TELEVISION | SITCOMS | NEW YORK CITY

The 30 Most Iconic Sitcoms Set in NYC

Here is a list of TV’s comedies that take place in the boroughs of New York City

Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash

I recently published a listicle entitled 50 Iconic TV Shows Set in Every State in the U.S. in which I was able to find at least one television show set in every single U.S. state.

I wasn’t sure it could be done when I started, but I ended up easily accomplishing the task with some states having multiple good choices.

New York had more television shows than any other state I explored. Most of those shows were set in New York City.

I limited the shows for this list to comedies and the setting to New York City, but still, this list could easily be twice as long as it is. Pairing it down to just thirty was actually tough.

Here are what I think are the thirty most iconic sitcoms set in New York City. I have listed them by the year the show first aired.

1. I Love Lucy (1951-1957)

There has never been somebody quite like Lucille Ball. Her antics, from her onscreen hijinks to her physical comedy, have never been matched.

In the show I love Lucy, Ball played Lucy Ricardo, who, together with her friends Fred and Ethel Mertz, was a constant headache for her high-strung bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo, played by Desi Arnaz.

Lucy and Ricky’s apartment building was in Manhattan on the Upper East Side.

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2. The Honeymooners (1955–1956)

The Honeymooners is so well known and iconic, it is hard to believe that it only ran for one season. They did film 39 episodes, however.

Ralph and Alice Kramden and their best friends, Ed and Trixie Norton lived in the same apartment building in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York.

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3. Car 54, Where Are You? (1961–1963)

Airing on NBC from 1961 to 1963, Car 54, Where Are You? was set and mostly filmed in New York City. Two dimwitted and mismatched police officers hilariously patrolled the Bronx and its surrounding boroughs in this memorable sitcom.

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4. The Odd Couple (1970–1975)

The Odd Couple was a television adaption of the Neil Simon Broadway play and the 1968 movie of the same name.

Felix Unger (Tony Randall), a fussy clean freak, and Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman), a sloppy sportswriter, share a Manhattan apartment. They couldn’t have been more mismatched.

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5. All in the Family (1971–1979)

Archie Bunker lived with his wife Edith in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York in All in the Family.

The ground-breaking comedy focused on the mostly bigoted, racist, and chauvinistic Archie Bunker who sometimes showed a softer side, and grew as the series progressed.

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6. Rhoda (1974–1978)

A spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda follows the spunky Rhoda Morgenstern who has left her best friend in Minneapolis to return to her home of New York City.

Rhoda lived in Manhattan, but she visited her family often in the Bronx.

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7. Barney Miller (1975–1982)

This critically acclaimed comedy took place in small, dingy police department in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Captain Barney Miller (Hal Linden) was surrounded by a quirky squad of detectives navigating bureaucratic nightmares, a diverse community, and some eccentric arrestees.

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8. The Jeffersons (1975–1985)

Former neighbors of Archie Bunker, The Jefferson was a successful spin-off of All in the Family. When George Jefferson’s chain of dry cleaners makes him wealthy, he and wife Weezy “move on up to the east side…to a deluxe apartment in the sky.”

The popular sitcom was set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City.

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9. Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1985)

In the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, impoverished brothers Arnold and Willis Jackson who are adopted by a wealthy widower, Phillip Drummond.

In this rags-to riches sitcom, the boys move from their home in Harlem to an apartment on Park Avenue in New York City.

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10. Taxi (1978–1983)

The sitcom Taxi aired for five seasons beginning in 1978. The first four seasons were on ABC, and the final season was aired on NBC.

The show followed the antics of a group of cabbies working for the Sunshine Cab Company in the Manhattan borough of New York City. This sitcom helped elevate the careers of Judd Hirsh, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd, and Danny DeVito.

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11. The Cosby Show (1984–1992)

The Cosby family lived in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, New York City.

The wholesome show was about an African American family led by a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a lawyer living the American dream.

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12. Night Court (1984–1992)

The unconventional Judge Harry T. Stone played by Harry Anderson presided over the night shift of a municipal court in Manhattan, New York.

Richard Moll, Markie Post, Selma Diamond, Charlie Robinson, and John Larroquette also starred in the popular sitcom.

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13. Kate & Allie (1984–1989)

Kate & Allie was a sitcom about two divorced friends who share a brownstone in New York City to raise their three children together.

The show was set in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York.

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14. Seinfeld (1989–1998)

Seinfeld was the show I chose to represent New York in my original article.

I went with Seinfeld in that article as the most iconic because of its long run, the popularity it had throughout its run, and the fact that so many of the episodes revolved around actual iconic locations in New York City.

In this award-winning series about nothing ran for most of the 90s on NBC, Jerry’s apartment was located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

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15. Mad About You (1992–1999)

Mad About You was about the young, childless couple, Jamie and Paul Buchman, played by Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser. They lived in an apartment with their dog Murray in Greenwich Village in New York City.

