I remember when mum was homeless for six months and she took a chalet over the winter to live in. She had an old black and white TV on which every week she watched a British sitcom called It Aint Half Hot Mum. There were times when it was very funny. This was years after we had all followed Lucille Ball and her family.
Every Saturday at school I and a few friends had tea with a maths master who besides having a Bang & Olufsen stereo had a colour TV on which it was a must to catch the latest episode of Happy Days (admittedly it went off a bit when the kids joined the army.) Not having a TV I have never been a part of the generation that remembers Cheers or Friends but I have caught episodes here and there and want to watch Frasier up until Niles and Daphne actually become an item, after which it went rapidly downhill.
I understand the rhythm of the writing in these shows and the need to have jokes and not just funny situations though I have to say it is funny situations that are far funnier. Which is why Laurel and Hardy will never age but all these shows in a hundred years will look archaic. And the reason Laurel and Hardy are lasting is because they are the great ancient tradition of clowning with no pretence to anything else.
A show that was pure clown would go down a storm today.