The great Sheldon Leonard is the one who actually sat Reiner down and told him that he was the problem with the pilot. Leonard also saved the show after the low-rated first season by convincing sponsors to continue their funding.

It can provide some historic context. From what's written today, you'd think it a complete aberration that Hogan's Heroes made it on the air, but it was nominated for best comedy Emmy three times, Bob Crane for best actor twice, Werner Klemperer for best supporting actor five straight years, winning twice. That level of recognition argues strongly that it was a very mainstream show, and that the show itself should be looked at instead of dismissed because of an uncomfortable concept.

The shows are there to be enjoyed. They're not work. So if you're not liking them, go do something else for a while.

Best instrumental: original Hawaii Five-O

Best vocal: Secret Agent

Worst: I don't get how Billy Joel's "My Life" relates to Bosom Buddies

I don't know. It seems there were 672 episodes of the show produced. It wouldn't surprise if Skelton was in close to 2000. This is on top of a radio career that started about a decade before and continued for about five years after he started on TV.

"Keeping in mind, I'm not talking about who has been in the most sketches, I think that would go to Keenan Thompson from his long career at SNL and All That."

The Red Skelton show was on for 20 seasons, 1951-71. The primetime show finished #4 in the annual Nielsen ratings in 1951-52, #7 in 1969-70, and in the top 20 thirteen other years. Skelton was in every sketch.

It goes along with ever-increasing serialization. It used to be that people only got over-invested in soap operas, but serialization has taken over in most genres so the dependence on shows is spread much more widely.

The Beverly Hillbillies has a complex system of leitmotif evoking different moods and characters.

"Is Ed O'Neill the longest running, most popular T.V. dad?"

Popular and long-running are different things. O'Neill seems likely for long-running, but most-popular...sorry...is Bill Cosby. He defined a whole generation of TV dads in the 1980s, which then provoked a generation of satire dads, including Al, Homer, and Dan Conners.

Edit: asking about the most popular is not the same as asking about your personal favorite.

WKRP, Wings. Before these, the military shows were also "workplace" shows.

The dominant sitcom up to about five years ago was The Big Bang Theory, which was a Friends knockoff. There was also How I Met Your Mother, which copied a lot from Friends. The dominant single camera show was Modern Family, which was certainly on the "hanging out" tree. And then there's Curb, where all Larry does is wander around.

Cheers was seen as a workplace show, following on Taxi.

Northern Exposure, when Shelley wouldn't shut up singing.

The Simpsons, with the little singing jockeys.

Soap, Season 1

American sitcoms only: I Love Lucy, All in the Family, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld. Beverly Hillbillies would be fifth.

Honeymooners: Ralph fears Norton has been injured in a sewer accident; Blackadder Goes Forth: final episode; Cheers: Diane and Sam share their thoughts on Coach's death

Just adding: for anyone who doesn't know the Taxi story related to Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton, it really is worth a listen. Half a dozen people connected to the show are in interviews about it on youtube.

It should get more attention. Won the best comedy Emmy three of five seasons. The comic triumvirate of De Vito, Lloyd and Kaufman is outstanding, and Hirsch is great as the stable center of a crazy ensemble.

Murder mysteries have thrived for centuries now because they remove the main witness, so a particularly adept sleuth is required to solve the case. Whenever a woman is the victim, she's usually a pretty girl and everyone knows she's not really being killed, so it's nice to look at the pretty girl.

In 2 1/2 Men, Evelyn, Berta, Rose, and Judith are all portrayed more approvingly than Charlie and Alan are.

"Why can't these shows magically have grown with me.

You have to understand that if Charlie Harper and Barney Stinson were your ideals from the whole history of American sitcoms, then you haven't really "grown." You're just sort of catching up with everybody else. At the very least, you should have something else to show your girlfriend.

I'm not sure how massive - maybe 20% of the audience of the original?

The most recent episode did have a pulse.

Ron Popeil took me for a pasta maker.

Do we still have Hunter Ellis for The Atomic Flashlight?

No, Andy was just No. 1 once, and I think it was the very last season long after Barney was gone.

Only 7 sitcoms have been #1 in the annual Nielsens two or more times: All in the Family (5 times), The Cosby Show (5), I Love Lucy (4), The Beverly Hillbillies (2), Laverne & Shirley (2), Seinfeld (2), and The Big Bang Theory (2).