Top 10 Sitcoms of the 1990s

By Dennis O'Connell
AskMen.com Entertainment Correspondent

The 1980s gave us some great situation comedies, or "sitcoms." They focused mainly on the lives of wealthier, traditional families that made up American culture. The 1990s saw a clear shift to the realities of the decade.

The recession of the early 1990s changed viewers' interests: average Americans struggling to make ends meet replaced the wealthy families of the previous decade. The traditional nuclear family was largely replaced by sitcoms based on a group of friends or single parent households, but the odd traditional family remained in the mix.

10. ABC: Home Improvement
Tim Allen definitely had his moments in the series: a story about a family with a stereotypical dad, three kids and a mom that served as the glue of the household. Tim's sidekick Al was always funnier than Tim, Wilson's wisdom saved the show on many occasions, but I kid you not, I tuned in for Pamela Anderson and Debbe Dunning.

9. NBC: 3rd Rock from the Sun
When John Lithgow accepted the role of High Commander Dick Solomon, he was about to take the ingenious character developed by Carsey-Werner and add his own touch of genius. The entire cast was unworldly, from Seinfeld's Newman to the newer faces. The sitcom satirized what humans accept at face value and left no rock unturned.

8. NBC: NewsRadio
There was always something dark and moody about NewsRadio, an all-news radio station in New York City managed by Canadian Dave Foley, eh? The jokes were subtle yet direct and the cast was eclectic and experienced. Sadly, the sitcom's golden era came to a tragic end when former Saturday Night Live alum Phil Hartman was killed by his real-life wife in a murder-suicide. Although the series went on with Jon Lovitz as a replacement, the show was cancelled shortly after.

7. NBC: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
I will never forget Bell Biv Devoe shooting a video in the Bel-Air mansion, Carlton stripping in front of his mom or many other hilarious, intelligent and witty episodes. I still wonder which of the two (fully grown) sisters turned out hotter. Like the tip of an iceberg hiding the mass beneath the surface, Will Smith was giving us a sneak preview of his tremendous talent.

6. FOX: Married... With Children
Not the most realistic of shows, but one of the funnier ones to come along. Al Bundy was a cynical shoe salesman, his wife was quick-witted, their son was odd, and their daughter was your typical, sexy blonde. That sounds like the perfect sitcom family to me.

5. ABC: Roseanne
Roseanne exploded onto the scene with her eponymous show. Before you knew it, she was miles away from Lanford, Illinois and in millions of homes across the nation. Roseanne was perhaps the best example of the traditional family's struggle to make ends meet while keeping a smile on everyone's face. Making ends meet was hard; delivering the laughs was easy.

4. ABC: Drew Carey
Mimi may be a "tad" over the top, but everything about Drew Carey is downright hilarious. In fact, it is this same element of exaggeration that has made the show survive. It makes me want to visit Cleveland, well, almost anyway. Actually, it makes me want to brew my own beer.

3. NBC: Frasier
Perhaps the most successful spin-off of all-time. Interesting fact: in the original Cheers, Frasier once mentioned to the group that his father was dead. Of course, this turned out to be false. When Ted Danson made a guest appearance on Frasier, he asked him why he lied about his father. Frasier replied that he was fighting with his father at the time, and doing his best to cover up the previous "indiscretion." Glass of sherry anyone?

2. NBC: Friends
Maybe someone will one day let the smashing sextet know that there are black people in Manhattan as well. Despite this blatant omission (and the fact that in real-life, some of the characters would never be able to afford their New York apartments), the group helps us laugh for most of their airtime. Chandler gets the vote for funniest, but the jury is still out on which of the girls is hottest.

1. NBC: Seinfeld
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind why Seinfeld is master of this domain. The sitcom reinvented the genre, pushed the envelope at every opportunity. Never before has a sitcom been so ingrained in our pop culture. Which other sitcom has its own Top 10 List?

If you are looking for your beloved The Simpsons, rest assured that it would certainly make any list, but we omitted animated sitcoms to level the playing field. As this list would indicate, America changed significantly over the past decade, and this phenomenon did not go unnoticed with TV producers. We only hope that the current decade brings us as many smiles as the previous ones.