60 best sitcoms of all time

54. Dinosaurs

Here’s one that will bring back some memories. What happens when you try to mix a family sitcom with the popularity of cartoon characters? You get Dinosaurs, which was essentially a family show with puppet dinosaurs in place of human actors. Jim Henson, the legendary creator of The Muppets, had been tinkering with the idea as early as the 1980s, creating something that was both a sitcom and a cautionary tale. And those colorful characters were enchanting to both kids and adults alike.

Dinosaurs did a wonderful job telling the same stories a regular sitcom would tackle, just using dinosaurs to play them out. It wasn’t trying to be gimmicky; it just was a new and intriguing angle. The baby of the family, whose legal name actually was Baby Sinclair, was a scene-stealer with a running gag of hitting people with objects and yelling “Not the mama!” that was always good for a laugh. And did you know that two of the characters on the show were voiced by future Archer star Jessica Walter and Law & Order: SVU lead Christopher Meloni? Walter was a regular as matriarch Fran, while Meloni recurred as Spike, a friend of the family’s son Robbie.

The thing that keeps us from ranking Dinosaurs higher on this list is that it went too far with its moral message. The series finale remains one of the most depressing episodes of television ever, with the implication that the entire family dies in the Ice Age. While that’s historically true, Dinosaurs wasn’t a documentary. It was a series that was watched by kids, and to end it on such a bleak note really also left a sour taste regarding the whole show. Despite that, Dinosaurs did have its charms.

Next: 53. Family Matters