "Room 222".
But then, wasn't everybody?

He and She
Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss, a real-life husband and wife, playing husband and wife.
It was very sophisticated lunacy, and both Benjamin and Prentiss showed off their major comedy chops.
As did Jack Cassidy, as the egotistical star of "Jet Man" , a Batman ripoff, based on Benjamin's cartoon strip.
It was the first show since Rob and Laura Petrie established the mold that showed a loving married couple that respected each other.

Entourage
Would probably be rated higher, if for the fact that it's not really an out-and-out sitcom.
But it was extremely well done, with extremely well drawn characters, and had a pretty good share of belly laughs.

The Big Bang Theory
My first salute to Chuck Lorre, whom I think is one of the greats.
Extremely intelligent writng about extremely intelligent people.
Even if they are nerds.

Taxi
Great writing.
A great introduction to Danny Devito, Christopher Lloyd, and to many, Andy Kaufman. Rarely fell short of hilarious.

I Love Lucy
An enormous output.
Was somewhat inconsistent in quality, but there was so much that was memorable, and that transcends generations, that attention must be paid.
It was Lucy in her prime, which was tough to beat.
And you had Desi running things and being brilliant on camera.
And Vivian Vance and William Frawley bringing up the rear in grand style.

More next time.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" and it's sequel,"Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
You might want to check them out.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

You might want to check out the Kindle Store in general. It is the wave of the future, so consider me a surfer.

The website "On Screen & Beyond" has the first hour of a 2 hour interview I did on their podcast. It will remain in their archives, and the second hour will be posted next week.
Just Google On Screen & Beyond to find it if you're interested.

******

More Kindling.

We'll get back to the Top Ten Honorable Mention list next time.
And when we do, I will begin eliminating the numerical factor until we get to the top five Honorable Mentions.
I'll be doing this because I keep thinking of other shows that I've neglected to put on the list.
Shows that rank higher than the ones already discussed.
And I don't want to have to start dealing in fractions.

The main order of business today is to inform you that I have put up another book on Amazon Kindle.
It's called "Show Runner Two. The Sequel".
Again, Cindy Williams has graced me by doing the Foreword to it.

It contains about 570 pages of blog material that will be taken down from the blog momentarily.
I am just simply going to be ravaging the blog.

The price is $12.99 for each of the two books.
And they both contain over 500 pages.

I have been given to understand that you don't need an actual Kindle device to get these books.
You don't have to spring for the hundred bucks or so.

If you get Kindle's free app, you can download the books to your IPhone, or IPad, or Blackberry.
In any case, it's certainly easier than shlepping around a 500 page book.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have some ravaging to do.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

My paperback book, "Mark Rothman's Essays", ones that were culled from the blog and are no longer there, along with a surprise bonus, is still available for purchase.
Please e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com for more info.

******

Beginning The Honorable Mention Odyssey.

There will be roughly 35 sitcoms covered, including the Top Ten, which we will get to last.
The Honorable Mentions will precede them, and described in descending order, with the higher numbers worth less than the lower numbers.
I will cover as many each session as fills the page.
I may have more to say about some than others.
I will begin with #22, which includes all the shows I worked on intensely:
The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Busting Loose, Makin' It, and She's The Sheriff.
I enjoyed them all, enjoyed working on them all, but would find it self-serving to put any of them in the Top Ten.
And I don't really think any of them have earned it.
But they all deserve Honorable mention.
I don't want to rate them.
That's like trying to pick your favorite children.
So it's placing at #22 is not really reflective of how I feel about them.
It's just my attempt at diplomacy.

#21
Our Miss Brooks.
Eve Arden when her timimg was impeccable.
The writing was funny and intelligent.
The supporting cast was first rate.
Gale Gordon was the perfect foil.
Much better than with Lucy.
If you've never seen Richard Crenna as the teenaged high-pitched voiced Walter Denton, you've missed major comedy.

#20.
Sanford and Son.
Good writing, but it mainly had a major force of comedic nature in Redd Foxx.
I defy anyone to watch that show and not find Redd Foxx hilarious.

