sitcoms to watch

Judge Harold T. Stone presides over "Night Court", a court which deals with petty crimes which can be dealt with in a dime-a-dozen manner. Invariably, the cases appearing before the court are bizarre, but that's ok because Judge Stone is not your regular judge. He's assisted by a motley crew of clerks and District Attorneys who often create as much chaos as the criminals they bring in for trial.

Elizabeth "Liz" Lemon (Tina Fey) is the executive show runner for a late night sketch comedy show called "The Girlie Show", that stars her close friend and major drama queen Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). When GE hires a new Executive Vice President for NBC named Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), he decides to take Liz Lemon under his wing and turn around TGS, which for years has been unable to find the proper audience it deserves. So to do so, he brings on unhinged, wildly unpredictable star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to turn the series into a ratings hit. But Liz soon finds out that controlling her oddball writing staff, the NBC page program, keeping Tracy on a short leash, and getting him to get along with Jenna proves to be one disaster after another. Will TGS ever see true success? And will Liz find the right partner to get married and start a family?

Skyler Dayton is tired of her non-stop partying lifestyle and bad choices in boyfriends. Wanting a major life change, she wanders into "The Stacks," a small family-run bookstore owned by Gavin Dewitt and his brother, Stuart. Divorced and unlucky in love himself, Gavin's inclined to regard Skyler as an embodiment of the vacuous, image-obsessed culture he has come to abhor. Stuart, however, is dazzled by Skyler's beauty and, much to Gavin's horror, offers her a job at their store, which she happily accepts as the first step in her quest for a steadier lifestyle. Unhappy that she's going to be minding the till next to such an intimidating bombshell is the store's sole other employee, Katrina, who doles out doses of realism and cynicism. Rounding out the characters is the store's one steady customer, Harold March a preeminent but retired rocket scientist.

Barney Miller is the kind of cop we'd all like to run into. He is always sensible. He maintains order over a squad room of detectives who gamble for a hobby, get hit on by anything in skirts, go to renaissance philosophy conventions for fun, and would really prefer to be writing. Nearly all of the action takes place in the squad room where the citizens and criminals are brought in to complicate the mix.

Herman Brooks is an aspiring writer working as a fact-checker at a publisher. While dealing with life in the big city, his inner thoughts are played out by four characters representing his intellect, fear, compassion, and lust. His "outer world" consists of a trivia-trove boss, two female co-workers, one mouse-ish and the other a social-climbing bombshell, and a best friend whose both a successful writer and a sexist pig.

Drew is an assistant director of personnel in a Cleveland department store and he has been stuck there for ten years. Other than fighting with co-worker Mimi, his hobbies include drinking beer and not being able to get dates. To make a few extra bucks he has a micro-brewery going in his garage with his buddies.

Ray Barone seemingly has it all. A wonderful wife, a beautiful family, a great job, a nice house on Long Island. There's only one problem. His obnoxious parents (who live across the street) and his jealous brother are always getting in the way.

Huge egos. Backbiting assistants. Screaming deadlines. Claudia "Claude" Casey has moved up in the secretarial world of television news, from permanent floater to the anchor's desk. It's a short elevator ride from the depths of the mailroom to the executive summit, but still the ice queen assistants give her a chilly reception. Now, can this perky former temp's warmth and humanity melt the hearts of the competitive up-and-comers?

Christine is divorced from Richard but continues to see him as a best friend, even when he becomes involved with a woman, also named "Christine." Living in an apartment with her son Ritchie, her brother Matthew rents a separate room in an outbuilding and the two of them feed off the insecurities of the other implanted by their mother during their upbringing. "Old" Christine runs a gym with her best friend Barb, whose name describes her wit. Christine's insecurities are not helped by the other parents at a posh school she and Richard send their son to, one that is generally thought to be beyond the means of regular working people.

Henry and Kip are two advertising designers who had a real problem with finding a place to live. At the beginning, the sole place they could afford was condemned, but they only found out when the wrecking ball was smashing up the place while they were sleeping. A female friend suggested they stay at her building, but the snag is that the place is for women only. In desperation, they assume the identities of the women Hildegard and Buffy in order to rent a room. Now as they pursue their dream of success in the ad business, they also struggle to keep their deception at the apartment building so they won't be evicted, but the beautiful neighbours they have are a constant temptation.

Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a very selfish, stubborn, extremely hot-tempered, but also talented, resourceful, clever, and caring middle-aged reporter who works for FYI News Network and at the same time tries to raise her child as an unmarried, working woman. Her friends and co-workers, Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), and Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud), try to balance between her outbursts of anger and her family, personality, or even financial crises. It's a difficult life for Murphy, but she has the guts to live it.

Dick Loudon (Bob Newhart) and his wife Joanna (Mary Frann) decide to leave life in New York City and buy a little inn in Vermont. Dick is a how-to book writer, who eventually becomes a local television celebrity as host of "Vermont Today". George Utley (Tom Poston) is the handyman at the inn, and Leslie Vanderkellen (Jennifer Holmes) is the maid, with ambitions of being an Olympic Ski champion; she is later replaced by her cousin Stephanie (Julia Duffy), an heiress who hates her job. Her boyfriend is Dick's yuppie television producer, Michael Harris (Peter Scolari). There are many other quirky characters in this fictional little town, including Dick's neighbors Larry (William Sanderson), Darryl (Tony Papenfuss), and Darryl (John Voldstad)...three brothers who buy the Minuteman Café from Kirk Devane (Steven Kampmann). Besides sharing a name, Darryl and Darryl never speak, until the final episode.

Jack owns a magazine and is the former brother-in-law of Susan. After she runs out on her fiancé on their wedding day, Jack agrees to take her back at the magazine.

Louie De Palma is a cantankerous, acerbic taxi dispatcher in New York City. He tries to maintain order over a collection of varied and strange characters who drive for him. As he bullies and insults them from the safety of his "cage," they form a special bond among themselves, becoming friends and supporting each other through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life.

A single mother (Applegate) tries to find love again with her new boyfriend Diego, of whom her father disapproves. She gets help from her two brothers (one voluntarily mute) and two girlfriends at work (her father's bar). Complicating matters is her ex-husband, who walked out on her 7 years before, but is back to try and reinsert himself into the family.

With a pay check that is lower than what the local beggar is earning, and with a wife and two children whose only interest is to rob him of his last cents, shoe-salesman Al Bundy is lucky if he can sit down in front of the TV with an ice-cold beer, or sneak out to the local Nudy bar every Tuesday night. Life isn't what it used to be when he was the star of the high-school football team, and when he scored four touch-downs in a single game.

Misanthropic Dr. John Becker runs a clinic in New York City. He is assisted by super-capable Margaret Wyborn and less-than-capable Linda, who's only kept on because no one else can stand the doctor. Becker's best (some would say only) friend is the blind Jake Malinak, who runs a newsstand in the diner across the street. The diner used to be run by Reggie Kostas, but it has been taken over by Chris Conner, a lady whom Becker fluctuates between loathing and being attracted to. The diner is also frequented by Robert Benito, who is universally known as Bob and is the super at Becker's apartment (much to the doctor's regret).

"Roseanne" is the story of a working-class family struggling with life's essential problems - marriage, children, money, and parents-in-law. A now-classic sitcom, the story circles around the Connor family, a family of five that includes the parents, Roseanne (Roseanne Barr) and Dan (John Goodman), and the children, Becky (Alicia Goranson), Darlene (Sara Gilbert), and D.J. (Michael Fishman). Roseanne is helped in her challenge to keep the family moving along by her single sister, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), and various friends.