Entertainment
7 Greatest Sitcoms With Less Than 5 Seasons, Ranked
From Friends to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Abbott Elementary, a great sitcom can go on for a number of seasons. Because sitcoms have complex characters and are less confined to linear storylines, they have the potential to continue for a very long time. Many of the very best sitcoms have continued for hundreds of episodes, and in that time, fans have been able to watch the characters and their relationships develop in lovely and surprising ways.
While sitcoms are known for their longevity, there are many fantastic sitcoms that did not get as many seasons. Whether this be because they were prematurely cancelled or they ended at an intentional stopping point, there are quite a few hidden gems of sitcoms that only went on for four seasons or fewer. These are the best sitcoms that are under five seasons, ranked.
7
‘Crashing’ (2016)
Crashing follows a group consisting of some friends and some strangers who are all serving as property guardians in an abandoned hospital. The living space is not in the best condition, and they could be suddenly forced to move out at any time, but they get to live there for free. The series kicks off when two new people move in and shake up the existing dynamic of the hospital, creating messy love triangles and hilarious disagreements.
Crashing sadly only got one season, but its six-episode run was truly something special. Over the course of the series, engaged couple Anthony (Damien Molony) and Kate (Louise Ford) adjust to the arrival of Anthony’s chaotic childhood best friend, Lulu (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Meanwhile, the rest of the property guardians deal with quite a bit of drama of their own. Sam (Jonathan Bailey) and Fred (Amit Shah) strike up an unlikely close friendship, and Melody (Julie Dray) convinces Kate’s coworker, Colin (Adrian Scarborough), to move into the hospital. Crashing is a truly hilarious show with excellent and unique characters, and it still makes for a great watch.
6
‘Santa Clarita Diet’ (2017–2019)
Santa Clarita Diet follows married couple Sheila (Drew Barrymore) and Joel Hammond (Timothy Olyphant), who work as a realtor duo and live in a Santa Clarita suburb with their teenage daughter, Abby (Liv Hewson). Sheila and Joel have a happy but mundane life together, until Sheila starts exhibiting some strange symptoms. When Sheila dies and comes back to life, Joel and Abby realize that she has become a zombie.
Santa Clarita Diet was sadly cancelled after just three seasons, but it is a phenomenal sitcom that perfectly blends sharp comedy with horror elements. Sheila and Joel try to keep up with their lives while also dealing with the startling realization that Sheila now has to kill and eat people in order to survive, and finding ways to help her do so without getting caught by their nosy neighbors. With each season, Santa Clarita Diet delves deeper into its creative and well-written zombie lore, and it only gets more over-the-top and wonderfully outrageous in its humor.
5
‘Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23’ (2012–2014)
Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 follows the unlikely friendship between two very different roommates living together in New York City: optimist June Colburn (Dreama Walker), It Girl/conwoman, Chloe (Krysten Ritter). Their circle is made up of Chloe’s best friend, a fictionalized and exaggerated version of James Van Der Beek, as well as James’ agent, Luther (Ray Ford), Chloe and June’s neighbors, Robin (Liza Lapira) and Eli (Michael Blaiklock), and June’s boss, Mark (Eric André).
Although Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 was cancelled after just two seasons, it is one of the funniest and most underrated sitcoms ever, with delightfully weird humor and a phenomenal ensemble of characters. The show’s two seasons see Chloe regularly concocting bizarre and over-the-top schemes, and the rest of her friends getting roped into them, even as June often tries to steer her in the other direction.
4
‘Mythic Quest’ (2020–2025)
Mythic Quest is a hilarious workplace sitcom that follows the creative team behind the wildly popular multiplayer roleplaying video game, Mythic Quest. At the center of it all is the intense partnership between the game’s creator, Ian Grimm (Rob Mac), and its lead engineer, Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao). Mythic Quest was sadly cancelled after just four seasons, but it is a sharply funny and creative sitcom that still has a satisfying ending.
Mythic Quest is wildly funny, but it also has a powerful emotional core. Each season, Mythic Quest has a departure episode that focuses on characters who aren’t otherwise a part of the show, and who have a surprising connection to the MQ team. Mythic Quest has some of the best and most inventive sitcom episodes ever, and it is also very silly and clever in its humor.
3
‘Happy Endings’ (2011–2013)
Happy Endings is a classic hangout sitcom with a hilarious twist. Jane (Eliza Coupe), Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.), Penny (Casey Wilson), Max (Adam Pally), Alex (Elisha Cuthbert), and Dave (Zachary Knighton) are an extremely tight-knit friend group. When Alex leaves Dave at the altar, though, they all suddenly have to deal with the awkwardness of two of their best friends breaking up.
The friend group at the center of Happy Endings is one of the funniest and strangest sitcom friend groups ever. They’re extremely intense, and they often don’t know how to act around outsiders. They do vicious and personal insult pile-ons, get into over-the-top and deeply intense prank wars with one another, and even celebrate their own made-up holidays. Happy Endings is such a fun and silly show, and although it just got three seasons, it is still the perfect watch.
2
‘Galavant’ (2015–2016)
Galavant is a fairytale-sitcom hybrid that tells the story of a once-successful knight named Galavant (Joshua Sasse). Ever since Galavant’s true love, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), left him for the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson), he has been an emotional wreck. When the determined Princess Isabella (Karen David) asks him for help saving her kingdom from Richard, Galavant still refuses, until she tells him that Madalena still loves him.
Of course, the whole thing is a trap designed by Richard to lure an unsuspecting Galavant to his death, but that doesn’t stop Galavant from questing right into it – alongside his trusty squire, Sid (Luke Youngblood). Galavant is an epic, hilarious fantasy series that balances silly musical numbers with exciting tales of adventure. Galavant was prematurely cancelled after only two seasons, but it is a phenomenal series with two very different but equally fantastic installments, and an excellent ensemble cast made up of unique and complex characters.
1
‘The Good Place’ (2016–2020)
The Good Place follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), a selfish woman who has just died in an embarrassing shopping cart crash. As soon as she dies, Eleanor is sent to the Good Place, but she soon realizes that she’s been brought there by mistake. When Eleanor’s misdeeds start causing grave problems for her Good Place neighborhood, she turns to her mistakenly-assigned soulmate, a former ethics and moral philosophy professor named Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), to teach her how to become a good person.
Whereas most shorter sitcoms were prematurely cancelled, series creator Michael Schur chose to cap The Good Place at four seasons, and it’s the perfect length for the series. The Good Place tells a story that perfectly fits into four very different seasons that see the main characters growing, changing, and becoming better versions of themselves. The series is packed with shocking plot twists, intense cliffhangers, and it has some of the best and most creative concept episodes.
The Good Place
- Release Date
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2016 – 2020
- Directors
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Dean Holland, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Morgan Sackett, Michael Schur, Jude Weng, Trent O’Donnell, Rebecca Asher, Linda Mendoza, Claire Scanlon, Ken Whittingham, Kristen Bell, Michael McDonald, Tristram Shapeero, Tucker Gates, Alan Yang, Julie Anne Robinson, Lynn Shelton