The First Sitcoms I Ever Saw - A TV Show Discussion

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm going to be talking about the first sitcoms that I ever saw. There are eleven of them and I don't remember in what order I watched them in, so I'm gonna go in alphabetical order. Also, there was gonna be twelve of them, but I really don't want to talk about The Cosby Show for obvious reasons, so I left it off the list, even though it is one of the first sitcoms I ever watched. I'm also not including M*A*S*H on this list either, because, even though Wikipedia does list it as a sitcom on the page for that show, I don't consider it to be one. Let's get into it.

The first show I wanna talk about on this list is Cheers which aired for eleven seasons on NBC from September 30th, 1982 until May 20th, 1993. For the few of you who don't know what this show is about, Cheers was about the people in a bar known as Cheers, where "Everybody knows your name" as the theme song put it. It starred Ted Danson, Shelley Long (Seasons 1-5), Kirstie Alley (Seasons 6-11), Woody Harrelson, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman, Nicholas Colasanto (Seasons 1-3), Kelsey Grammer, George Wendt, and Bebe Neuwirth. Even though the show has been off the air for the last 31 years, it's legacy has been a lasting one as it had a successful spin-off in Frasier (1993-2004), which just returned on Paramount+ in 2023. It was on CJOH here in Canada during its entire run, though it did air on Global as well from 1990 to 1993. I don't remember which channel we watched it on though.

 Next up is Dinosaurs, which aired on ABC in the U.S., and CHRO here in Ottawa, from April 26th, 1991 until July 20th, 1994, with reruns airing on Family Channel in 1992 until sometime in the late '90s. I loved this show growing up. Particularly Baby Sinclair. Kevin Clash, who is well known as Elmo on Sesame Street from 1985 until 2012, voiced Baby Sinclair. The show was created by Michael Jacobs, who is known for also creating My Two Dads in 1988, and Boy Meets World in 1993. 

 Then we have Family Matters, which aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 22nd, 1989 to May 9th 1997, and for one season on CBS from September 19th, 1997 to July 17th, 1998. We all know Steve Urkel. The show was part of ABC's TGIF block for the first eight seasons before changing networks in 1997. It was definitely not on ABC anymore by the time my family and I were watching Boy Meets World, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Teen Angel, and You Wish. I actually didn't watch it on ABC though. Here in Canada it aired on CTV (CJOH is the CTV station here in Ottawa) alongside Full House, another Miller-Boyett Productions series which I'll be talking about a little bit later.

Next is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired for six seasons on NBC from September 10th, 1990 until May 20th, 1996. I honestly don't remember what channel it aired on here in Canada. I think it was CHRO, but it also aired on various channels when it went into syndication in 1994, including CBC. So it's possible that it aired on CBC the whole time, but I'm pretty sure it was on CHRO or CJOH, or we just watched it on NBC when we had access to NBC.

And then we have Full House, which aired for eight seasons on ABC's TGIF block from September 22nd, 1987 until May 23rd, 1995. This was probably my favourite sitcom when I was a kid. I think we stopped watching it after season 6, even though we still had CTV/CJOH after we moved to the log house, because I don't remember watching the final two seasons until they aired in reruns on CTS (Crossroads Television System) in the mid-2000s. I do remember Jesse (John Stamos) having a mullet in the first season, which I watched in reruns, and the episode I remember the most was "The House Meets the Mouse Part 1", which was the first part of the two part season 6 finale where the Tanners, along with Jesse, Becky, Nicky, Alex, Kimmy, and Joey head off to Walt Disney World. 

The reason I remember this episode so well is because my parents taped it for me just in case I couldn't watch it as I was in the hospital at the time, and those small hospital room TVs only had ten channels that could be shown on it at a time, and they were always pre-set so until you turned them on, you never knew what channels you were going to get. There was also a little panel on the side, which you could flip open and reset the TV channels to whichever ones you wanted that were part of Canadian cable packages at the time. During my time in the hospital we always tried to set the TV to CBC, CTV, CHRO, PBS, and YTV, as those were the channels I watched the most with all the kids programming on CBC, CTV, PBS and YTV, and with Star Trek: The Next Generation airing on CHRO, I had to have that channel. Especially if I didn't have any of my TNG VHS tapes with me.

