With century's worth of history, there’s been plenty of time for sitcoms to establish
long-standing records within the genre. Although records were meant to be broken,
some have stood the test of time. Let’s take a look at the sitcom records that may stand forever.
Appropriately for a country that aired the first sitcom on TV,
Britain can also claim the longest-running sitcom in history.
In January 1973, BBC One aired the first episode of
"Last of the Summer Wine," a Roy Clarke sitcom about three older men who engage
in a variety of youthful hijinks and adventures in the absence of spouses,
jobs, or other responsibilities. The first season of the show wasn't very well-received.
“Admit it. You’re bored already.
Nevertheless, "Last of the Summer Wine," like its characters,
got better with age, and eventually became an institution of British entertainment.
As time went on, it seemed impossible to kill,
surviving the deaths and departures of major cast members and the growing indifference of the BBC.
It even continued during the changing tide of public opinion as the program entered its second,
third, and fourth decades. But in 2010, "Last of the Summer Wine" finally went off the air,
setting the record officially at 37 years, seven months, and 25 days.
Despite this admittedly impressive accomplishment, it should be mentioned that "Last of the Summer
Wine" doesn't entirely deserve its place on this list. Why? Well, because this record will almost
certainly be broken. Specifically, by a certain decades-spanning-primetime-cartoon, which will
leave "Summer Wine" with the consolation prize of being the longest-running live action sitcom.
The show that will likely unseat "The Last of
the Summer Wine" in terms of sheer longevity already holds numerous sitcom records.
"The Simpsons" was officially launched in 1989, and it's been going ever since,
becoming the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running scripted primetime
series of any kind. When it was renewed for its 33rd and 34th seasons in March 2021, "The
Simpsons" ensured that its total episode count would be at least 757. If we’re being honest,
it’ll probably be a lot more — far and away the most episodes for any animated sitcom.
That renewal also meant that "The Simpsons" will be on the air at least until the end of 2023,
at which point it will be less than four years away from the sitcom longevity record
held by "Summer Wine." There's no end in sight for Bart, Lisa, Homer, and Marge.
After its longtime network distributor, 21st Century Fox, was purchased by Disney in 2019,
"The Simpsons" arrived on the Disney+ streaming service. Here, it will presumably remain until it
stops making a profit. Given the way Disney tends to treat its intellectual property,
it's extremely unlikely the show will be canceled prior to its 38th year.
"The Simpsons" just keeps going, smashing record after record in the process.
We are by no means done talking about "The Simpsons," which, among other things,
is famous for its guest stars. A hallmark of the show has been the way celebrities
appear as themselves. It’s a star-studded roster that includes, just to name a few,
Leonard Nimoy, Rachel Maddow, Lady Gaga, and Hugh Hefner. There was a time, in the show's heyday,
when you weren't really a celebrity if you hadn't been on "The Simpsons."
With that in mind, it's no surprise that "The Simpsons" hold the Guinness world
record for most guest stars in an animated series of any kind. According to Guinness,
the total number was 810 as of April 2020, though obviously the number is even higher now.
It would be utterly inconceivable to imagine another show, let alone another animated show,
being as guest star-friendly as "The Simpsons". And, as previously mentioned, "The Simpsons" is
not going away any time soon. Season 33 hasn't even arrived yet and we already know that comedian
Maurice LaMarche and "NFL Redzone" host Scott Hanson will be added to the ranks. So, it seems
pretty safe to say that no TV program will likely ever have more guest stars than "The Simpsons."
As you might expect, a show with the lifespan and accolades of "The Simpsons" also has a history
of cleaning up at the Emmy Awards, the highest honor an American television program can achieve.
It won its first Emmy in 1990 for the episode "Life on the Fast Lane,"
and would go on to absolutely crush the awards for the rest of the decade,
including stellar individual years like 1992, in which it tallied six wins for Outstanding
Voice-Over Performance, and 1998, when it won Emmys in three separate categories.
While it never saw that particular level of dominance again,
"The Simpsons" continued to rack up Emmys throughout its existence, most recently in 2019,
when it won for an episode addressing themes of homophobic bigotry called "Mad About the Toy." It
was the 11th "Simpsons" victory in the category "Outstanding Animated Program." No other show
has won in that category more than five times. Similarly, Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta have
each won four Emmys for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for their work on "The Simpsons."
At this level, they’re tied for most ever, alongside Seth MacFarlane.
All told, "The Simpsons" has set a Guinness world record by amassing 34 total Emmy Awards,
the fourth-most of any show in history. No other animated series is even in the top ten.
Given the unlikelihood of any other animated show becoming a cultural monolith like "The Simpsons,"
it seems safe to say that this "Simpsons" record will also never be broken.
Now that we're done celebrating "The Simpsons," let's talk about some Emmy
Award records set by non-animated shows. First up: "30 Rock," Tina Fey's lovingly irreverent
"business of television" sitcom that aired on and made fun of NBC from 2006 to 2013.
