I liked the first three seasons of the Big Bang Theory. It wasn't the greatest thing ever, but I found the interactions between the four friends fun, and the "geek" humor was, while hit & miss, much better than it became later. But as the show grew mor popular the writing declined terribly. The characters became some generic, bland copies of the group from the early days. Eventually it became downright unwatchable.

And I never liked Friends. I have no idea what made that show into such a phenomenon. It's just a generic sitcom, not horrible, but not special in any way. I never saw much of a reason to watch it beyond "there's nothing better on right now and I feel really lazy".

Big Lake.. was.. something.

BEST: Married With Children / Seinfeld/ Arrested Development

For me, I particularly love those 3 series because what they have in common is showing a dysfunctional group of mean people like a distortion of a family/acquaintances reunion. Their mediocrity and selfishness is somehow relatable when they're not outright lunatics :o)

WORST: Big Bang Theory

I hate nerd humor and culture, I hate the characters as they're just a bunch of weak males that I want to beat up angrily to man them up (well, that's also what I think IRL but I would end up in prison ^o^) . Actually, it's interesting to see the downward spiral live sitcoms have taken since Friends as they became more and more bland with standard and harmless humor. A good example is How I Met Your Mother which could have been great but is so sugar-coated that every jokes and situations are defused. No wonder I prefer watching reality shows nowadays just to see awful people, it's more entertaing than some G-rated sitcom.

^ reality tv is just as bland scripted and unfunny
its the safest way to make tv

follow a couple of disgusting rancid annoying retards through their disgusting lives and then edit it so its somewhat coherent
instant show and ratings hit

I have fond memories of Friends and Prince of Bel Air, although I'm sure if I watched them now I'd find them naive and/or not that funny anymore. Which is why I'll probably never watch an entire episode ever again.

That said, some moments will never get old for me. ^^

Best - Cheers
Worst - Just about any sitcom since.

Really? I'm a physicist too. Granted I haven't started my Masters yet. I have seen my fair share of douchebags, even a couple of weirdos, but no cliched nerds or autistic persons.

Sure, Sheldon is exaggerated. But lots of physicists are a bit weird. And enjoy being a bit weird or eccentric. And yes, there are quite some autistic persons (to varying degrees and mostly Asperger's) in science. Especially in theoretical physics and maths. You'll meet some of them too. Once you start working on bigger projects, where all participants have to cooperate to a certain degree, you will also get to know those colleagues who normally prefer to keep to themselves.

what is a sitcom?

Best: –
Worst: all of them

That's the name of the monster under your bed.

The old way to keep him from eating you is to lock yourself in your closet and never enter this forum again. :D

Worst - Family Guy

Best - All In The Family

I don't doubt they may exist in scientific professions, I dispute that it may be the norm in the way they portray it, in fact I'd say it's pretty rare, considering I never found one.

Maybe it's a bit of a cultural thing. Here in Brazil everyone seemed to be friendly and outgoing. I also spent a year doing research in Japan, you'd think I would have found plenty of people bringing their body pillows to work and other shenanigans, but no, they were certainly more shy but none of them were awkward.

^this!

BBT kind of turned into friends when the girlfriends turned up, it was good early on.

I generally agree with you. I especially cannot stand those "laughing" effects that constantly repeated every few seconds. However, occasionally one come across some sitcoms that are not so bad (at least some of their episodes not so bad at all), like Married with Children or Seinfeld.