The Bore Decides: What was the whitest sitcom of the 90s? (VICTOIRE)

[Kara]

Here at The Bore, a nexus of hardcore haters, enthusiast Lulu self-published press, and video game industry forum posters and video game industry forum exiles, we decide the real issues of the day through facts and evidence, as presented within the confines of civil, inclusive discourse.

Today we're going to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our times: just what was the whitest sitcom of the 1990s?

What's a white sitcom you ask? I'll let Pickles take it away.

[White sitcoms are] the pinnacle of rich white entertainment. Joyless, derivative, utterly without meaning or merit, yet somehow on the air for seven consecutive years.

Phase 1, which is the phase we're currently in, is the nomination phase. Be sure to list some white-ass sitcoms from the 1990s. I'll close the nomination phase on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how popular or spirited the discussion gets. After that I'm going to randomly seed the shows and put up brackets for y'all to vote on.

I would love 64 nominations so that we can do a proper March Madness thing, but I don't think we'll be able to do that. Let's shoot for 24-32 before the voting gets going, though, that's a manageable goal.

BTW, if you nominate something stupid (e.g. "What about Family Matters a-yuck?") I'm gonna discount anything else you suggest itt and any votes you cast in later rounds. (You get a mulligan octopushover.  )

(If you wanted a democracy, you shouldn't have let the resident tankie run this thing. )

The actual explicit rules:
-No animated programs.
-The show must have run for at least 2 complete seasons, one of which must have aired between 1/1/1990 and 12/31/1999.
-The show must have been an actual sitcom and not a hybrid program (e.g. comedy-drama). If I go to Wikipedia and sitcom isn't in the opening paragraph, it's not a sitcom.


Here are the final nominees:

3rd Rock From The Sun
ALF
Almost Perfect
Blossom
Boston Common
Boy Meets World
Caroline in the City
Charles in Charge
Clarissa Explains It All
Coach
Cybill
Designing Women
Dharma & Greg
Ellen
Empty Nest
Everybody Loves Raymond
Fired Up
Frasier
Friends
Full House
Full House
Golden Girls
Grace Under Fire
Growing Pains
Home Improvement
Just Shoot Me!
King of Queens
Mad About You
Major Dad
Mama's Family
Married... with Children
Mr. Belvedere
Murphy Brown
murphy brown
Ned & Stacey
Newhart
NewsRadio
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
Perfect Strangers
Roseanne
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Saved by the Bell
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Spin City
Step by Step
Suddenly Susan
The Drew Carey Show
The Hogan Family
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
The Naked Truth
The Nanny
The Single Guy
Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place
Unhappily Ever After
Veronica's Closet
who's the boss
Will and Grace
Wings
Working

And this is their seeding.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

1.The Drew Carey Show
2. Ellen
3. Friends
4. Home Improvement
5. Spin City
6. Cybill
7. Married... with Children
8. The Hogan Family
9. Frasier
10. Roseanne
11. Step by Step
12. Wings
13. Mr. Belvedere
14. The Jeff Foxworthy Show
15. Sabrina the Teenage Witch
16. Murphy Brown Boston Common
17. Full House
18. NewsRadio
19. Suddenly Susan
20. Seinfeld
21. Growing Pains
22. Perfect Strangers
23. Sex and the City
24. Blossom
25. Ned & Stacey
26. Mad About You
27. The Nanny
28. Working
29. The Single Guy
30. The Naked Truth
31. Grace Under Fire
32. Empty Nest
33. Unhappily Ever After
34. Coach
35. Major Dad
36. Dharma & Greg
37. Everybody Loves Raymond
38. Clarissa Explains It All
39. Charles in Charge
40. ALF
41. Parker Lewis Can't Lose
42. Newhart
43. Just Shoot Me!
44. Who's the Boss
45. Will and Grace
46. 3rd Rock From The Sun
47. Veronica's Closet
48. Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place
49. Designing Women
50. Caroline in the City
51. Full House Saved by the Bell
52. Murphy Brown
53. Almost Perfect
54. Fired Up
55. Boy Meets World
56. King of Queens
57. Mama's Family
58. Golden Girls

[close]

[Shadow Mod]

Will and Grace
Mad About You
Step by Step
Roseanne
Grace Under Fire

[Shaka Khan]

Mad About You
Coach
Darma and Greg

[benjipwns]

3rd Rock From The Sun
Fired Up
Ned and Stacey
The Naked Truth
The Jeff Foxworthy Show
The Single Guy
Suddenly Susan
Veronica's Closet
Working
Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place
Sports Night
Ellen
The Drew Carey Show
Everybody Loves Raymond
Cybill
Almost Perfect

It didn't run for even an entire season but I just wanted to mention fucking Meego:

[Shadow Mod]

Shit no one mentioned Adventures of Pete and Pete.