#19
The Burns and Allen Show.
Always funny.
Gracie was great.
Burns, particularly in his monologues, which broke the fourth wall, was brilliant.
Bea Benaderet was a major asset.
Another major innovation, particularly back then, was how George would sit in his den with the TV on and his show on the TV.
He'd watch it, and never tell any of the other characters that he was watching.
And he'd use this device to drive the other characters crazy and drive the story.
As imaginative as you could get.
A word of caution:
Don't watch too many episodes back to back.
You'll start to notice that it's essentially the same show every week.
Small doses.
The writing must have been particularly difficult.
The writers kept having to come up with straight-lines for other characters to feed to Gracie that can be taken in two different ways.
Gracie would invariably take the wrong one.

#18

All In The Family.
I thought it was hilarious, revolutionary, controversial when nothing else was, well written, and extremely well-played.
It still is.
But it hasn't dated well.
It was always very topical, and very loud.
It now seems even louder, and it's topicality does not work in it's favor any more.

#17
Web Therapy
A recent find.
Lisa Kudrow as a sham psychiatrist conducting three minute sessions with clients on the internet.
It is primarily about lying.
Lisa Kudrow is a major comedic treasure, and this show (Recently found on Showtime) already has it's shit together.

#16
The Danny Thomas Show.
This was one of my favorite shows when I was a young teenager, before Rusty Hamer got too old to be funny any more.
It was solid hardball comedy.
Very solid scripts.
Thomas was very good.
It had Hans Conreid as Uncle Tonoose.
Nobody else did.
But the last ten minutes of each episode were usually pretty deadly.
It got sentimental to the point of treacle.
And he'd usually be singing, which I myself could always pass up.
I'd usually watch the last five minutes of "M Squad".
Okay.
I think that this has been an auspicious beginning.
More next time.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, if you search my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, and Happy Days.
You might want to check it out.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

You might want to check out the Kindle Store in general. It is the wave of the future, so consider me a surfer.

******

More Non-Honorables.

Other sitcoms that might be considered to be on some peoples Top Ten
Favorites list, but don't even rate Honorable Mention on mine, for one reason or another:

MASH---- Loved the movie, which was extremely hip. The TV series was extremely square.
It was also badly cast, overacted, preachy, and had a one-joke character (Klinger) whom they tried to sustain
for the entire series.

The Office----Never saw either version.

Ellen----Enjoyed it until she came out of the closet. Then, it became extremely, uncomfortably militant.

Rhoda----Not bad, but her husband was a cipher. And they consistently talked about scenes that would have been much better if they were shown.

The Jeffersons---Just loud and silly.

Topper----Clever, well written, but I'm just not big on fantasies.

Ozzie And Harriet----I enjoyed it a lot, but it just didn't try very hard.
The story lines all smacked of minutia.

WKRP In Cincinnati----Sometimes very funny, like when they dropped the turkeys out of the sky because Mr. Carlson thought they could fly. The supporting cast was very good, and made an indelible impression.
But the lead actor, Gary Sandy, added nothing to it.
I basically took it or left it.

Designing Women---Written by women, about women, for women.
I had no designs on these women. It was not for me.

The Real McCoys----Almost qualifies for Honorable Mention. Many good things about it.
The writing, for one. Walter Brennan was great, as was Richard Crenna.
But Little Luke was a character who had corn coming out of his ears.
And there were soooooo many shows that I enjoyed more.

The Mothers-In-Law----The only reason I'm bringing it up is that it was one of the very few 3-camera sitcoms that went for hard laughs once Van Dyke went off in the 60's.
And Desi Arnaz was in charge, and his fingerprints were all over it.
And Kaye Ballard was a hoot.
But Eve Arden's timing had grown lethargic.
The show in general was a little too broad.

The New Dick Van Dyke Show---The writing was there, but Hope Lange was no Mary Tyler Moore.
The supporting cast in general was completely undistinguished.

The Abbott and Costello Show----They did two seasons in the early 50's.
If the second season was anywhere near as good as the first, it might even crack the Top Ten.
That's how bad the second season was. It was as if it was shot underwater.

