The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash
I have never seen Episodes or Smash, so I can't comment on their quality, but I do watch a lot of comedies. Although I can crank through each episode in about 22 minutes, I am still surprised by the number of comedies that I have series recordings for on my DVR. (Make that "HAD series recordings for on my DVR" as Comcast erased my DVR on 12/12/12. The Dude was also hosed by Comcast on the 12th.)
There are the new comedies that I am still auditioning: Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project. I had no expectations for Ben and Kate and have been pleasantly surprised by that program. On the other hand, I had high expectations for The Mindy Project because I think Mindy Kaling is hilarious and brilliant. That show is still finding its footing, but I have confidence in Kaling sorting it out. The Office and Parks and Recreation both had rough starts and ended up being the funniest shows on TV by their second seasons.
There are the shows that are wrapping up this year: 30 Rock and The Office. 30 Rock is still capable of making me laugh like crazy. I thought Liz Lemon's wedding a couple of weeks ago was hysterical. (It doesn't hurt that Tina Fey's television husband is played by James Marsden. I had a ginormous crush on him in my teens. I taped two photos of him ripped from teen magazines inside a linen closet in my childhood bedroom. Photos inside a closet seemed a bit more discreet than the large Kathy Ireland poster The Dude had on his bedroom wall.) Anyhow, any episode where Tina Fey declares, "Liz Lemon is getting married in a sweatshirt, no bra!" has my seal of approval. And the return of Dennis "Dummy" Duffy always slays me. The Office is pretty awful, but I am sticking with this former favorite until it ends this spring. (Also pretty awful: Up All Night. I want so badly to love Will Arnett/Gob Bluth's latest show, but it just isn't working.)
There are the shows currently on hiatus: Community and Girls. The fans of Community are very passionate about that show. I am often impressed by the crafting of complicated story lines (such as the multiple time line episode) and I enjoy the frequent and somewhat random pop culture references in each episode, but I don't love this show. It seems a little cold to me. Girls is another show that I like but don't love-- and when it started out, I didn't even like it. As the first season progressed, I warmed up a bit to the characters on Girls. I may end up liking it even better during the second season. I think I prefer my comedies to be a little less prickly. With the exception of the Bluth Family from Arrested Development, mean or selfish characters tend to turn me off a comedy. And that is why Happy Endings juuuuust missed my top five comedies. It is very funny and I like it a lot, but the characters are a bit too mean to each other for my taste.
My list only has one show that overlaps with the Golden Globe nominees. Here are my top five TV series, comedy or musical:
The Big Bang Theory
The Middle
Modern Family
New Girl
Parks and Recreation
5. The Big Bang Theory is in my number five slot. It has been uneven this year. The Wolowitz in space story line was a dud and went on for too long, but the scene that I wrote about earlier this year in which Sheldon and Leonard discussed their problems with the aid of a chess timer was classic. Plus this is one of my parents' favorite shows and as the little mice in An American Tail know that they might be wishing on the same bright star, I know that my parents and I might be laughing at the same geek silliness on Thursday nights.
4. The Middle snuck up on me. I had no interest in watching this show because I thought Patricia Heaton was a shrew on Everybody Loves Raymond. But then my dad kept telling me that I was Sue Heck from The Middle so I had to check it out. Knowing my dad, I had no doubt that the Sue comparison was not going to be flattering. Sue is a genuine weirdo, though I contend that her hyper enthusiasm is the exact opposite of my Eeyore gloom during high school. Then this year there was an episode in which Sue was afraid to drive. I watched it knowing that my dad's theory was being validated before my eyes. Sue aside, I really enjoy this show. Patricia Heaton doesn't bother me as the mother, the janitor from Scrubs is great as the father, and all three kids are strange yet realistic. This is one of the few shows on TV that addresses financial struggles. The Hecks discuss money, or the lack thereof, frequently, and live in a house that looks like a real working class home. When you compare the sets from The Middle to those from Modern Family, there is a stark contrast. I fought this show for a few years. I refused to watch and then watched intermittently expecting to be annoyed. Now it is a favorite.
3. Modern Family gets a lot of attention from critics and viewers alike. The writing and the acting on this show are great. The entire cast, adults and children, are really talented. (Okay, they seem to have faltered when it came to replacing Lily, but one can only be so critical of a kindergartner.) I never thought I would be a fan of the former Al Bundy, but Ed O'Neill won me over on this show. Ty Burrell's Phil Dunphy is my favorite character and I especially like his relationship with his son Luke. I can't think of many representations of such a joyful parent/child relationship as the one depicted between Phil and Luke.
2. New Girl had me at Zooey Deschanel. I know a lot of people find her to be a bit much, but I like her. So I came for the Zooey but stayed for the roommates. Schmidt is the breakout character but I think Nick is also very funny and when Winston has material to work with, he's great too. When watching this week's episode I laughed the loudest I have at a show in a while when Schmidt jumped in to show Nick how to give a proper lap dance. I appreciate the support between the four roommates on this show and even though I am the least fashionable person ever, I also enjoy checking out Deschanel's/Jess Day's killer wardrobe. I was seriously coveting her aqua coat this week. (Although this show does occasionally mention money issues, I have to wonder how an unemployed school teacher ended up with a $700 Kate Spade coat. Did I mention that the characters on The Middle dress like they are actually on a tight budget?) For reasons I can not comprehend, The Dude refuses to watch this show. Need I mention that I recommended Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and Arrested Development to him? Or that I am the one who told him to crank through The Wire and Breaking Bad on DVD? When have I steered this guy wrong? What gives?
