The Honeymooners

Poor bus driver Ralph (Gleason), he's got all these little guy dreams in a big guy world. But no matter how many times his big dreams fail, he's ready to try again. Good thing he's got his Alice (Meadows). She's the sensible bedrock holding things together, even in that dumpy little flat where nothing is put between us and the characters of this classic comedy series. In fact, her deadpan face-offs with a bellowing Ralph are real hoots. But she better be a rock because "sanitation engineer" and upstairs neighbor Norton (Carney) falls for every one of Ralph's cockamamie schemes. It doesn't matter how loony they are, good old Ed will go along, a real buddy. Together, the two of them get a ton of laughs out of the kind of unlovely jobs that hold us all together. And shouldn't overlook Trixie (Randolph). She's there to support Alice and keep Ed from spiraling off with Ralph. Maybe there's not many laughs from Trixie, but there is a lot of good solid support. No doubt, it may be the men we laugh at, but it's the women we respect. And if there was ever better chemistry, more underlying pathos, or more laughs in a comedy series of any decade, I haven't seen it. A genuine blue-collar classic from an unlikely white-collar decade.