I figured this could be a very, very interesting list and I'm shocked it hasn't been done yet.

Seinfeld will probably be #1, with All in the Family at #2 and I Love Lucy at #3. Not sure about the order though, but those three should be shoo-ins for the top. I can definitely see All in the Family at 1 though.

Criteria is the usual bullshit. Influence on the development of the sitcom, pop culture, lasting appeal, etc.

Shows that will almost certainly be included:

Seinfeld
All in the Family
The Jeffersons
I Love Lucy
Leave It to Beaver
Make Room for Daddy
Married with Children
Roseanne
The Cosby Show
The Odd Couple
Chico and the Man
Happy Days
Mork and Mindy
Everybody Loves Raymond
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Full House
Family Ties
Who's the Boss?
Growing Pains
Sanford and Son
Saved by the Bell
The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air
Frasier
Family Matters
Friends
The Partridge Family
Maude
The Monkees
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
Fawlty Towers
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Cheers
M*A*S*H
Bewitched
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Hogan's Heroes
Good Times
Diff'rent Strokes
'Til Death Do Us Part
Will and Grace
Arrested Development
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Taxi
Louie
Extras
Community
How I Met Your Mother
Parks and Recreation
Modern Family

Good idea. Yeah, I'm surprised we don't have a list like this yet.

I Dream of Jeanie would be another good inclusion.

EDIT: The Brady Bunch, too.

Yeah makes sense. But Seinfeld or All in the Family for #1? I'm thinking Seinfeld.

Agreed. I'd give it to Seinfeld.

Honeymooners should be pretty high, I think.

Yeah. So how would this be for a Top 10?

1. Seinfeld (1989-1998)
2. All in the Family/Archie Bunker's Place (1971-1983)
3. I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
4. M*A*S*H (1972-1983)
5. The Cosby Show (1984-1992)
6. The Honeymooners (1955-1956)
7. The Jeffersons (1975-1985)
8. Married... with Children (1987-1997)
9. Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963)
10. Fawlty Towers (1975-1979)

I'm debating whether The Jeffersons or The Cosby Show should be #5, but I'm learning more towards The Cosby Show because it revived the sitcom in the 80s. Either way, the two are very close.

I can dig that Top 10 -- granted, sitcoms aren't really my expertise. Roseanne might be a good contender for the Top 10, but a placement in the next bunch (11-15 range) would work, too.

Cosby above Jeffersons looks right to me.

Cheers seems more significant to me than the last four shows in that top ten. But then again, I don't really know...

Hard to say. The Jeffersons was pretty much the first sitcom about black people (VERY influential and was consistently well-ranked), Married heavily pushed the envelope on the Archie Bunker-type character, Leave It to Beaver is the archetypal 50s sitcom, and Fawlty Towers is ridiculously influential on sitcoms both in England and here.

Not Married... but perhaps the other two.

I think I Love Lucy has to be at least #2. It was one of the most popular shows ever made and it was the first scripted TV program shot on 35mm film in front of a live audience.

Sounds like an Emmy category.

It was also the first multi-camera sitcom.

I thought about it, then realized that All in the Family has been much more influential in the long run because of Archie Bunker. You almost never see sitcoms now with nice, wholesome, 50s-esque characters like Lucy and Ricky. It's pretty much all idiot husbands, obnoxious or well-meaning wives, and a few other people that are more reasonable and contrast the idiot. That's why I put "All in the Family" so high. Archie is the original, archetypal racist idiot male sitcom lead, implying that it has significantly longer lasting impact than I Love Lucy.

I think Lucy works perfectly as 3.

Could someone explain what makes Married With Children top ten material? I'm not saying it doesn't deserve to be there I've just never seen it that high on a list before or heard it talked about in such high regard.