A detailed list of Netflix’s best sitcoms.
Is the great Office purge of 2021 still affecting Netflix subscribers?
The American version of The Office, which had been a Netflix staple for over a decade and was one of the most successful shows in the streaming service’s history, eventually left at the end of 2020. It’s now ensconced at Peacock, where it belongs, with the rest of its NBC Universal brethren. So, if you’re like some sort of mad person and want to repeat the entire series for the tenth time, you know where to go.
But don’t worry sitcom fans: there are still a few dozen sitcoms on Netflix worth watching, ranging from classic network favorites to Netflix originals. Netflix has all of your sitcom needs covered, from Community, The Good Place, and Arrested Development to Grace and Frankie, BoJack Horseman, and the One Day at a Time revival.
Our picks for the best of the bunch are listed below.
I’m Sorry
Original Run: 2017-2019
Creator: Andrea Savage
Stars: Andrea Savage, Tom Everett Scott, Olive Petrucci, Kathy Baker
Original Network: TruTV
Andrea Savage’s series—which boasts producers like Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and Andy Samberg—is a perfect match as a viewing partner for anyone who enjoys the comedic stylings of Pamela Adlon’s Better Things or Larry David’s HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm—is a reminder of why we love to see parenting and social circumstances go awry, while still championing today’s you-do-you attitude.
Consider the first two episodes as instructive: how not to react when you learn that the mother of a student at your child’s school is a former porn star; how to prevent said offspring from making racist remarks.—Whitney Friedlander
Lovesick
Original Run: 2014-
Creator: Tom Edge
Stars: Johnny Flynn, Antonia Thomas, Daniel Ings, Joshua McGuire
Original Network: Channel 4; Netflix (seasons 2 and 3)
Lovesick thrives on goofily entertaining and sometimes sexually charged scenarios done in such a down-to-earth way that it isn’t your average canned-laughter humor.
Lovesick feels more elaborate than your typical sitcom, allowing for the occasional surprise (see the episodes “Abigail” and “Phoebe”). Instead of being too in-your-face with punchlines, the series relies on its well-defined protagonists for comedy, and by adding new characters and settings in every episode, Lovesick feels more elaborate than your average sitcom, allowing for the occasional surprise (see the episodes “Abigail” and “Phoebe”).
We learn about the people and situations that formed the protagonists into who they are today by following their stories over a seven-year period.
We see different fashion trends and stages in their lives, as well as personal problems and professional triumphs, forming a bond with the characters that last into their current circumstances. —Roxanne Sancto
Great News
Original Run: 2017-2018
Creator: Tracey Wigfield
Stars: Briga Heelen, Andrea Martin, Adam Campbell, Nicole Richie, Horatio Sanz, John Michael Higgins
Original network: NBC
“Network TV is still good!” I’ve come to the stage in my career where I’m the lady shaking her fist and crying.
It’s still enjoyable!
” And, while I’ll be the first to say that network television is full of flops, you can always find a diamond amid the coal.
Tina Fey’s executive producer Tina Fey’s Great News premiered to no fanfare.
The tale of cable news producer Katie (Briga Heelan) and her ragtag news squad (which includes the incomparable Andrea Martin as her mother and the hilarious John Michael Higgins as her bombastic news anchor, Chuck) became a savvy and at times scathing sitcom as the second season progressed, covering everything from workplace sexual assault to the stresses of social media.
Oh, and did I mention Nicole Richie’s portrayal of cable news host Portia is hilarious?
—Amy Amatangelo, “Really, Really Funny”
Santa Clarita Diet
Original Run: 2017-2019
Creator: Victor Fresco
Stars: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo
Original Network: Netflix
Sheila (Drew Barrymore) and Joel (Timothy Olyphant), a real estate couple, try to raise their daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) properly in Netflix’s horror-comedy. The neighborhood is good, there are few issues, and middle-class life is all the American Dream promised.
That is until Sheila hacks up a strange orb and develops a taste for human flesh. Eric (Skyler Gisondo), a rambunctious neighbor boy, has also been enlisted in the scheme. Sheila’s funded chipperness harkens back to Crazy Ex-method Girlfriend’s of enveloping it’s grim, mentally or physically disturbing narrative turns with hyper-sunny aesthetics, saturating each shot with catalog color even when the gore flies. It’s as if the participants of the Saturday Night Live skit “The Californians” were in a Saw movie discussing traffic.
Jacob Oller (Jacob Oller)
Sister, Sister
Original Run: 1994-1999
Creator: Kim Bass, Gary Gilbert, Fred Shafferman
Stars: Tia Mowry, Tamera Mowry, Jackée Harry, Tim Reid, Marques Houston, RonReaco Lee, Deon Richmond
Original Networks: ABC, The WB
Sister, Sister was mostly a lighthearted sitcom with all the usual themes and plot devices—sibling rivalries, petty high school drama, crushes, love triangles, and obnoxious neighbors, to name a few (Go, Home Roger, AKA Marques Houston). Tia and Tamera Mowry portrayed pre-teen twin sisters who were separated at birth but eventually reunited—obviously while shopping at a mall.
Although the show had a broad appeal, what made it so special was how it skillfully wove in larger and more complex family problems that arose as a result of the two sisters being adopted separately.
Via Tamera’s father Ray (Tim Reid) and Tia’s mother Lisa (the incomparable Jackée Harry), the sisters merged their households and personalities.
The series followed the sisters from middle school to high school, making it the kind of show that you might grow up watching over the course of five years. Yeah, it was corny and idealistic at times, but it was also fun and well-written, like the other shows on this list. Sister, Sister, unlike so many other shows on this list and even most recent sitcoms and dramas, focused on a fairly ordinary black family—one that wasn’t particularly rich or impoverished; these characters didn’t own a music empire or run the streets of Baltimore.
Despite their strange origins, this was about an ordinary, scheduler black family who was still given our attention and a time slot. Think about it.—Michael M., Shannon M., Shannon M., Shannon Houston is a city in Texas.