Okay. Next time, I'll begin the actual Honorable Mention list.

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My book, "Show Runner" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, if you search my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, and Happy Days.
You might want to check it out.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

You might want to check out the Kindle Store in general. It is the wave of the future, so consider me a surfer.

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My Favorite Sitcoms. The Top Ten.

After everybody's suggestions, I've given this a lot of thought.
I will be discussing far more than ten sitcoms over this upcoming series of articles.

Here are the ground rules I've set for myself as to how I'm going to approach it, and how I'm going to roll with it.

First, this is about my FAVORITE sitcoms.
That's what's been requested.
Some may also be what I consider to be the BEST sitcoms.
And the higher up the list, the more the two concepts will overlap.

The actual top ten favorites are the last thing I'm going to deal with.
What they have in common is the ability to make me laugh long and loud, on a consistent basis, and to enable me to respect the craft that went into it.

This will be preceded with a slew of honorable mentions, any of which I would be proud to put in my top ten if there were shows in the top ten that for whatever reason didn't exist.

The honorable mentions will be presented in a downward sequence on the page, going from least honorable to most.

This will take more than one article, and those appearing on subsequent days represent shows that in my eyes are worth more honorable mention than the shows mentioned previously, once again, gaining in stature in my mind as we navigate our way down the page each article.

This will all be preceded by a slew of "non-honorables".
These consist of shows that might seem to you that I could have conceivably overlooked.

These are not necessarily bad shows.
This is all very subjective.

They are simply shows I couldn't get behind, for one reason or another.
In each case, I will offer a brief explanation as to why they were overlooked.

These "non-honorables" will not be presented in any particular sequence.

To give you a taste, I will now get the ball rolling by offering up some of the "non-honorables":

"Everybody Loves Raymond"----You can always see the acting. And I hated the women.
Doris Roberts makes my flesh crawl.
And Patricia Heaton always seemed to have the rag on.
It was well-written, but I quickly lost interest.

"Cheers"----I hung in with it for about three years, until I realized that Shelley Long was really like that.
And there was an overlying tension on display to get a laugh every eleven seconds.
Very nervous making.

"Frasier"---Watched it three or four times. I never liked Kelsey Grammer on "Cheers", and found the writing on "Frasier" way too arch.
It was almost offensively unfunny.

"The Simpsons"---Watched it a few times, thought it was funny, but never felt the need or the urge to return to it.

"Soap"----Never watched it. This is true of "Benson" as well.

"Cosby"---Respected it. Never felt compelled to make sure I saw it from week to week.

"The Golden Girls"----Great pilot. Quickly deteriorated from there.

"Roseanne"-------Never watched it.

"The Andy Griffith Show"----Very watchable, but I was never bowled over by it.
And I feel that Andy Griffith completely wasted his major gifts by participating in it.

Okay. I think I've given you a taste of how this is going to shake down.

We will continue along these lines next time.

-------------------------------------------------

My book, "Show Runner" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store, if you search my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, and Happy Days.
You might want to check it out.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

You might want to check out the Kindle Store in general. It is the wave of the future, so consider me a surfer.

******

Kindling.

What will turn into at least an eight part series of articles about my top ten favorite sitcoms wil begin next time.

But I have some hard news:
My book, "Mark Rothman's Essays" has been doubled in size. There are over 500 pages, and it is retitled "Show Runner, my life and opinions in and out of the sitcom trenches" And There is a Foreword by Cindy Williams.

It is available for only $12.99

There is one catch: It's only available as an e-book. And, at the moment, only at Amazon. You can easily find it and sample it at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Yuo will need a Kindle to be able to download it.
If you're paying attention, you might notice that I've removed roughly 250 more pages from the blog. This is the content that I've added to the e-book.

Within the next two weeks, there will be another 500 pages worth of blog essays, which will be called "Show Runner TWO, the Sequel"
The blog will further be ravaged accordingly..

"Show Runner" can be found at Amazon if you search my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple, and Happy Days.
You might want to check it out.