Despite consistently shaky ratings, "30 Rock" was beloved for its lampooning of the backstage
workings of "Saturday Night Live," and the NBC network in general. So it was appropriate when
Fey's "SNL" parody of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in 2008 led to an increase in exposure
and appreciation for "30 Rock." This culminated at the 2009 Emmy Awards, in which the show's third
season set the Guinness world record for most Emmy nominations for a comedy show in a single year.
In addition to "Outstanding Comedy Series," which it won for the third year in a row,
Fey and Alec Baldwin were both nominated for acting, along with eight other performers
in guest and supporting roles. Ironically, Fey would win an Emmy that year not for "30 Rock,"
but for her send-up of Palin. With three more nominations for direction, four for writing, and
four in the creative categories, "30 Rock" Season 3 garnered 22 Emmy nominations. It’s a number that
hasn't been surpassed by a comedy show in more than ten years, and probably won't be at all.
The record for most Emmy victories for a comedy in a single season is held by the
most modern show on this list. No comedy has ever done what "Schitt's Creek" did in 2020.
Coming off its final season, the Canadian sitcom won all seven of the major comedy awards:
directing, writing, the four acting awards, and Outstanding Comedy Series. This is something
no comedy in history has accomplished. Dan Levy, who worked on "Schitt's Creek" in every capacity,
became the first person in history to win an Emmy for acting, writing, directing, and producing in
the same year. Throw in a couple of creative category wins and "Schitt's Creek" took home
nine Emmys, a world record for a comedy in a single season. It did all of this while up against
the finales of beloved sitcoms like "Modern Family" and "The Good Place." Not to mention
"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," which had previously held the record for most single-season wins.
How did the "Schitt's Creek" sweep happen, especially considering it had
never won a single Emmy in its five previous seasons? Some have speculated that voters,
quarantined in their homes due to COVID-19,
had spent their time binging "Schitt's Creek" on Netflix, leading to a sudden swell of support for
the show. It was a unique situation that we're unlikely to ever see replicated.
As we've seen, there are several sitcoms over the years that have had a positive relationship with
the Emmy Awards. Still, the one with the most total Emmy wins hasn't even been mentioned yet.
In 1993, "Cheers," one of the most recognizable and popular sitcoms of all time,
went off the air after 11 seasons and 28 Emmy Awards. But in an almost
unprecedented turn of events, the "Cheers" spin-off was arguably even more successful.
“Guilty as charged.”
"Frasier" followed psychologist Frasier Crane, who had joined the cast of "Cheers" in Season 3.
Frasier hosted a Seattle radio program and interacted with a delightfully eccentric
group of family and friends. The show was a hit at the Emmys from the start. It won the award
for Outstanding Comedy Series after its first season and would go on to win for Seasons 2-5,
making it the first series to win that award in five consecutive years.
By the time "Frasier" was finished with its own 11-season run, it had racked up a total
of 37 Emmys, which was, at the time, the record for a scripted series of any kind.
It has since been eclipsed in that regard by "Game of Thrones," but "Frasier" still holds the record
for sitcoms. "The Simpsons" is the only show that has even a vaguely realistic shot at beating it.
Nothing else has even come close, though "Modern Family" did manage to
tie the "five consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series wins" accomplishment.
"Frasier" was anchored by the performance of its leading man, Kelsey Grammer, who won a
record-tying four Emmys for his portrayal of the title character. He was also nominated for playing
Frasier Crane in both "Cheers" and "Wings." For a time, he also commanded the highest salary
in network television, at one point signing a deal with NBC worth $1.6 million per episode.
That record, however, was almost immediately broken by Ray Romano for the show "Everybody
Loves Raymond," for which Romano got paid $1.8 million per episode by CBS. And a few years later,
the same network gave even more to Charlie Sheen for his work on "Two and a Half Men."
While Sheen's contract is technically still the most lucrative per-episode deal in sitcom history,
context has to be considered. He was only making that amount of money for the show's eighth season,
and the last four episodes of that season were canceled after Sheen's explosive falling out with
CBS. Likewise, Romano's $1.8 million was only for one season, whereas Grammer's deal was for two.
When you do the math, the $76 million Grammer received for the last two
seasons of "Frasier" shakes out to a bit more than what Romano got paid during his most
lucrative contract. However, it should be noted that Romano also earned royalties for the show.
Regardless of how you define "highest-paid," no sitcom actor since Sheen has come anywhere close,
and we'd be surprised if it ever happened again.
Charlie Sheen wasn't the only performer CBS opened the bank vault for after the success
of "Two and a Half Men." The show, which was premised on two brothers,
Charlie and Alan Harper, raising Alan's son, Jake, also holds the distinction of
employing the highest-paid child actor on television of all time.
Angus T. Jones, who played Jake, reportedly made $250,000 per episode,
a number that Guinness recognized in 2010 after an analysis of TV earnings by the New York Post.
