It's not all tossed salads and scrambled eggs (Your Top 10)

Member Name: faithlessone

Product:	Your Top 10
Date:	10/08/08 (385 review reads)
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I am a great fan of comedy after all its good for the soul and if something can make you laugh when you feel like crying and ripping your hair out then its got to be worth a watch. There have been numerous comedy series over the years so when its comes to thinking about which ones have tickled me the most and kept me coming back for more ..... ahh I feel a list coming on.

1 FRASIER

I watched this show right from the off after following Cheers the show from which the character Dr. Frasier Crane originated from. He makes the show as a Seattle radio psychiatrist with producer Roz Doyle who even though is portrayed as a friend in the show is often the butt of his jokes. His brother Niles Crane is also a psychiatrist and the two are often competing for awards or for whatever is the must have item of the month. Frasier's father Martin Crane is forced to come and live with Frasier following a shooting accident whilst on the job as a police officer, along with him comes his ever faithful friend Eddie, the dog who constantly annoys Frasier by getting on his designer couch. Daphne Moon plays Martin's carer an English lady with a sting in her tail, she puts up with no nonsense and quickly becomes a firm favourite of the family and eventually Niles Cranes wife. This to me was a brilliant show which repeatedly made me laugh and you can still see the re-runs today. It ran for 11 seasons from 1993 - 2004. It received an impressive 37 emmy awards and was voted best sitcom ever by a poll on Channel 4. You can also see Kelsey Grammer occasionally on the Simpsons as side show Bob.

Cast members included;
Kelsey Grammer - Frasier Crane
David Hyde Pierce - Niles Crane
Jane Leeves - Daphne Moon
John Mahoney - Martin Crane
Peri Gilpin - Roz Doyle


2 TWO AND A HALF MEN

I used to like Charlie Sheen for obvious reasons growing up as a teenager, he was very much a ladies man in real life and is portrayed no different in this sitcom. He plays Charlie Harper a single 30 something bachelor and ladies man who writes commercial jingles for a living. Things are going swimmingly until his goofy brother Alan a chiropractor comes to live with him following the break up of his marriage to Judith, who now thinks she is a lesbian. Alan and Judith have one child Jake, who is about 10 years old and is a bit dim to say the least but this does not stop good old uncle Charlie trying to influence him sometimes with disastrous consequences when he comes to stay(Charlie slept with Jakes teacher causing him huge problems at school). Also there is Charlie and Alan's mother Evelyn whom both feel nothing but contempt for and long suffering housekeeper Berta and stalker Rose who is completely obsessed with Charlie and lives next door. Another laugh a minute sitcom with lots of everyday issues raised, family relations, sibling rivalry, women etc. This sitcom is hugely popular in American and over here and is indeed still running, it is now on season five and you can now catch it on sky and also see re-runs on paramount comedy one.

Cast members include;

Charlie Sheen - Charlie Harper
Jon Cryer - Alan Harper
Angus T. Jones - Jake Harper
Holland Taylor - Evelyn Harper
Marin Hinkle - Judith Harper
Conchata Ferrell - Berta

3 KING OF QUEENS

Another American sitcom this time centring around the Heffernans. Doug Heffernan and long suffering wife Carrie Heffernan live in Rego Park, New York City. Doug is a IPS parcel delivery driver whilst Carrie is a legal secretary for a prosperous firm in Manhattan. The plot develops when Carries dad Arthur Spooner comes to live with them in their basement following the loss of his new wife and burning down the matrimonial home. He is difficult at the best of times and to keep Arthur entertained they hire Holly the local dog walker to walk Arthur and befriend him. Doug can often be seen with his best friend Deacon who also works with him at IPS at the local bar and his cousin Danny who he does not particularly like. Spence Olchin is also another friend of Dougs but does not rate as high on his friends list. There have been many special guest appearances in the show including Ben Stiller and Ray Romano as Ray Barone from everybody loves Raymond. Their neighbour is Lou Ferrigno who plays himself. The show is very funny and deals with life's everyday challenges often ending in chaos and not rectified at the end of the episode. The characters are all very likable especially Arthur and Doug and you often feel empathy for them wanting them to get away with their latest scam. The show ran for 9 seasons 1998 -2007. It was the last live action sitcom to end. Kevin James received an Emmy award for lead actor in comedy series in 2007 and Victor Willams (Deacon) received an award for best supporting actor 2007. The series can be still be viewed on paramount comedy one.

