5 Best Sitcoms Of The 1990s, Ranked

If you had to name a decade defined by a genre of television, the 1990s and sitcoms wouldn't be a bad choice. The decade was stacked with excellent situation comedies that continue to draw in viewers even today, and their nostalgic legacy is helped by the fact that they ran during the heyday of network television before streaming fragmented audiences.

One could even argue that the era's sitcoms can stand against any and all other decades with ease. These can be perceived as fighting words in a world where shows like "Parks and Recreation" exist, but don't worry — the '90s can put its money where its mouth is. Today, we will take a look at the five finest sitcoms of the era, and we have a feeling that you'll have a hard time naming a more iconic quintet from any other decade.

Note: The list is based on Rotten Tomatoes' editorial listing of the best 1990s shows. This means that the order might not be based on the absolute greatest critical darlings out there (sorry, "Freaks and Geeks"), but simply the most memorable and influential sitcoms of the decade.

"The Larry Sanders Show" ran from 1992 to 1998, and it became the gold standard that paved the way for "30 Rock" and many other satirical shows that take place behind the scenes of an entertainment workplace. The series stars Garry Shandling as Larry Sanders, whose fictional talk show the series revolves around. With a stacked cast of excellent characters from producer Arthur (Rip Torn) and talent booker Paula (Janeane Garofalo) to agent Steve Grant (Bob Odenkirk), you'll find many familiar names and faces here.

You know the premise of a show like this these days, but back then, "The Larry Sanders Show" marched groundbreaking storytelling  and meta moments on our screens on a weekly basis. One of its notorious secret weapons is a steady stream of high-profile celebrity guests who gamely riff on themselves, and often come across as delightfully awful. Naturally, many have a background in comedy, though many A-list celebrities and other notable figures like Regis Philbin also turned up.

Excellent, funny, and infinitely rewatchable for its guest game alone, "The Larry Sanders Show" is a delight from beginning to end. The fact that it's only at number five on this list gives you an idea of just how hard the 1990s went with its influential sitcoms. 

You know "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Clips from the show that launched Will Smith's career are still immediately recognizable whenever they turn up on social media, and the series itself has withstood time extremely well despite the fact that visually speaking, it's the single most '90s-coded entry on this list.

Much of this has to do with how "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" balances its fun and cool moments with storylines that openly wear their heart on their sleeve. In recent years, the tumultuous "Fresh Prince" feud between Will Smith and Aunt Viv's original actress Janet Hubert has received plenty of attention, but removed from behind-the-scenes context, the show remains amazing. Playing a fictional Philadelphia street kid version of himself who lands at his relatives' mansion in Bel-Air, Smith is a well-rounded performer here, and every cast member is on point.

As a successful sitcom with a predominantly Black cast, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" is fearless in looking at subjects like racial profiling. The best episodes of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" will both make you laugh and play your heartstrings like a violin.

Sitcoms have always had the potential to be cerebral, but few actually utilize that talent as well as "Frasier." The legendary psychiatrist comedy got its start as a spin-off of "Cheers," and soon established itself as its own, inherently lovable thing.

Radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), his neurotic brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce), their salt-of-the-Earth father Martin (John Mahoney), Frasier's producer Roz (Peri Gilpin), and Martin's live-in nurse turned Niles' love interest Daphne (Jane Leeves) provide a perfect balance of high-brow and down-to-Earth. This allows the two Crane brothers to embrace their cultured but impractical antics while the rest of the cast keeps the comedy grounded.

There is arguably no other show quite like "Frasier," simply because the central cast's chemistry is so immaculate. Even the Paramount+ "Frasier" revival, which lacked the majority of the original cast, couldn't capture the charm of the 1990s series. "Frasier" is happy to give you storylines involving complex psychological concepts, opera, and haute cuisine. It's equally happy to send its most pretentious character headfirst into a lengthy slapstick comedy sequence that ends with the apartment literally on fire.

"Friends" might only take second place here, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. Streaming and syndication have kept its legacy intact, and for good reason. The show has a perfect mix of heartfelt and goofy. Every single one of its six central characters is a fully defined personality that balances out well with the others, and they're all individually capable of carrying important story arcs.

Granted, some get more attention than others — just look at how much the show pays attention to the famous and long-burning romance between Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) as opposed to the storylines involving Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow). Yet, this is one of the tightest ensemble casts in sitcom history, and everyone brings their own flavor to the mix.

The show is not completely immune to the passage of time. "Friends" has its share of episodes that are unwatchable today, but at the end of the day, it remains a juggernaut that fully belongs in the discussion of best sitcoms of all time.

"Seinfeld" is a show that you expect to see hovering near the top of any given list of best sitcoms of all time. Like "Frasier," "Seinfeld" is a very smart show. However, its preferred method of getting clever was to portray its central cast as such horrible folks that you'd be hard pressed to find a time when the "Seinfeld" characters were actually good people.

The central premise of characters who are awful and never learn anything is a novel concept that's still kept alive by the likes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," but the "Seinfeld" layer cake also features the show's famously neurotic approach to things both big and small. The show is adept at turning virtually any minor life moment into a series of escalating misunderstandings and awkwardness.

"Seinfeld" is occasionally very mean and isn't quite as easily digestible as "Friends," granted. Still, it's a seminal series, and the show's best episodes  are full of inherently quotable moments that even people who never watched it can recognize immediately.