Any other show got two gingers as the main protags?

[Kara]

We might actually hit 64. 

Might even have to do that BS 68 team, 4 team mini playoff thing. 

[benjipwns]

How much weight are we putting on like one token black guy who's either an endless source of the good snarky jokes or the wise learned hand? Veronica's Closet and Sports Night have those for example.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Can't believe this went on for so many posts without





EDIT: OH WAIT YOU MEAN BAD SITCOMS

WHY IS FRASIER ON THE LIST

[benjipwns]

I was going to list Becker despite Jake, but I remember a lot of his patients and the outside world as being more realistically depicted even if his circle of "friends" was always kinda absurd for the Bronx especially as it went on.

[Kara]

Can't believe this went on for so many posts without

(Image removed from quote.)

Read the OP. 

I won't gulag you, but you're on notice.

[pilonv1]

The Single Guy

Dude with weird hair had an asian wife ffs

Suddenly Susan

Had a cuban(?) guy, not sure if that counts

Veronica's Closet

Had the black cripple from Ed. And I remember an episode with Keyshawn Johnson.

Here's some more nominations

Just Shoot Me
Happily Ever After
Spin City (Michael Boatman's character was a gay black man, he doesn't count)
Step by Step
Sabrina The Teenage Witch (the black guy who showed up once every 20 episodes doesn't count)
That 70's Show leper me
Partners
Caroline In The City

[pilonv1]

How much weight are we putting on like one token black guy who's either an endless source of the good snarky jokes or the wise learned hand? Veronica's Closet and Sports Night have those for example.

The ones with token minorities could be seeded lower if needed

[Momo]

Please add
Home Improvement
Roseanne
The Wonder Years (cheating but i believe this went on til the 90s)
Blossom

[Momo]

okay, well that shit wasnt there when i opened the thread :kanyeshrug

[pilonv1]

man, that 70s show had a brown dude nearly front and center, pilon.

you have no idea how ashamed I am that I forgot about this

[Momo]

man, that 70s show had a brown dude nearly front and center, pilon.

you have no idea how ashamed I am that I forgot about this

He's unintentionally hilarious in from dusk till dawn

[pilonv1]

edit: fuck just saw this was mentioned before

[Mandark]

Saw the thread title and thought "Wings better be on there."  Find out it's the show that inspired the thread.  Excellent.

If you do a tournament, a bracket should be reserved for Thursday night NBC shows: Friends and the parade of mediocrities that got the 8:30 and 9:30 hammock slots.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Waiting for someone to derail the thread by nominating Seinfeld. 

[close]

[Momo]

If you think about it, is The Jefferson's not a comedy about black people becoming white? What is whiter than that? 

[Kara]

Please add
Home Improvement
Roseanne
The Wonder Years (cheating but i believe this went on til the 90s)
Blossom

OP my friend.

[Momo]

Please add
Home Improvement
Roseanne
The Wonder Years (cheating but i believe this went on til the 90s)
Blossom

OP my friend.

Like I said, that shit wasnt there when I posted (or so i will claim)   

[etiolate]

I feel like Dharma and Greg should be in the bracket, but somebody needs to have watched it for it to qualify.

[Cerveza mas fina]

man, that 70s show had a brown dude nearly front and center, pilon.

He is white though

[Cerveza mas fina]

I think thats north american racism no?

Europeans consider Hispanics to be white and we don't have any special words for them.

Just like the Spanish are white etc.

Or are you talking about some reverse racism where I feel the need to put him in the white box or something?

[ToxicAdam]

Whitest? I prefer the nomenclature 'All-American'.

[headwalk]

friends will be the feature presentation at the "when white people ruled the earth" exhibition of 2240.

[Himu]

I'm going with Friends. In the gaf thread I went back and forth between Clarissa, Full House, and Friends and it's Friends dammit.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Friends is a good show though.

