Emmy Winning Shows for Best Comedy Quiz

Answer:

First off, the shows, "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show", "The Lucy Show", "The Bob Hope Buick Show", "The Bob Cummings Show", "The Danny Thomas Show", "The Larry Sanders Show", "The George Gobel Show", "The Herb Shriner Show", "The Bill Dana Show", "The Bill Cosby Show", "The Danny Kaye Show", and "The Andy Griffith Show" never won an Emmy for Best Comedy, although they were all nominated for that award at some point.

"The Red Skelton Show" was the first show to win that comedy Emmy Award, for its debut season, it won the Primetime Emmy for Best Comedy Show. The show was nominated for Best Comedy Series again, in 1959, but it didn't win. It went on to have a two-decade-long run, ending in 1971.

"The Phil Silvers Show" which some people simply call "Sgt. Bilko" after the lead character played by Silvers, won the award three times in a row, the first show to do so. It won the 1956 Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series, the 1957 Award for Best Series - Half Hour or Less, and the 1958 Award for Best Comedy Series. It was nominated again for the 1959 Best Comedy Series Award, but it lost out to "The Jack Benny Show."

"The Jack Benny Show" lost out to "The Phil Silvers Show" in 1956, 1957, and 1958, but finally got its turn against Phil Silvers with that win in 1959. "The Jack Benny Show" was nominated again in 1960 (for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor), but lost to "The Art Carney Special". But then "The Jack Benny Show" rose up again the following year to win that award in 1961. That's 6 years in a row that the show was nominated for Best Comedy.

Now, here's a tricky one: "The Bob Newhart Show" (1962). This one needed the year attached to it because years later in the 1970's there would be another show called "The Bob Newhart Show" that would not be an Emmy Winner for Best Comedy although it did receive a nomination in 1977. But the earlier show called "The Bob Newhart Show" did win the Emmy - in 1962.

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" was nominated for Best Comedy Series four years in a row, and won each and every time: "Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor" in 1963, "Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Comedy" in 1964, "Outstanding Program Achievements in Entertainment (comedy series)" in 1965, and "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1966.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was nominated for Best Comedy Series 7 years in a row, from 1971 to 1977. It lost those first four nominations, and then won its last 3 consecutive nominations for "Outstanding Comedy Series".

Another impressive run of consecutive nominations was achieved by "Barney Miller." It received 7 consecutive nominations from 1976 to 1982. It lost all of its first 6 nominations, but finally nabbed the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1982, the last year of the series.

Now then, although there was a "The Bill Cosby Show" from 1969 to 1971 and it was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1970, it never won. The Cosby show that DID win an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series was "The Cosby Show" in 1985. It ran from 1984 to 1992, and that was its only win, although it was nominated again in 1986 and 1987.

"Murphy Brown" ran for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1998, and then was rebooted in 2018 but only lasted one season. During that long run, it was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series five years in a row in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993. It would alternate winning the award, winning the even-numbered years, and losing the odd numbered years.

"Ally McBeal" from FOX-TV was nominated in 1998 but lost, and then was nominated the following year in 1999, and won for Outstanding Comedy Series.

One of the all-time greatest comedies, "Ted Lasso" from Apple TV+ was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in each of its three seasons. It won the first two years in 2021 and 2022, but lost out in 2023.