Robert David Sullivan

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 75: "Edith's Accident," All in the Family

75. "Edith's Accident," All in the Family  (1971)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

In 1979, All in the Family producer Norman Lear tried to reinvent the sitcom again with The Baxters, a half-hour divided into two segments. In the first, the middle-class Baxter family dealt with some moral issue (putting a parent in a nursing home, reacting to a gay schoolteacher, etc.); in the second half, the studio audience voiced their opinions about what they had just seen. The show was a logical successor to All in the Family but a superfluous one. Undoubtedly, viewers were already talking about the decisions made by characters on Lear sitcoms (which also included Maude, Good Times, and the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), and they didn't need a Mr. Rogers-type moderator to get them started.

"Edith's Accident" is a relatively straightforward "What would you do?" episode, elevated by Jean Stapleton's hilariously anguished performance as Edith. At the start of the episode she reveals, in typically rambling fashion, that she's accidentally dented a stranger's car with a can of "cling peaches in heavy syrup" (changed midstory to "mmm mmm in heavy syrup" after an impatient Archie forbids her from mentioning the fruit again) that bounced out of her shopping cart. "It was a freak accident," she helpfully points out to Archie.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 76: "The Rye," Seinfeld

76. "The Rye," Seinfeld (1996)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

The principal characters on Seinfeld don't care much about other people, but they sure care about what people think of them. In "The Rye," George Costanza goes to extremes to look good in front of his fiancée, whom he's deeply ambivalent about marrying, and her parents, who regard everyone with indifference or contempt. As usual, he's most determined when he's doing something absolutely futile.

"The Rye," written by Carol Leifer, may not be the favorite episode of more-obsessive Seinfeld fans, but it works well as a stand-alone entry. You don't need to have seen George, Susan, and their respective parents before to appreciate the horror of their dinner party. (Estelle Costanza: "Merlot? I never heard of it. Did they just invent it?") 

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 77: "Corporal Punishment," Blackadder

77. "Corporal Punishment," Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

The Only Sane Man is a common sitcom character, typified by Eddie Albert on Green Acres and Bob Newhart on Newhart, as well as Jason Bateman on Arrested Development. He's surrounded by lunatics, and his growing frustration sets the pace for most episodes. We viewers know that he's right, but we also think he should calm down and enjoy living in such a fanciful world, as opposed to the boring, predictable one we're stuck with. So it's always fun when the Only Sane Man puts on an Afro wig and joins the party.

It's a bit different when the Only Sane Man is surrounded by lunatics who, given enough time, will kill him. Blackadder Goes Forth, the final season of Blackadder, strands the title character, an army captain, in a trench on the front lines of World War I. Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) has to take orders from a psychotic general (Stephen Fry), and his own men include a jingoistic airhead (Dr. Gregory House himself, Hugh Laurie) who can't wait to "give Fritz a taste of our British spunk."

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 78: "Business School," The Office (US)

78. "Business School," The Office (US) (2007)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

Last night I happened to see The Artist, the newest take on the tale of a silent-movie star who can't adapt to the arrival of talkies, and here's an Office episode in which Michael Scott goes through a similar struggle. Michael does not have the charm of a George Valentin or the pathos of Norma Desmond (he's usually a closer fit for Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain), but he may be more sympathetic here than in any other episode, as the paper merchant stands athwart the Digital Age yelling "Stop!"

Not that I require my sitcom protagonists to be likeable. I just haven't always liked Steve Carell's portrayal of Michael Scott, as I wrote when he departed the show last year:

The series seems too taken with the sketch-comedy and improvisational skills of Carell, and his scenes frequently turn into "let's see how far he can take this" moments that contribute to wild inconsistencies in his character. His worst moments in stupidity and insensitivity, such as believing in the existence of a literal gaydar machine and the cruel way he treats Pam's mother, are passed off as part of his social awkwardness and neediness (as is traditional with Narcissists, as I wrote in an earlier post). But I could never get past the feeling that the writers were just throwing challenges at Carell.

Blog update

Sorry for the lack of a new blog post this morning. (No. 78 is coming!) Besides working on my paying gigs, I had some personal stuff to take care of, and I spent some time trying to get the word out about the Top 100 Sitcom Episodes project through the seemingly infinite social media tools out there (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).

The constant need for self-promotion is the downside of career independence, especially for someone who hates to beg ask for attention. But the days of working in the warm embrace of a print publication with unreasonable deadlines and laughable pay are over for most of us. (Sigh...)

Anyway, if you're enjoying the Top 100 project, spread the word if you can, and feel free to give positive or negative feedback via comments or emails.

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 79: "First Stop," I Love Lucy

79. "First Stop," I Love Lucy (1954)

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1.  A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here.

Remember the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred all die in a car crash but don't realize they're ghosts? Or maybe you know it as the one where the beds move every time a train goes by?

"First Stop" could logically end with The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling stepping out of the shadows to tell us that the gang never leaves the crummy diner and "motel" where they seem to be the only customers. After all, they leave it once during the episode, but Lucy unwittingly drives right back. In the alternate timeline set up by "First Stop," maybe they're still there.

This was the first I Love Lucy episode to take place after Lucy and company leave New York for Hollywood, part of a season-long arc that rejuvenated the series in its fourth season. It's not very flattering toward what would become known as "flyover country," as Ohio turns out to be a series of spooky roads leading inescapably to that food-free diner run by Mr. Scratch Skinner. (None of this is surprising to followers of Jonathan Chait's "Life in Ohio" exposes.)