Ranking Every Must See TV Sitcom

31 of 49 19. Just Shoot Me: Has any recent show that ran for as long as Just Shoot Me left such a minor cultural footprint? This workplace sitcom ran for seven seasons, but most people I know remember it mostly as that show that wasn't nearly as good as Newsradio. It's another example of a show with a cast better than its material, only this time the cast was genuinely great and the material was often pretty good. It wasn't a classic, but it was a perfectly acceptable network sitcom whose greatest problem was an ever-shifting time slot. It bounced back and forth between Thursdays and Tuesdays before dying on Saturdays in 2003.

32 of 49 18. Dear John: Another utility player, Dear John spent a season and a half on Thursdays in 1988 and 1989 before bouncing around the schedule for a few years. Based on a British show, Dear John was a thoroughly acceptable comedy in the MTM mode with Judd Hirsch delivering another likable and empathetic performance as the lead.

33 of 49 17. My Name is Earl: One of the last few comedies to air under the Must See TV banner, the second half of its first (and best) season landed on Thursdays in 2006. The night was already a shadow of its former self, undone by NBC's failure to create true hits to follow up Seinfeld and Friends. Along with The Office, Earl helped restore the level of quality you'd expect from NBC on Thursday, before launching the Comedy Night Done Right block at the start of the next season.

34 of 49 16. Wings: Wings wasn't a great show. It was a great cast, though, especially in its early years, before Thomas Haden Church left. Created by three Cheers writers and producers, that show's influence is strong, and although it doesn't live up to that legacy it's still a step up from most of the sitcoms of that day. Although it had multiple time slot changes, it spent about a third of its seven seasons on Thursday.

35 of 49 15. The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd: This seminal dramedy only aired on Must See TV for a few weeks in 1988, but its legacy looms large as an early single-camera sitcom that took a realistic and often serious look at the life of a single woman in her 30s. After two short seasons on NBC it was rescued from cancellation by Lifetime, where it aired until 1991. It would've made a natural pairing with Seinfeld if it had lasted on NBC long enough.

36 of 49 14. Buffalo Bill: Before Madman of the People, before Fox's Drexell's Class and ABC's The Slap Maxwell Story, Dabney Coleman starred in Buffalo Bill as a cantankerous local talk show host. A single-camera comedy about show business with an unlikable lead character, Buffalo Bill had a lot going against it in terms of mass appeal. Brilliant writing and a wonderful cast made it a critical favorite, but it struggled to connect with audiences, and NBC cancelled it after its half-season on Must See TV. Brandon Tartikoff, the former head of NBC, later called the cancellation his worst professional regret.

37 of 49 13. Mad About You: Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt's romantic comedy spent two of its seven seasons on Thursdays, serving as the lead-in to Friends during that show's first season.

38 of 49 12. Taxi: Cancelled by ABC after four seasons in 1982, NBC surprisingly picked it up and aired it alongside Cheers' first season during the first year of the Must See TV concept. Taxi is an all-time classic and better than some of the shows higher on this list, but its one Must See TV season wasn't its best.

39 of 49 11. The Office: Although The Office was the linchpin of NBC's Thursday night schedule for most of its time on the air, only the second half of the second season aired under the Must See TV banner. Those dozen episodes might comprise the best stretch of one of the best sitcoms in TV history, though. If NBC hadn't switched the marketing from Must See TV to Comedy Night Done Right at the start of the show's third season, The Office would easily be in the top 10 of this list.

40 of 49 10. Scrubs: Another show that was part of Must See TV less than you probably think, Scrubs spent two seasons on Thursdays in the dying days of the brand. Even though it was a critical favorite and had a solid following during its nine seasons on the air, it wasn't able to capitalize on Friends' massive lead-in during 2002 and 2003. It might have been too quirky to be a mainstream smash, but Scrubs was a smart, funny show with a top-notch cast.