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Arielle Port
Published 48 minutes ago
Arielle Port started as a TV producer, developing content for Netflix (Firefly Lane, Brazen) and Hallmark (The Santa Stakeout, A Christmas Treasure) before transitioning into entertainment journalism. Her love of story went from interest to lifelong passion while at The University of Pennsylvania, where she fell in with a student-run web series, Classless TV, and it was a gateway drug. Arielle Port has been a Writer for Screen Rant since August 2024. She lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and more importantly, her cat, Boseman.
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Tim Allen is back on ABC in Shifting Gears, now in its second season. Shifting Gears season 1 was divisive — audiences loved Allen, but critics didn’t find much originality or creativity in the premise or execution. In Shifting Gears, Allen’s recently widowed character Matt struggles to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Kat Dennings) when she moves back home.
While Allen’s TV persona is enough to draw in some viewers, there are undeniably better shows. From the Conners and the Bunkers, to the Bankses and the Dunphys, here are 10 family-based sitcoms better than Shifting Gears, including some of the best sitcom episodes of all time that bring fresher perspectives or more heartfelt laughs to the sitcom landscape.
Home Economics (ABC, 2021-2023)
The Hayworths
Home Economics enters its story with a similar hook to Shifting Gears: a fractured family pulled back together when a family member’s life unravels after a divorce. But while Home Economics never quite found a large audience, it delivered a warmer, more emotionally open take on reconciliation — closer in tone to Modern Family than to Tim Allen’s guarded Matt Park.
The show’s built-in narration allowed it to underline themes, lessons, and insecurities with gentle humor. Its central conceit — three siblings living in dramatically different socio-economic brackets—gave it a fresh, contemporary angle. Home Economics fixed Modern Family's uncomfortable racial humor while exploring wealth disparity with a breezy lightness that few network sitcoms have managed.
The Brady Bunch (ABC, 1969-1974)
The Bradys
The cast of The Brady Bunch
The Bradys were one of television’s earliest examples of a full-fledged family sitcom, arriving in an era when TV was far more limited in what it could openly portray. Even within those constraints, The Brady Bunch carved out a warm, funny space by embracing the chaos and charm of a newly blended household.
With six kids in the Brady Bunch cast under one roof — each with distinct personalities, loyalties, and quirks — the show had a built-in engine for both conflict and connection. Its wholesome tone never dulled its humor, and its earnestness helped establish the blueprint for countless family sitcoms that followed.
Roseanne (ABC, 1988-1997)
The Conners
Roseanne and Dan with Darlene in Roseanne looking at a laptop screen
Roseanne holds a significant place in TV history because it confronted American working-class life with honesty, rough edges, and sharp humor. Roseanne grounded its stories in the financial stress, small-town routines, and emotional messiness of a modest, rural household. Its characters weren’t aspirational — they were relatable, often juggling multiple jobs, overdue bills, and imperfect relationships.
The follow-up series The Conners proved the durability of the show’s premise: audiences still crave stories that reflect the humor, resilience, and everyday struggles of real working families. In portraying that world without sugarcoating, Roseanne reshaped what a family sitcom could be.
All In The Family (CBS, 1971-1979)
The Bunkers
Archie Bunker is, in many ways, the prototype for the kind of character Tim Allen often plays — a bit conservative, a bit old-fashioned, and frequently bewildered by a world moving faster than he’d like. The difference, of course, is that Archie was intentionally larger-than-life, an exaggerated figure designed to spark conversation rather than be taken literally.
All in the Family used him to challenge audiences, exposing generational divides and cultural tensions through sharp, uncomfortable, and often hilarious storytelling. The show redefined what sitcoms could tackle and launched a universe of influential All in the Family spinoffs, including Maude, The Jeffersons, and Gloria. Without Archie’s bluster and the show’s groundbreaking willingness to push boundaries, modern family sitcoms would look very different.
Fresh Off The Boat (ABC, 2015-2020)
The Huangs
A family hanging out at a restaurant in Fresh Off The Boat
Fresh Off the Boat arrived during a strong run of family sitcoms for ABC — Black-ish had debuted just a year earlier — but it carved out its own identity with a perspective TV hadn’t seen before. The show was set in '90s Florida and seen through the eyes of Eddie Huang, a Taiwanese-American kid dropped into a mostly white suburb.
