Over the years there are many moments, times and occasions where we sit around and start pondering over about how good or bad certain things were. While we may not try intentionally to do so, we end up making our own lists of what is the best and the worst in stuff that ranges from sports players and teams to probably stuff that is a lot more personal. Sitcoms have been probably the most important part of my television time along with sports for the past 12 years. I might have not watched all of them, but I was lucky enough to catch most of them. Here are the ten best in my opinion from all those that I had the privilege of taking a look at.

10. Everybody Hates Chris

It did not take much time at all for me to get into this absolutely hilarious narration of Chris Rock about his own early life and the way life seemed to eternally conspire on him. The characters are so real and the comedy is taken a notch up with Chris Rock’s narration. This may never really be super-cool or gain a cult status like the other shows on the list, but just the pathetic ending of each episode is fun to watch. One man’s misery another’s comedy!

09. Full House

This is a show that you can either love or hate as it is based on a very warm and loving family. The show really catches you with a cast that is simple and has nothing beyond the ordinary about it. It can get too warm and snuggly at times, but with Full House, you get used to it over a period of time.

08. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Will Smith rocked with the Fresh Prince and the way the show just caught your attention from the rap to open the show to the closing was really cool. It had a very unique feel to it and showcased the future star that would be Will Smith. Still very popular across the planet, FP surely brought extra hint of cool to college!

07. Different Strokes

“Whatchoo Talkin ‘Bout Willis!”, was probably the most famous line for a long time in television. The expression, the line and the execution of ‘Arnold’ gave it an iconic status. Different strokes was my most loved sitcom growing up and while obviously I was watching reruns, it still was as good as any around in the 90’s. The sad fact being that Gary Coleman and the other stars of the show ended up having disastrous personal lives, which makes you feel all the more caring for the characters when you watch the show today.

06. Three’s Company

“Come and Knock on our door…” the song still just rings in your head. For a generation of ‘Will and Grace’, this might not really seem much, but for its time, Three’s Company was way over the line. While the changed cast and the leaving of Suzanne Somers did take a bit of sheen off of the show, it still is probably the earliest version of Friends and will and Grace put together. Simply too good.

05. Simpsons

This is surely the greatest animated series on the planet when it comes to pure, dry and slapstick humor. There is nothing that matches the Simpsons when it comes to making the stupid look obvious and acceptable. You do not have people laughing for you and pausing to give you space to laugh out loud. With the Simpsons, humor is just obvious.

04. Everybody Loves Raymond

Ray Romano stole the show and took even the critics along with him on a fun-filled ride to what can be only described as one of the best comedies of all time. The show had a little bit of everything and was one of the highest ranked series through its time of airing. If that does not convince you, then the Emmys might. If you haven’t watched it, get a DVD today.

03. Happy Days

This is going back into the good old fifties and the swinging sixties in a way like never before. Fonzie (Fonzarelli) is the first character that comes to mind when you think of Happy Days. The cool and the relaxed leather-wearing style soon became a cult across the US. The ‘Rock around the Clock’ still makes you move your feet around and this simply is the first coo sitcom that paved way to many others. (With all due respect to I Love Lucy)

02. Seinfeld

Even before we discuss ‘Seinfeld’, let me assure you that I was pretty much torn between what would be ‘one’ and what would be ‘two’ on the list. This was after all, ‘The show about nothing’. You just feel that a show about nothing never had a right to be this good. Apart from Seinfeld being the obvious star, it just had the other 3 main roles working so well that very soon ‘Kramer’ stole the show. The more you watched it, the more you could not miss Cosmo Kramer. This simple is top-notch and happened to be at the No.2 spot as the No.1 just was that tad bit more special and personal.

01. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Six-friends and one life-with twists, turns, tears, failure, success and plenty of laughter. This is quite simple the greatest sitcom of them all because it forced you to care for the characters. You laughed with them, fought with hem and then wept with them. At the end of it all, you went on a magical journey that lasted for 10 years and did not really have a single boring moment. One could associate with the characters and Friends pretty much loosened up prime-time television. This was exactly what the title said- Six friends talking about stuff that normal friends do, but on national television. When it all came to an end, it just looked too soon…

There is the 10. With the many that I did watch and with some that I dint, this was indeed a real hard task to finish. There are indeed some glaring omissions like Will and Grace, Frasier, I Love Lucy and maybe many others. But then, every list of Top 10 is different and that is what makes them so special and fun to put together. You disagree with me? Is there something in the list that is horribly out of place? Then feel free to shout out below. Till I meet you on another Tenth Dimension… Keep Rating!