If there ever was a year we all needed a little comic relief, 2019 was it. Thankfully, both network television and streaming services were up to the task, providing us with seemingly endless options for comedic entertainment. But just because a show calls itself a sitcom doesn’t mean it’s actually funny. That’s why we did bingeing for you and came up with this ranked list of the 10 greatest sitcoms of the year. You won’t be disappointed by these insanely clever shows that guarantee a bevy of belly laughs.
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Best Sitcoms 2019
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10. 'Arrested Development'
This long-running fan favorite sitcom wrapped up its fifth season in 2019. With a crackerjack cast that includes Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, and Dermot Mulroney, there are still laughs to be had with the corruption-happy Bluth family.
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9. 'Silicon Valley'
Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) and the rest of the Pied Piper team returned in 2019 for the final season of Silicon Valley. While the series finale itself was underwhelming, the episodes leading up to it were packed with hilarious performances and perpetual tech business blunders. Supporting characters like Jared (Zach Woods), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), and Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) carried the series through its swan song and provided plenty of laughs even when the plot faltered.
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8. 'Black-ish'
This Golden Globe Award-winning series follows a well-to-do African-American family that struggles to stay true to its roots in the midst of suburbia. 2019 marked the ABC show's sixth season (not to mention the debut of its second spinoff, Mixed-ish) and it still has plenty of funny to tap into.
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7. 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'
There aren't enough cop comedies on TV, though Brooklyn Nine-Nine might be the only one you really need. This award-winning series pits freewheeling Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) against straight shooter Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) for gut-busting results.
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6. 'Catastrophe'
Take two comedians (Rob Delaney and Sharon Hogan), throw their characters in a domestic situation neither of them asked for, toss in a couple of kids, and you have Catastrophe. If you thought being married with children meant meant the end of raunchy jokes or bathroom humor, you clearly haven't watched this very bingeable Amazon original series about the unpredictability of life. Its final season aired this year and man, will we miss this dynamic duo and their rapid-fire repartee.
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5. 'PEN15'
Middle school is rife with mortifying moments, so it's odd that no one ever captured the embarrassing milestones of the pre-teen years as well as PEN15 has. Stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play cringe-worthy seventh-grade versions of themselves in this laugh-out-loud series that debuted this year.
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4. 'The Good Place'
The Good Place finds Eleanor (Kristen Bell) mistakenly sent to some kind of utopia (or so she believes) after her death. While the series has strayed a bit from its original premise, in its fourth and final season, which began airing in 2019, the NBC sitcom examines big questions of morality and ethics without sacrificing humor. All we know is that if the afterlife is this funny, we can't wait to go there.
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3. 'Veep'
When real-life politics become more outrageous than an HBO political satire, it's time to call it quits. Thus, 2019 marked the end of Veep, a series that specialized in politically incorrect jokes as sharp as shrapnel. The ruthless Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her bumbling staff gave the show a hysterical send-off, one that we hope will seem improbable in some future administration.
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2. 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
While so many series wound down this year, It's Always Sunny confidently strode into its 14th season. At this point, the gang can do no wrong. We'd watch their ridiculous antics well into their elderly years if we could.
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1. 'Fleabag'
This brash BBC sitcom stole the hearts of viewers and dominated the Emmy Awards in 2019. Its second season, in which the saucy protagonist (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) falls for an Irish priest (Andrew Scott), deftly tackled deep topics while delivering pee-yourself-level comedy. We're devastated there won't be more seasons, but we're psyched to see what Waller-Bridge does next.