The paperback, "Mark Rothman's Essays" is still available for people without Kindle. I have many readings and signings remaining, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

You might want to check out the Kindle Store. It is the wave of the future, so consider me a surfer.

******

The Best Of Intentions.

As you might be aware, there has been a clamoring from the Comments section to have me post my Top Five favorite sitcoms of all time.
It has been echoed by e-mails that I have received.
I plan to go this clamoring at least three times better.
I want to post my top ten favorite sitcoms of all time, with a slew of honorable mentions leading up to them
These honorable mentions will help provide a framework for the actual selections, to inform you about what elements help comprise the actual list.
But I'm not quite prepared to begin this undertaking today.
I still have to sort things out about it.
But it will be addressed in short order.
I will begin next week.
It will take the form of my series "The Best Movie Of All Time".

For those of you who are interested, I will be interviewed by Brian Zemrak for his Podcast on Thursday, September 8th for airing the following Sunday.
For more info, go to his website, OnScreenAndBeyond.com

Also, if you happen to be in the Chicago area on the weekend of October 1st and 2nd, I will be appearing at the Hollywood Collectors Show.
I will be selling my book there, and will be surrounded by the "Laverne & Shirley" contingent, including Cindy Williams, Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler, Eddie Mekka and Leslie Easterbrook.
For more info, here is the website:
http://hollywoodcelebrityshow.com/Rose.htm

I hope to see many book-hungry Chicagoans.
Or Chicagoans in general.

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My book, "Mark Rothman's Essays", ones that were culled from the blog and are no longer there, along with a surprise bonus, is available for purchase.
Please e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com for more info.


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The "Seinfeld" Brouhaha.

I have been taking some hits lately in the comments section and with e-mails about my underwhelming feelings about "Seinfeld".
I'd like to elaborate, and perhaps set the record straight, as it has been a little crooked:

I think "Seinfeld' is at least one of the five greatest sitcoms of all time.
I think it has, in Larry David, one of three greatest Show Runners of all time.
Present company excepted.
It has always made me laugh out loud. Hard. All the time.
It has perhaps the greatest set of supporting characters ever to support anyone.
Some of my favorite actors.
Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza's mother, appeared in a staged reading of one of my plays.
If you've seen me write about my mother and ever wondered what she looks and sounds like, just think of Estelle Harris.
She was a dead ringer for my mother.
This play was autobiographical, and several of my relatives were there.
As soon as Estelle hit the stage, my family freaked out.
Since the play starred Larry Miller, Jerry Seinfeld, a good friend of his, was in attendance.
It was most-likely the first time he laid eyes on Estelle Harris.

"Seinfeld"s main strength was it's story architechture.
They managed to weave four stories into each episode, and build them into a pyramid that paid off all four stories at the top of it.
One of the by-products of this is that you can watch any episode of "Seinfeld' and not remember that it was the one that contained
certain specific story lines.
"Seinfeld" also contained no jokes.
Except when Jerry was doing standup.
All the humor was character and attitude.
I feel that it's a much higher form than set-up punchline.
To me, it's cleverness has only been surpassed by "Curb Your Enthusiasm", which employs many of the same techniques.
And that's a high-wire act because they work without a script.
Again, that's because they don't need jokes.

On "Seinfeld"s downside, Jerry was an embarrasingly bad actor.
You could frequently see him smirking after one of his own punchlines.
I think more judicious editing might have helped.
He needed the best supporting cast ever just to get him through.
That the show was that good in spite of it was a tribute to Larry David.

It reminds me of my favorite movie, "The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek", directed by Preston Sturges in the 1940's.
It starred Betty Hutton, arguably one of the worst actresses who ever became a movie star.
That the movie was that good, and starred her, was a tribute to Sturges.
There's a parallel there.

The argument about "Seinfeld" ensued because somebody tried to make the case that it represented the nineties, was the best show ever, and therefore the nineties were the Golden Age Of Television.
To which I replied and will reply again, "One show does not a Golden Age make."

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My new book, "Mark Rothman's Essays", ones that were culled from the blog and are no longer there, along with a surprise bonus, is available for purchase.
Please e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com for more info.


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