A 2014 article by the Post, however, claims that by the time Jones left the show,
he was making considerably more — $350,000 per episode. By that time,
Jones had started publicly disparaging "Two and a Half Men" for conflicting with
his religious values. The show's 10th season would be his last as a regular cast member,
with the role of "the half" being taken over by Amber Tamblyn for the final two seasons.
Jones did, however, make a cameo appearance in the series finale.
So, maybe, his being the most financially secure child actor in TV history may have
occasionally overcome his distaste at the sinful nature of "Two and a Half Men."
The earning numbers we've looked at so far are all well and good,
but there's only one man who can reasonably claim to be the highest-earning comedian of all time.
It’s been more than 23 years since the legendary sitcom "Seinfeld" wrapped up its iconic nine-year
run. However, when Forbes released the 2020 edition of its annual list of the world's
highest-paid celebrities, Jerry Seinfeld was once again the highest ranked comedian.
He raked in $51 million over the course of that year. That was enough for Guinness, at least for
the time, as they update that record on a yearly basis. But it's also just difficult to imagine
another comedian ever making more money over the course of their career than Jerry Seinfeld.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m a funny person.”
Seinfeld has reportedly earned as much as $400 million per year from "Seinfeld" syndication
royalties alone. He also recently signed a $500 million deal with Netflix for the
rights to the show. Beyond that, though, is the sheer longevity of his comedy career,
which he somehow managed to get paid to reinvent.
The 2002 documentary "Comedian" follows Seinfeld around the comedy circuit in the years following
the end of the show that made him famous. The doc hangs on the detail that Seinfeld has decided to
completely overhaul his act and cut out every previous joke and routine he'd ever told.
The choice paid off: Not only did "Comedian" make a couple million dollars,
followed by his popular “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” series, but his ongoing
relevance convinced Netflix to pay him $20 million for a new comedy special as recently as 2020.
Just as it's difficult to imagine
any comedian making more money than Jerry Seinfeld, it's also difficult to imagine any
network making more money from a single episode of comedy television than NBC did on May 6th, 2004.
That was the day NBC aired the series finale of "Friends," another sitcom that etched itself
into the hearts and minds of a generation. The show's 10-season run kicked off in 1994,
introducing the world to Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox,
David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry. Each of them were reportedly making
a million dollars per episode by the end, due to the program's massive popularity.
When it was time to bring "Friends" to its conclusion after a decade of success, it was clear
to everyone that the final double-sized episode would be a must-see event for the entire country.
As a result, NBC sold advertising spots on that episode at rates unheard of for anything short
of the Super Bowl. Every 30 seconds worth of ad time during those 44 minutes of TV cost two
million dollars, which remains a Guinness world record for any television series to this day. As
we've seen elsewhere on this list, the fracturing of the television audience in the era of online
media and streaming services makes it all but impossible that such a feat will ever be repeated.
The sitcom format that most of us are familiar with involves episodes airing in 30-minute time
slots. Traditionally, it was 22 minutes of sitcom interspersed with eight minutes of commercials.
Occasionally a sitcom will run longer, taking up an hour's worth of airtime or operating under
a different format due to an alternative revenue model from standard advertising.
Still, you rarely ever see sitcoms that are shorter. But,
believe it or not, they do exist, and some sitcoms are only a minute long.
In 1998 TV Land, a cable network dedicated to broadcasting classic television episodes
and movies, introduced "60 Second Sitcoms." They were tiny, standalone mini-shows that
appeared in between TV Land's programming and its commercials. The network was brand new,
having launched in 1996, and hadn't even sold ad space during its first year.
Shows in TV Land’s "60 Second Sitcoms" lineup included "The Gaveltons," which chronicled the
adventures of an absurdly litigious nuclear family, and "All's Well," where every episode
ended with a police officer showing up to eat pie. TV Land is recognized by Guinness as having
produced the shortest comedy show in history, and we dare somebody to try and break that record.
Everybody Loves Raymond, and that includes the greatest sitcom records today. Brad Garrett,
who played Raymond's brother, Robert, in the show “Everybody Loves Raymond”
won three Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.”
Beyond his acting abilities and his skill at poker, Garrett stands out for two reasons:
his deep distinctive voice, and his towering height. Standing 6 foot 8 inches tall,
he would eventually be recognized by Guinness as history's tallest actor in a leading role.
That's not just for sitcoms. According to Guinness, Garrett is the tallest leading man in
any screen medium. He suprasses movie stars like James Cromwell at 6' 7", the tallest actor to ever
receive an Oscar nomination, as well as both Tim Robbins and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at 6' 5".
Sorry, "A Princess Bride" fans — although Andre the Giant was
6’11", he was hardly the lead. Same for Richard Kiel, who was 7' 2" but never a leading man.
The fact of the matter is that people as tall as Garrett don't usually become leading men,
on TV or in the movies. The average male lead in Hollywood stands at about 5' 9".
So he will probably be recognized as the record-holder for a very, very long time.
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