Change of pace considering Oscar talk is never coming back, what was the all-time best lineup of nominees for the Emmy for Best Comedy Series? Not just by quality of show but quality of season. I'm going to cut myself off before 1995 because I just haven't seen that many series beforehand but I would imagine that 1973 (*All in the Family*, M*A*S*H*, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, and Sandford and Sons), 1979 (*Taxi*, All in the Family, Barney Miller, M*A*S*H*, Mork & Mindy), or something else of that era might qualify.
Increasingly, I'm realizing that my sweet spot for viewership was truly when Arrested Development first launched through NBC's strongest recent series The Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, and Community. There are lots of gems in between those runs but those are the most meaningful runs of television for me where I truly felt connected to a zeitgeist. Unfortunately, those years coincided with The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men getting nominated four and three times. Maybe a perfect lineup isn't possible. Anyway, these are the ones I submit as most good.
Incidentally, I just realized that Bruce Fretts passed away this summer. I used to enjoy his Emmy predictions for Entertainment Weekly and how much he railed against 3rd Rock From the Sun.
MY CONTENDERS:
1995: Frasier (season 2), Friends (season 1), The Larry Sanders Show (season 3), Mad About You (season 3; not a very good show but season 3 and season 4 were ok), Seinfeld (season 6)
1996: Frasier (season 3), Friends (season 2), The Larry Sanders Show (season 4), Mad About You (season 4; not a very good show but season 3 and season 4 were ok), Seinfeld (season 7)
2004: Arrested Development (season 1), Curb Your Enthusiasm (season 4), Everybody Loves Raymond (season
, Sex and the City (season 6), Will & Grace (season 6)
2006: The Office (season 2), Arrested Development (season 3), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs (season 5), Two and a Half Men (this is where it gets difficult... this show always keeps popping up)
2007: 30 Rock (season 1), Entourage (the tolerable Medellín season), The Office (season 3), Two and a Half Men (rrr), Ugly Betty
And now the roster expands and it just becomes more difficult. Everyone complains about the Oscars but this is goddamn ridiculous! If only they were paired down to five.
2018: Marvelous Ms. Maisel (season 1), Atlanta (season 2), Barry (season 1), Black-ish (season 4), Curb Your Enthusiasm (season 9), GLOW (season 1), Silicon Valley (season 5), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (season 4)
2019: Fleabag (season 2), Barry (season 2), The Good Place (season 3), The Marvelous Ms. Maisel (season 2), Russian Doll (season 1), Schitt's Creek (season 5), Veep (season 7)
If I had to submit my PERSONAL FAVORITE of these, I would scratch my head and reconcile the goodness of Frasier and the fineness of Mad About You. Gun to my head and I would pick 1996 because season 3 of Frasier is totally good (Niles' separation was strong), Friends stopped becoming the quirky, kvetchy Seinfeld hang-out in Season 2 (which tbh I really enjoyed) and really became the show it was going to be for the next ten years, The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld's amazing and amazingly dark season 7, and possibly the best season of Mad About You that was going to emerge. Replace it with Newsradio and there it is. The best lineup ever.
If 2004 replaced Two and a Half Men or that average season of Will & Grace with Scrubs season 4, or Malcolm in the Middle, or the final season of Frasier, and that might be a contender. Or if 2006 replaced Two and a Half Men with My Name is Earl. Or if 2007 replaced Two and a Half Men or Entourage (admittedly, it's best season) with The Comeback. Then they might get my vote.
But I guess you could also make the case for 2019 just based on the sheer quality of the programming.