Top Ten Most Socially Impactful Sit-Coms of All Time

I was watching an episode of the Office last night on Hulu, and was laughing the whole way through. Sit-Coms are great for allowing you to escape the real world for 30 minutes in order to do nothing but enjoy yourself. But over the years, there have been Sit-Coms that have done more than just entertained. Today, it's hard to imagine a time in which sex, drugs, inter-racial relationships, homosexuality, single parents, etc. did not have a place in entertainment, but the time existed, not all that long ago. But thanks to many shows that managed to shake and/ or alter social norms with their content, television enjoys a much freer landscape now. For that reason alone these ground-breaking shows should be held in higher esteem than your Gilligan's Islands and Brady Bunches of the Sit-Com world. (All apologies to Sherwood Schwartz who created both shows - they had their place!)

So here is MY list of the Top Ten Most Socially Impactful American Sit-Coms of All Time...

10) The Cosby Show (1984-1992)

• The first show to feature an African American family, in an otherwise typical show about an upper-middle class family. Race was never really an issue - in other words, it wasn't a show about a black family trying to make it in a white world - it was just a show about a normal African-American family, and that was refreshing!

9) The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977)

• This made the list because it was one of the first, and one of the most successful, sit-coms to showcase a competent, professional woman making it on her own without a man. Though it seems unfathomable to us now, at one point, doing so was a radical concept.

8) Soap (1977-1981)

• Though there was another openly gay character portrayed years before (1972) on a little known show called "The Corner Bar," Billy Crystal's portrayal of Jodie Dallas on "Soap" seems to be the first openly gay character that made into mainstream American consciousness through a sit-com. Clearly, such a feat deserves a spot on the countdown.

7) Maude (1972-1978)

• Bea Arthur's shows made the list twice, first with Maude - a show about an opinionated woman, who had been married four times (scandalous enough on it's own). Maude makes the list for being the first show to bring the still-highly volatile issue of Abortion to the sit-com stage.

6) Roseanne (1988-1997)

• Long acknowledged as the first sit-com to show us how MOST Americans lived - Roseanne showed us the lighter, and sometimes darker, side of lower-middle class America., and the realities most people dealt with.

5) M.A.S.H. (1972-1983)

• Though MASH depicted the trials of a medical army unit during the Korean War, it began while US troops were very much still engaged in the Vietnam Conflict, so the commentary on the futility of war was clearly aimed at the current times. Though it was a sit-com, many of episodes addressed the difficulties the soldiers faced during the war, and the uncertainty they encountered at the prospect of returning home.

4) One Day at A Time (1975-1984)

• One of the first, and most successful, sit-com to focus on a divorcee raising two teenagers on her own. Be proud single moms!

3) The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

• The show that reminded us that advanced age doesn't make you stop living. The show that informed us all that no matter how old you are, you can still be active, vital, and very sexual! I think this show made us all look at our grandparents a little differently.

2) The Jeffersons (1975-1985)

• Unlike The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons WAS about an African American family coming up from nothing and becoming very successful. The Jeffersons made it to #2 on the list because it was the first mainstream sitcom to feature an inter-racial couple (the Willises).

1) All in the Family (1971-1979)

• All in the Family is at the top of the list, not for one reason, but for many. The show constantly challenged the boundaries of what was considered socially acceptable, and it was so highly rated, the social commentaries surely permeated into mainstream consciousness. Archie Bunker's ignorance knew no bounds... from religion to race - nothing was sacred on All in the Family. Interestingly, two of the other shows on this countdown (Maude and the Jeffersons) were spin-offs of the show.