Cast members include;

Kevin James - Doug Heffernan
Leah Remini - Carrie Heffernan
Jerry Stiller - Arthur Spooner
Victor Wiliams - Deacon Palmer
Patten Oswalt - Spence Olchin

4 VICAR OF DIBLEY

Finally I hear you cry a British comedy. Dawn French is very witty in this British based comedy as a risque vicar who wants nothing more than the love of a good man preferably Sean Bean or a fix of her favourite chocolate, crunchies. She joins a hugely talented cast and easily steals the show with a top notch performance in every episode. She is introduced to us following the death of the local vicar, local residents have all joined together in awaiting the arrival of the new vicar who they expect to be an elderly man. Faces drop when they realise the vicar is in fact a she, especially that of local counsellor David Horton who likes everything to remain the same and without fuss, his son Hugo is completely unlike his father and welcomes the change of vicar. He is nice enough if a little dim and falls for local verger Alice who is also very nice but very dim. They later marry and name their first child after several people, Geraldine lala Ainsley Harriott Horton! There are some other characters in the village who deserve a mention, Jim Trott who is on the church council and confuses everybody with his stammer. Every sentence begins with no no no no non no no, yes. That is usually what he means, the opposite of what he is trying to say. Farmer Owen Newitt, played by Roger Lloyd- Pack who people will remember for paying trigger in only fools and horses plays a farmer who does strange things to his animals and is also on the church council and Frank Pickle who takes the minutes of the meetings and is a frightful bore and would send anybody to sleep. There is one other village member Letitia Cropley, she makes cakes and things for all church functions. They are usually very wacky and weird and often go uneaten. The episode usually ends with the vicar Geraldine talking to Verger Alice and sharing a cup of cocoa and a joke which Alice never gets. A delightfully funny British comedy which ran for 3 series from 1994 and has also done several christmas special episodes. There has also been several special guest appearances, Kylie for one who opened the fete at Dibley.

Cast members include;

Dawn French - Geraldine Grainger
Gary Waldhorn - David Horton
James Fleet - Hogo Horton
Emma Chambers - Alice Horton
John Bluthal - Frank Pickle
Trevor Peacock - Jim Trott
Roger Lloyd-Pack - Owen Newitt
Liz Smith - Letitia Cropley


5 ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES

A firm British favourite with an all star cast and with characters with personality traits you can recognise amongst your friends and family, well some of them. It centres a round the Trotter family who reside in a council flat at Nelson Mandella House in Peckham, South London. Derek 'Delboy' Trotter is the head of the family following the loss of his dear departed mum, the father we understand left the family home many years ago. Derek is the older brother of Rodney who is a tall lanky innocent gormless looking young man with as much ambition as a postage stamp. Both men are single initially not for the want of trying, very badly and often with hilarious consequences. Also living with them is their beloved grandad who dies after a short while and their Uncle Albert takes his place in the family home. They do both eventually get married, Rodney to Cassandra, a nice lady and Derek marries Raquel an old flame. We follow them on life's everyday challenges, the ups and the downs , none more pertinent than when they discovered an old maritime time piece they had chucked in the garage under a load of old junk is auctioned off and worth millions. Of course the money does not last, Uncle Albert crashes his boat and the other two lose all their money and are left only with the flat they started of with in Peckham. Just as well they bought that isn't it. There are several other characters who add to the charm of this cult British series, Trigger a road sweeper who calls Rodney Dave - ? Boycie a complete and utter snob but is in fact a used car salesman who thinks his wife Marlene is having an affair with Derek but never has. Mickey Pearce a spiv and friend of Rodneys who is always coming up with ludicrous ideas and getting Rodney into trouble to which Derek always has to bail him out. Lorry driver Denzil a mate of Dereks but is also used to flog all of Dereks unserviceable items to. Uncle Alberts constant reminiscing with the past and his days of being a seaman "during the war", this quickly becoming his catchphrase. Damien the son of Derek and Raquel who Rodney thinks of as the anti christ. During the whole series we see Derek and his iconic yellow robin reliant van whisking him to and from his place of business - Peckham market and Rodney is employed as the lookout while Derek sells junk, sorry, his goods from a suitcase. Many a time we see gormless Rodney mess this up as an approaching policeman will catch Dereks eye and he will be away on his toes calling Rodney all the names under the sun, "Rodney you plonker" "you dipstick" these catchphrases becoming very familiar with regular viewers. Apart from this Derek thinks he is a yuppie and constantly greets people with his severe misuse of French phrases and has the social graces of an alley cat. This makes formidable viewing, and a well deserved place in my top ten. You can still view the re-runs on Uk gold. There was a whopping seven series with several Christmas specials which attracted several million viewers. A spin off series was made called the Green Green Grass, and includes Boycie and Marlene. The series is still running.