Prob the best sitcom of all time.

[Himu]

Oh my GOD.

Nooooooooo lager. NOOOOOOOO!!!!

[CatsCatsCats]

7th Heaven might be too much drama?
Growing Pains for sure tho

[Cerveza mas fina]

How can you not like Friends?

[Himu]

This has 1 million views.

Someone explain why.

[king of the internet]

How can you not like Friends?

I find the cast insufferable. Watching that shit just infuriates me for some reason.

[CatsCatsCats]

Lol oops repeat

[Cerveza mas fina]

 

Next thing you know you also don't like New Girl

[Cerveza mas fina]

Ill give you that. I'm still hopeful.

[Joe Molotov]

Growing Pains was a white-ass show.

[octopushover]

I was going to suggest Titus, but it started in 2000.

Grace Under Fire
Cybill
Golden Girls
Designing Women
Dharma & Greg
Empty Nest

[Himu]

it was originally an 80's sitcom but ended in 1990: Mama's Family.

*shudder*

[Momo]

blossom was definitely there.

You're making the mistake of thinking I read the OP

[Himu]

please can who's the boss be included

[Momo]

I seem to make a lot of mistakes involving giving you basic credit

I read the OP, at about 10am, started writing a post, got busy and only submitted it at 12pm. Things got jumbled in the wait. That's the boring story. I have no idea why you take my reply seriously when my initial post was obviously humorous in tone. I didnt feel like typing that out while busy at work.

[Kara]

please can who's the boss be included

Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992.

Read the rules and tell me.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I thought this was a democracy

[Himu]

Fuck Who's The Boss.

Except the intro.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Wrong thread  :'(

[Kara]

I thought this was a democracy

Read the OP. 

[Himu]

Lager, you didn't explain the appeal of that smelly cat video you asshole. Why can't anyone explain why Friends was popular?!

[Cerveza mas fina]

The smelly cat video is not funny if you haven't watched Friends.

‘The key thing about Friends is that it’s about people working out how they are going to live their lives – what kind of relationship are they going to have, what kind of job, the difficulties of settling down,’ says Brett Mills, senior lecturer in film and television studies at the University of East Anglia (who currently has a student doing a PhD on the representation of sexuality in Friends). ‘You’re engaged in all those questions about escaping from your family, becoming an adult and working out what you want to be.’

The other key aspect was, of course, the group dynamic. Before Friends, sitcoms tended to focus on family life, with parents being the central characters. The message that our friends count more than family when we’re young adults is still a powerful one.

‘There isn’t one magic ingredient with Friends – it’s a combination of all sorts of things,’ she adds. ‘It’s aspirational but not exclusive. It’s about friendship. The women were funny in it, and beautiful, and I don’t know how much we’d seen of that before then.’

[Himu]

Seinfeld didn't feature family. And "you wouldn't get it if you don't watch Friends" is pretty lame

[Cerveza mas fina]

Its not so much that you wouldn't get it, more like you can't appreciate it.

[nudemacusers]

It's Friends, could it BE any more white?






Say that in Chandler Bing's voice and tell me I'm wrong.

[jakefromstatefarm]

Caroline in the City
Saved by the Bell
Growing Pains (more 80's)
Freaks and Geeks (does this one count?)
Full House

[Momo]

I want to add

Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Caroline in the City
The Larry Sanders Show
Empty Nest

Caroline in the City

fuck

[king of the internet]

The Larry Sanders Show? WTF?  Ban Momo STAT.

[Steve Contra]

I think judging from the delta between white viewership and black viewership I think the answer is indeed "Seinfeld"

[Momo]

The Larry Sanders Show? WTF?  Ban Momo STAT.

Although really funny, it was pretty much white people in suits heaven #FWP

[king of the internet]

The Larry Sanders Show? WTF?  Ban Momo STAT.

Although really funny, it was pretty much white people in suits heaven #FWP

It was pretty white, but doesn't meet the qualification of "joyless, derivative, utterly without meaning or merit". It did have one somewhat prominent black character...Penny or something like that. She was Larry's assistant.

[Human Snorenado]

Married with Children

[Momo]

doesn't meet the qualification of "joyless, derivative, utterly without meaning or merit".

We're never even going to get to 10 shows that legit meet these criteria. I mean you guys are seriously nominating friends.