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16. The Nanny (1993–1999)

Queens native Fran Fine (Fran Drescher), loud but lovable, tries to sell cosmetics at the Sheffield household but ends up as the nanny for the wealthy family living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

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17. Friends (1994–2004)

One of the most iconic and popular shows ever set in New York City was NBC’s Friends which ran for ten years from 1994 to 2004.

Somehow, the group of friends with various jobs could all afford apartments in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The show would catapult Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer to stardom.

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18. Caroline in the City (1995–1999)

Of course, the city in Caroline in the City is New York City.

The sitcom followed Caroline Duffy (Lea Thompson) who was a successful cartoonist working from home in her Manhattan apartment. Caroline tried to navigate meddling friends and a sporadic love life as she worked on her semi-autobiographical syndicated cartoon strip.

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19. NewsRadio (1995–1999)

This clever show was set at the fictional WNYX all-news radio station on Madison Avenue in New York City.

The show had a star-studded cast.

Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Joe Rogan, Andy Dick, Maura Tierney, Vicki Lewis, and Phil Hartman all made this newsroom sitcom comedic gold. After Hartman passed away, the show brought on his fellow SNL castmate Jon Lovitz to take his place.

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20. Spin City (1996–2000)

While Michael J. Fox was on the show, not only was it set in New York City, but it was also largely filmed there.

In this clever political comedy, Fox was Mike Flaherty, the brainy deputy mayor to the well-meaning but dimwitted mayor of New York City, Randall Winston, played by Barry Bostwick. Bostwick might have held the top position, but it was Flaherty who ran the show.

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21. Sex and the City (1998–2004)

Sex and the City was an HBO comedy about four women living and working in New York City. It starred Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York, and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes.

The hit comedy-drama ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2004, broadcasting 94 episodes on the cable channel.

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22. Will & Grace (1998–2006, 2017–2020)

The original run of Will & Grace was eight seasons from 1998 to 2006. It was later brought back by NBC for three more seasons starting in 2017.

On the show set in New York City, Will Truman, a gay lawyer played by Eric McCormack, and Grace Adler, a straight interior designer played by Debra Messing, are best friends and roommates.

One of the first prime time show with a lead character who was gay, Will & Grace was groundbreaking for NBC. During its run, it won 18 Primetime Emmy Awards. It was an important enough show that the Smithsonian Institution wanted its set.

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23. The King of Queens (1998–2007)

The King of Queens is a sitcom about delivery driver Doug Heffernan and his wife Carrie, a Manhattan legal secretary.

As the title suggest, the live in the New York City Burrough of Queens with Carrie’s eccentric windowed father.

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24. Everybody Hates Chris (2005–2009)

Everybody Hates Chris debuted on UPN in 2005 before moving to the CW in 2007.

Narrated by comedian Chris Rock, Everybody Hates Chris is about Rock’s childhood experiences growing up in Brooklyn, New York. Young Chris must navigate a financially strained household, racism, and bullying.

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25. How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014)

How I Met Your Mother premiered on the CBS in 2005 and ran for nine seasons. The hit sitcom followed a group of friends living in Manhattan, and hanging out at a local New York City bar, MacLaren’s Pub.

The title of the show referenced a story that character Ted Mosby was telling his children that lasted the run of the show about how he met their mother.

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26. 30 Rock (2006–2013)

In 30 Rock, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) was the head writer of a fictional New York City sketch comedy show called TGS. But she also had to pacify corporate network executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).

The title comes from the address of the primary setting of the show, the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan.

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27. Ugly Betty (2006–2010)

Ugly Betty ran on ABC from 2006 until 2010.

The show was a comedy/workplace drama that followed Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), an ambitious woman from Queens who commutes to Manhattan for work. Her surprising job, considering Betty isn’t exactly known for her fashion sense, was as the editor of the fashion magazine Mode.

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28. Mad Men (2007–2015)

Although more of a drama than a comedy, Mad Men has been called a dramedy. The show was primarily set in New York City during the 1960s. It focused on the advertising industry along Madison Avenue.

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29. 2 Broke Girls (2011–2013)

2 Broke Girls was a sitcom about roommates Max Black and Caroline Channing who work together at the Williamsburg Diner in Brooklyn.

The girls are from two different worlds. Max Black was sarcastic and streetwise, and Caroline Channing was from a wealthy Manhattan family. Perhaps the oddest part of the show was the girls housing a horse in their Brooklyn apartment.

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30. The Michael J. Fox Show (2013–2014)

This charming and clever show only ran for one season on NBC.

Paralleling Michael J. Fox’s actual life, Fox played Mike Henry, a popular local celebrity anchor from New York City. He went off the air after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

After driving his family crazy at home for four years, he decided to return to work at the newsroom. The show had many famous guest stars including Brooke Shields, Sting, and, of course, Christopher Lloyd.

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Source

Of course, this list about sitcoms set in New York City could have been twice this length, four times if I expanded it beyond comedies.

What were your favorite comedies or shows set in New York City? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading!

If you like my listicles, you can find the complete list of them here, organized by subject: The Unabridged List of All of my Listicles

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