Get Smart, which aired for four seasons on NBC from September 18th, 1965 until March 29th, 1969, and for one season on CBS from September 26th, 1969 until May 15th, 1970, is a show I remember watching all the time. Of course by the time I was growing up in the late '80s and the '90s, the show had been over for 20 years. However, it aired in syndication on YTV from 1990 until 1995, and that's where I remember watching it. I remember watching it around midday along with The Flintstones (1960-1966) and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1959-1964). Of course, it stars Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, the titular character of the show. As mentioned in my post on Inspector Gadget, Don Adams would go on to voice Inspector Gadget. It's appeared on other channels here over the years since then, but I haven't seen it in about twenty years, though my dad has the first season on DVD.

Growing Pains, which aired for seven seasons on ABC from September 24th, 1985 until April 25th, 1992, is a show I only vaguely remember watching. The reason being that it hasn't returned in syndication in my area since it went off the air in 1992. The only reason I remember watching it is because it aired alongside Who's the Boss? on Global in 1989-1990, during the time my dad taped all of those episodes of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin for me, and there's a commercial for both shows on one of the tapes. Obviously Alan Thicke appeared on various shows over the years, and Kirk Cameron is the brother of Full House star, Candace Cameron-Bure, though he hasn't had anything high profile come out in decades (I am well aware of his status though). 

I honestly don't remember what channel I first watched Happy Days, which originally aired for 11 seasons on ABC from January 15th, 1974 until July 19th, 1984, on. It was in syndicated reruns obviously, but it's not listed on YTV, so I didn't watch it there. I remember watching it on CTS in the mid-2000s along with The Muppet Show, Full House, and reruns of early seasons of 7th Heaven, but I don't remember where I watched it in the early '90s. Fonzie, played Henry Winkler was my favourite, though Don Most as Ralph Malph and Anson Williams as Potsie were hilarious. This was also my introduction to Ron Howard as an actor, which is cool. 

The Munsters, which aired for two seasons on CBS from September 24th, 1964 until May 12th, 1966, is another show that I remember watching, but I don't remember what channel I watched it on. It's possible that I watched it on YTV, but I can't find it on the list of former shows that aired on the channel on Wikipedia. The show was my introduction to classic horror film figures such as Frankenstein's Monster (Herman), Dracula (Grampa), Dracula's Daughter/the Bride of Frankenstein (Lily), and the Wolf Man (Eddie). I haven't seen this show in forever, but I remember loving it. As much as I love the Addams Family, I think I've always preferred the Munsters, because I watched the original '60s show, whereas I don't remember ever watching The Addams Family. I watched the '90s cartoon adaptation and the live action movies, but the only live action TV version I watched was The New Addams Family, which aired on YTV from 1998 to 1999.

Roseanne, which aired for nine seasons on ABC from October 18th, 1988 until May 20th, 1997, and then for one more season on ABC from March 27th until May 22nd, 2018 before transitioning into The Conners (2018-Present), which I also watched a few episodes of, is the show that introduced me to Laurie Metcalf, Johnny Galecki, Sara Gilbert, and John Goodman, with three of them going on to work on The Big Bang Theory, with Galecki playing Leonard, Laurie playing Sheldon's mom, Mary, and Sara playing recurring character Leslie Winkle. And of course, Goodman has been in alot of movies that I've enjoyed over the years. It's also a really weird show because, even though it got canceled in 2018, it still lives on with The Conners, which has been on longer than I expected it to be.

Finally we come to the final show on this list, Who's the Boss?, which aired for 8 seasons on ABC from September 20th, 1984 until April 22nd, 1992. I have more fond memories of watching Who's the Boss? than I do watching Growing Pains. Not that I didn't like Growing Pains, but I preferred Who's the Boss?. I think it's because of the combination of the dynamic between Tony, played by Tony Danza, and Angela, played by Judith Light, and the fact that Mona, played by Katherine Helmond, was lots of fun. Of course, Alyssa Milano being on the show didn't hurt either. Her character, Sam was pretty cool. Like with Growing Pains, I don't remember watching Who's the Boss? after the first six or seven seasons when it was originally on, as I remember watching it on Global, but I don't remember watching it anywhere else until the mid to late 2000s when it was on in syndication on a channel that I don't remember the name of. It was a Canadian channel though and on our cable package at the time, the channel was in the fifties. 

And that's it. That's my list of the first eleven sitcoms that I ever watched in my entire life. This is another topic that I've been wanting to talk about for a while now, and with many of these shows either already 40 years old or more, or about to reach their 40th anniversaries, I figured that now would be the perfect time to talk about them. I'll be back soon with more posts so until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.