As some of you may have noticed, I’m a fan of television. I think that as a medium, its development over the past decade has put it far ahead of movies in terms of the quality of entertainment it provides. Nowhere is this disparity more evident than in the realm of comedy. The strength of television comedy is at an incredibly high level right now. The gradual abandonment of the laugh track, a move toward single-camera shows, and the proliferation of non-network sources have all been instrumental in forming the state of television comedy today.
As the traditional TV season begins again, I thought I’d do a brief run-down on returning shows that I think are the best of the genre. Strictly speaking, some of these shows are not “returning” as they have recently finished their runs, but since they have all been renewed for another season I think there’s no problem including them. Regardless, with the vast amount of content available, I thought it would be a good idea to catalogue my favourites, as well as point viewers toward shows that need support.
5. Archer (FX; begins September 15th)
I mentioned the proliferation of non-network sources as a reason for TV comedy’s increase in quality, and
Archer might be the best example of this. A show this gloriously unhinged could not exist on network television, and even on FX it encounters some censorship (for example, a scene involving a baby being used as a projectile had to be reworked). While it’s not the most risqué animated comedy to ever air on American television, it probably comes close.
Created by Adam Reed (creator of Adult Swim’s
Sealab 2021 and
Frisky Dingo)
Archer follows the adventures of the eponymous character, a secret agent at the spy agency ISIS, as well as those of his fellow co-workers. It’s a pastiche of spy satire and office humour that meshes surprisingly well; sort of a more grounded version of the recent
OSS 117 film series. The show embraces the Adult Swim aesthetic of rapid-fire jokes and non-sequiturs and applies it to a longer 22-minute run-time, and the results are interesting, to say the least. While I sometimes think the show might work better in an 11-minute format, some attempts at serialization in season 2, and its forthcoming 3-episode arc in September (which is hilarious, apparently; the show then resumes in January) have convinced me that it earns its runtime.
In particular, the show uses its extended length to better flesh out its characters, with an interest and continuity atypical of most animated sitcoms. It would be misleading to call
Archer a sentimental show, but it does treat its characters as more than just joke machines, and for the most part avoids the easy route of Flanderizing its characters. Bizarrely, it’s also the only comedy I can think of currently on the air that has a majority female main cast. However, the real appeal of Archer is that it’s just plain
funny. Jokes come quick, and with great variety.
Archer relies as heavily on its office setting as it does its heroes' adventures, filtering the activities of a super-spy through various office mundanities. Furthermore, the voice-work of H. Jon Benjamin in the lead role is phenomenal, and the show features a deep bench of vocal talent (including Jessica Walters, Judy Greer, and Aisha Tyler). The cast is able to pull jokes out of simple dialogue unlike anything else I’ve ever seen; Tyler in particular is effective at mining single syllables for gold.
While the show faced some hurdles in its first season, like almost all comedies do, it really settled down in the second season, and was consistently hilarious. If it can continue its streak, it will be another hilarious season (with an extended order of 16 episodes!). In particular, I’d recommend it to fans of
Arrested Development; not only does the show feature some of the other’s alums (Greer and Walters primarily, and Jeffrey Tambor has some guest spots;
Edit: and as of season 3's premiere, David Cross is in on the action too), but it’s also probably its most direct successor in terms of structure (and hilarity). It’s great stuff, and certainly one of the funniest shows on television.
Essential episodes: “Stage 2,” “Placebo Effect,” “El Secuestro”
Topic: The 5 Best Comedies (Currently) on TV (Read 5662 times)