The sitcom blended period nostalgia with a cultural viewpoint rarely centered on network television. What made Fresh Off the Boat so compelling was its ability to celebrate differences without turning them into barriers. The comedy wasn’t about whether viewers had lived the exact same experiences; it was about the universal chaos of family life.
In showing how cultural quirks coexist with familiar frustrations — strict parents, embarrassing siblings, impossible school crushes — Fresh Off The Boat proved that humor thrives not despite specificity, but because of it.
Black-ish (ABC, 2014-2022)
The Johnsons
Black-ish continued the legacy established by The Cosby Show in depicting an upper-middle-class Black family, but Kenya Barris pushed the format into far more pointed, contemporary territory. Its brilliance lay in its balance: episodes were hysterically funny while also delivering sharp cultural commentary, often educating viewers without ever feeling preachy.
Black-ish wasn’t just about representation — it was an ongoing conversation about what it means to be Black in a predominantly white neighborhood, how mixed-race identity is shaped by environment, and how modern social issues filter into everyday family life. The show’s success and emotional resonance were so strong that it spawned two spin-offs: Grown-ish and Mixed-ish.
The series’s cultural relevance grew over its eight seasons, which led to many incredible Black-ish guest stars and cameos, including a memorable appearance by Michelle Obama.
The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (NBC, 1990-1996)
The Bankses
Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv, and Will in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remains one of the most iconic family sitcoms of the ’90s, blending sharp humor with heartfelt storytelling in a way few shows have matched. Its premise — a street-smart teen from West Philadelphia moving in with his wealthy relatives in Bel-Air — created an immediate contrast that fueled both comedy and character growth.
Will Smith’s magnetic performance anchored the series, but the show’s real strength was the Banks family, who provided structure, conflict, and warmth in equal measure. While undeniably funny, Fresh Prince also tackled serious themes such as class divides, racial profiling, and fatherhood, becoming a rare sitcom that could shift seamlessly from slapstick to emotionally gut-wrenching.
Schitt’s Creek (CBC, 2015-2020)
The Roses
Moira, Alexis, and David in Schitt's CreekCBC
Schitt’s Creek shares clear DNA with Arrested Development: both follow wealthy families forced to confront their own dysfunction after losing everything. But where Arrested Development leaned into cynicism, Schitt’s Creek transformed its eccentricity into something profoundly warm, helping it become far more universally beloved.
Over time, the Rose family’s idiosyncrasies became sources of genuine connection, and Moira’s theatrical absurdity makes her one of the most memorable female sitcom characters of all time. The emotional evolution of Schitt’s Creek paid off, sweeping the 2020 Emmys in most major categories.
Schitt’s Creek is a rare perfect sitcom, a modern comfort show, the kind viewers return to endlessly, guaranteed to laugh — and feel a little better — every single time.
Full House (ABC, 1987-1995)
The Tanners
Full House stands as one of the quintessential family sitcoms, not just because of the Tanner clan but because of its embrace of found family. After Danny Tanner is left to raise three young daughters alone, “uncles” Joey and Jesse move in without hesitation, and the series treats their presence as an immediate expansion of what family can be.
Joey’s goofiness, Jesse’s swagger, and Danny’s earnestness fuse into a household built on unconditional support. That openness and heart helped the show resonate for decades — so much so that Netflix revived it as Fuller House, continuing the story with the next generation and underscoring the show’s themes of love, chaos, and family.
Modern Family (ABC, 2009-2020)
The Pritchetts & Dunphys
Modern Family stands as one of the most long-running and successful family sitcoms of its era, both critically acclaimed and a ratings powerhouse. While some elements of the show feel less “modern” today, its central strength was using the traditional nuclear family of the Dunphys as an entry point to explore a broader spectrum of family structures.
The series balanced heart and humor with remarkable skill, often delivering moments that were genuinely moving without sacrificing comedy. Its mockumentary format, complete with talking-head interviews, became a perfect vehicle for both character insight and comedic timing, helping the show feel intimate and relatable.
While there is no serious talk of a revival yet, if there is one, a Modern Family reboot has to star the next generation. Shifting Gears could take some lessons from Modern Family in balancing humor with heartfelt moments, not just relying on Tim Allen’s persona.
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