Five Great Sitcoms You Can Catch Up On Easily
With the absurd amount of excellent new television coming every year, largely thanks to the plethora of new channels and streaming services, it can be tough to want to take a chance on a new show. Yet if you sit on something too long it can be multiple seasons in and have hours and hours worth of episodes to watch before you begin to pay attention, making catching up an exhausting prospect. I thought I would write a list of five excellent sitcoms which have all premiered in the past few months and are either still on or have finished their first seasons, to help people get in on the ground floor of shows they may really enjoy. All of these currently have between 10 and 14 episodes — you could knock most of them out in a long evening — and are all quite different from each other, so any comedy fan should be able to appreciate at least one of them.
You can also check out my top 50 shows of 2017 list for more great TV from recent times.
Atlanta: Donald Glover is currently set to dominate the globe with his casting as young Lando Calrissian and CGI Simba, but this comedy-drama — in which he serves as creator, star, showrunner, and frequent director — is by far his most exciting project. Centring around a near-destitute Ivy League dropout who manages his cousin’s aspiring rap career, Atlanta has a great sense of place and strongly-developed characters, but it never forgets for a second that it’s a comedy above all, mixing absurdism and dry wit perfectly. Glover is an excellent straight man, while Brian Tyree Henry gives one of the best performances of recent times as rap artist Paper Boi — no-one can roll their eyes like this dude can.
Ten 22-minute episodes, like a four-hour commitment.
The Good Place: The co-creator of some of the funniest shows of the past few years, Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), decided to go high-concept for his first show as solo creator, even contacting Damon Lindelof of LOST fame for advice on what pitfalls to avoid for his show about a woman sent to — essentially — heaven, despite being clearly undeserving. The story throughout the season is killer, ending with a mind-blowingly good finale, while all the characters, from Kristen Bell’s “medium person” Eleanor to philosophy professor Chidi and celestial guide Janet, are hilariously-written and impeccably-performed. But perhaps most of all, by the time the season is over you will remember exactly why Ted Danson is a legend.
Thirteen 22-minute episodes, say five hours or so.
Santa Clarita Diet: One of the grossest, funniest shows of this short year so far, Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet features Drew Barrymore in her first major TV role in over 20 years as a ‘mombie’, gaining an unbearable taste for live human flesh that her family attempt to support as best they can. While this isn’t the first show to mix domestic comedy with gore elements, it does it about as well as anything I’ve ever seen, with the central couple’s squabbles highly entertaining. Barrymore is great, putting in a surprisingly low-key performance that still works, but the real stars are Timothy Olyphant playing against type beautifully as the husband and Liv Hewson as the couple’s wry teenage daughter.
Ten 30-minute episodes, around five hours, available on Netflix.
Search Party: Airing as a miniseries over five nights during Thanksgiving week in America, Search Party was largely ignored by wider audiences, but those who gave it a chance found one of the most fascinating dark comedies on TV in some time. Starring Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat as Dory, an unfulfilled woman who discovers that a very old friend is missing and takes it upon herself to find her, the series initially had mild issues mixing the mystery and comedic elements, with early episodes only being good at one or the other, but by the second half had blended them perfectly, with an enigmatic, off-kilter tone and super funny dialogue and performances, especially by John Early and Meredith Hagner as Dory’s best friends Elliott and Portia.
Ten 22-minute episodes, four hours but insanely easy to watch in one go.
Speechless: The most traditional family sitcom on the list, Speechless is based around creator Scott Silveri’s childhood memories of growing up with a sibling with cerebral palsy. Despite largely being about disability, the show is never saccharine or preachy — said handicapped character, eldest son JJ, refuses to be an inspirational figure, and has the most biting sense of humour in his family. Despite the cast being stacked with talent such as Minnie Driver and Cedric Yarborough, the real standout performances come from the child actors, especially Kyla Kenedy as daughter Dylan. This is also probably the most laugh-out-show on the list, delivering a fantastic amount of sharp, character-based dialogue each episode.
Fourteen 22-minute episodes (of a planned 22), about six hours, watch it during dinnertimes.
And if these still aren’t enough for you, try Zach Galifanakis’ sad clown dramedy Baskets, Pamela Adlon’s autobiographical Better Things, British sex-comedy-meets-human-drama Fleabag, Maria Bamford’s sunny and psychotic Lady Dynamite, or Dr Cox fighting witches in Stan Against Evil.