1. Parks and Recreation is crazy hilarious. Anyone who reads this blog and doesn't watch Parks and Rec needs to catch up on old episodes ASAP. You'll thank me later. As I mentioned earlier, Parks and Rec had a bumpy first season. Like The Office, its first season was maybe six episodes and they needed to calibrate the lead performance to make the show work. Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope very quickly evolved from a socially tone deaf government employee to an extremely competent, passionate, and sunny citizen of Pawnee, Indiana who loves her job, her town, and her friends. Her friends/coworkers are across the board delightful. Her boss Ron Swanson is one of the most original and entertaining characters on television. The Leslie/Ron friendship is similar to the Liz/Jack friendship on 30 Rock-- a solid and funny relationship void of any will they/won't they business. I also really enjoy Chris Pratt, formerly Bright on Everwood, as the happy simpleton Andy. And while I am singling out cast members, I have to mention that Ben Schwartz's guest appearances as Jean-Ralphio Sapperstein KILL ME. I could go on and on because the show has populated Pawnee with dozens of strange, silly, and most of all funny characters. Since I've come clean about my preference for comedies with a heart, it is no surprise that this show tops my list. Leslie would do absolutely anything for the people she cares about and her over-the-top efforts inspire great loyalty and affection from her friends.
And now I'm thinking that maybe I should swap Happy Endings in for The Big Bang Theory at number five. I'm tempted but that would require more typing and I can't possibly delete my An American Tail reference. Time to hit "Publish" and call it good.
5. The Big Bang Theory is in my number five slot. It has been uneven this year. The Wolowitz in space story line was a dud and went on for too long, but the scene that I wrote about earlier this year in which Sheldon and Leonard discussed their problems with the aid of a chess timer was classic. Plus this is one of my parents' favorite shows and as the little mice in An American Tail know that they might be wishing on the same bright star, I know that my parents and I might be laughing at the same geek silliness on Thursday nights.
4. The Middle snuck up on me. I had no interest in watching this show because I thought Patricia Heaton was a shrew on Everybody Loves Raymond. But then my dad kept telling me that I was Sue Heck from The Middle so I had to check it out. Knowing my dad, I had no doubt that the Sue comparison was not going to be flattering. Sue is a genuine weirdo, though I contend that her hyper enthusiasm is the exact opposite of my Eeyore gloom during high school. Then this year there was an episode in which Sue was afraid to drive. I watched it knowing that my dad's theory was being validated before my eyes. Sue aside, I really enjoy this show. Patricia Heaton doesn't bother me as the mother, the janitor from Scrubs is great as the father, and all three kids are strange yet realistic. This is one of the few shows on TV that addresses financial struggles. The Hecks discuss money, or the lack thereof, frequently, and live in a house that looks like a real working class home. When you compare the sets from The Middle to those from Modern Family, there is a stark contrast. I fought this show for a few years. I refused to watch and then watched intermittently expecting to be annoyed. Now it is a favorite.
3. Modern Family gets a lot of attention from critics and viewers alike. The writing and the acting on this show are great. The entire cast, adults and children, are really talented. (Okay, they seem to have faltered when it came to replacing Lily, but one can only be so critical of a kindergartner.) I never thought I would be a fan of the former Al Bundy, but Ed O'Neill won me over on this show. Ty Burrell's Phil Dunphy is my favorite character and I especially like his relationship with his son Luke. I can't think of many representations of such a joyful parent/child relationship as the one depicted between Phil and Luke.
2. New Girl had me at Zooey Deschanel. I know a lot of people find her to be a bit much, but I like her. So I came for the Zooey but stayed for the roommates. Schmidt is the breakout character but I think Nick is also very funny and when Winston has material to work with, he's great too. When watching this week's episode I laughed the loudest I have at a show in a while when Schmidt jumped in to show Nick how to give a proper lap dance. I appreciate the support between the four roommates on this show and even though I am the least fashionable person ever, I also enjoy checking out Deschanel's/Jess Day's killer wardrobe. I was seriously coveting her aqua coat this week. (Although this show does occasionally mention money issues, I have to wonder how an unemployed school teacher ended up with a $700 Kate Spade coat. Did I mention that the characters on The Middle dress like they are actually on a tight budget?) For reasons I can not comprehend, The Dude refuses to watch this show. Need I mention that I recommended Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and Arrested Development to him? Or that I am the one who told him to crank through The Wire and Breaking Bad on DVD? When have I steered this guy wrong? What gives?
1. Parks and Recreation is crazy hilarious. Anyone who reads this blog and doesn't watch Parks and Rec needs to catch up on old episodes ASAP. You'll thank me later. As I mentioned earlier, Parks and Rec had a bumpy first season. Like The Office, its first season was maybe six episodes and they needed to calibrate the lead performance to make the show work. Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope very quickly evolved from a socially tone deaf government employee to an extremely competent, passionate, and sunny citizen of Pawnee, Indiana who loves her job, her town, and her friends. Her friends/coworkers are across the board delightful. Her boss Ron Swanson is one of the most original and entertaining characters on television. The Leslie/Ron friendship is similar to the Liz/Jack friendship on 30 Rock-- a solid and funny relationship void of any will they/won't they business. I also really enjoy Chris Pratt, formerly Bright on Everwood, as the happy simpleton Andy. And while I am singling out cast members, I have to mention that Ben Schwartz's guest appearances as Jean-Ralphio Sapperstein KILL ME. I could go on and on because the show has populated Pawnee with dozens of strange, silly, and most of all funny characters. Since I've come clean about my preference for comedies with a heart, it is no surprise that this show tops my list. Leslie would do absolutely anything for the people she cares about and her over-the-top efforts inspire great loyalty and affection from her friends.
And now I'm thinking that maybe I should swap Happy Endings in for The Big Bang Theory at number five. I'm tempted but that would require more typing and I can't possibly delete my An American Tail reference. Time to hit "Publish" and call it good.
No comments:
Post a Comment