Cast members include;

David Jason - Derek "Delboy" Trotter
Nicholas Lyndhurst - Rodney Trotter
Roger Lloyd Pack - Trigger
John Challis - Boycie
Sue Holderness - Marlene
Kenneth Macdonald - Mike
Patrick Murray - Mickey Pearce
Paul Barber - Denzil
Buster Merryfield - Uncle Albert
Tessa Peake-Jones - Raquel
Gwyneth Strong - Cassandra
Ben Smith - Damien

6 KEEPING UP APPEARANCES

Another one for the British here, centring a round Hyacinth Bucket (bouquet) a lady with far too much time on her hands who makes her poor old husband Richard suffer with all her silly notions of how to better themselves and be accepted by the upper class. Coming from a rather meagre background her elderly father who has mental heath problems following his stint in the second world war lives with her sister Daisy and her husband Onslow and younger sister Rose who is a bit of a flirt and is often troubled by affairs of the heart. Daisy on the other hand just wants her husband Onslow to pay her some attention and fills her head with romantic notions by way of romance books Mills & Boon. We follow Hyacinth as she continually makes plans for her candlelight supper's with the town's latest successful businessman in order to claim higher status within her community. The vicar is always invited much to the horror of his wife and often falling fowl to her plans which usually end up with sister Rose lapsed all over him and receiving disapproving looks from Hyacinth and then summoning faithful husband Richard to come and sort it all out. They also have a son Sheridan, who we never see but telephones frequently and always in dire need for more money. Sheridan is supposed to be at college but Hyacinth always describes it as more of a University. There is one other sister who is more talked about to neighbour Elisabeth than seen, who is always a bundle of nerves a round Hyacinth often spilling her beaker of coffee on her kitchen table and then scolded for doing so like a naughty child. Violet, she is often used as a conversation starter as she is extremely wealthy and" has a swimming pool and room for a pony", Hyacinth clearly wishes she could be more like her but always fails miserably. Elisabeth has a brother Emmet, who following his divorce moves in with her and runs the local operatic society, this clearly impresses Hyacinth who in turn tries to impress Emmet with her singing which just like everything else is completely over the top and embarrassing. The series ran from 1990 - 1995. There were 4 christmas specials. The series is really funny and Patricia Routledge is completely believable as over the top Hyacinth.

Cast members include;

Patricia Routledge - Hyacinth Bucket
Clive Swift - Richard Bucket
Judy Cornwell - Daisy
Geoffrey Hughes - Onslow
Shirley Stelfox - Rose (series 1)
Mary Miller - Rose (series 2)
George Webb - Daddy
Anna Dawson - Violet
Jeremy Gittins - Michael the Vicar
Marion Barron - Vicar's wife
Josephine Tewson - Elizabeth Warden
David Giffith - Emmet Hawksworth

7 RED DWARF

A mining spaceship called Red Dwarf with all it's crew die following a radiation outbreak of Cadium II the only survivors are Dave Lister who is suspended in animation along with his cat who is in the cargo hold. Some 3 million years later after the radiation has all cleared up he is released from cryostasis by the spaceships computer Holly who supposedly has an IQ of 6000, but in reality with all the cock up's it's more like 6! Dave now thinks he is the last remaining human in the universe so Holly brings back Dave's room mate Arnold as a hologram to keep him company and sane. Dave's cat is no longer a common cat but a human look alike following a race of humanoids that evolved in the cargo hold. In series three we see another new character join the series, Cryton an android who is rescued from a crashed vessel and loves to do nothing more than serve, with that in mind Dave takes full advantage. Dave was the lowest ranking member of the ships crew, is abit of a bum and has absolutely no sense of personal hygiene and loves nothing more than a beer and a curry and is often getting into humorous scrapes with Arnold the hologram and the self obsessed cat. It treated us to new words such as "smeg" which Dave continually called Arnold in their constant rivalry. This hilarious series ran from 1998 - 1999. In 1994 it received an emmy award in the popular arts category. It won best BBC comedy series in 1999 at the British comedy awards.

Cast members include;

Holly - Hattie Hayridge - (Series III, IV, V)
Holly - Norman Lovett (series I, II, VII, VIII)
Craig Charles - Dave Lister
Danny John-Jules - Cat
Robert Llewellyn - Kryten
Chris Barrie - Arnold Rimmer

8 ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE

I Found this totally hilarious, the series follows retired misery guts Victor Meldrew and his long suffering wife Margaret, whom viewers are supposed to sympathize with but I found her to be a total misery herself. Some of the incidences that upset old Victor were not too unbelievable but wife Margaret would always believe that some how old Victor was always to blame for his unfortunate spate of continuous bad luck. We first meet the neighbours when Victor is caught in a compromising position in the garden by Patrick Trench played by Angus Deayton, they try to get on but clearly Patrick thinks he is completely bonkers. Patrick's wife Pippa befriends Victor's wife and so there has to be some civilities. We are also introduced to Margaret's friend Mrs Warboys who is boring beyond belief and Victor is pushed to his limits with her on many occasions. We see a new catchphrase emerge here from Victor "I don't believe it" quickly becoming a favourite with viewers. The series ran for an amazing ten years from 1990 - 2000.

Cast members include;

Richard Wilson - Victor Meldrew
Annette Crosbie - Margaret Wilson
Doreen Mantle - Jean Warboys
Angus Deayton - Patrick Trench
Janine Duvitski - Pippa Trench

Well I hope you enjoyed the read, I know that there is not ten here but in retrospect I don't have ten favourites, I thought long and hard about some other' s that could possibly have been included but they just didn't make the grade. Maybe in a year or two I will come back with some more, thanks for reading.

Summary: My favourite sitcoms