Comedy TV Show Poll

[vcczar]

New Poll...I'm probably forgetting some shows I like. 

[vcczar]

27 minutes ago, Patine said:

'80's and '90's sitcoms, and British ones into the 2000's, are by far superior

This comment is quite baseless if you haven't watched more than two shows on this list. As we are the same age, I've seen enough of 80s and 90s sitcoms and British ones, and while the British ones might hold up, the shows I list above are almost entirely "superior" to American 80s and 90s sitcoms. A lot of these shows are quite witty and intellectual. They're mostly smart comedies, even thought they can be absurd. I beg you to watch Arrested Development, for instance. 

[Rodja]

I am more into late night comedy shows like Bill Maher or Stephen Colbert,but i love The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm.I also occasionally watch Family Guy,and enjoy it very much even though i should be too mature for that kind of humor.I am also a big SNL fan.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Rodja

[vcczar]

1 hour ago, Rodja said:

I am more into late night comedy shows like Bill Maher or Stephen Colbert,but i love The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm.I also occasionally watch Family Guy,and enjoy it very much even though i should be too mature for that kind of humor.I am also a big SNL fan.

I like John Oliver the most among late night comedy people. I don't watch them that often, however.

[MrPotatoTed]

I'll go point by point with the ones I've seen.

US Office:  I actually saw the British Office first, years before the US Office came to be.  I absolutely loved the British Office.  The US Office was a different thing entirely (after the first season or two), but I really loved the new directions they took with it as well.  I know a lot of people hated this piece, but I loved when they'd occassionally show that despite being tv show soulmates, Jim and Pam's marriage still wasn't flawless.  Marriage is hard, ya'll.   Great show.  Interesting side note:  Despite loving the British Office first, I tried to go back and watch it again after the US Office ended...and I couldn't.  Couldn't make my way through a single episode anymore.  Not sure if my tastes changed because of the US Office, or if it was simply the reality that I was a decade older now and had matured past the point of finding David Brent's cringiness to be hilarious.  Not sure.

Parks and Rec:  Perhaps one of the greatest ensemble casts of all times.  Andy and April together -- I was sure they would crumble, and instead they stayed together and were some of the best comedy in the entire show.  I thought this was a great show the first time I watched it.  And it's the only time I've ever thought Rob Lowe was a great actor.  I recently rewatched the whole series again...but this time, having now served in Government positions myself...I couldn't help but notice all of the insane ethics/integrity violations on the show:  most of which are conducted by Leslie, who is supposed to be this pure, gold-hearted individual in it for all the right reasons.  She's the top violator!  Ha.  Clearly we're not supposed to think about these real-world implications, and on my first viewing, I didn't.  But on the rewatch, it was overwhelming.    

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: I loved the first two seasons, and the theme song is a banger.  I thought this was such a fascinating premise for a comedy series -- and as I have a dark sense of humor from things that I've experienced in my life, I loved seeing that in a show (even though the character remains largely wide-eyed and naive despite her dark backstory).  But after two seasons...I just wasn't into it anymore and stopped forcing myself to watch it half way through the third.

The Good Place: What an amazingly intelligent, deep comedy.  Oh man, I already am questioning whether Parks and Rec should keep their "best ensemble cast" show or if it should go to the Good Place.  And the writing!  How do you have hilarious jokes about Socrates in the same show where one of the main characters refers to his dad lovingly as "Donkey Doug"?  I don't know -- but it works.  And the plot twists!  Man...this was just an amazing show.

Arrested Development: First couple seasons are hilarious.  I actually liked the original cut of the later season where they just focused on telling things from one character's perspective at a time, creating hilarious mysteries.  I was disappointed they caved to feedback from those who hated it and I found the re-cut version to lack all of the humor.  Final two seasons or so were disappointing.

VEEP:  As a former Federal employee who worked in Washington, I recognized a LOT of these characters (even if most of the actual plots were nonsense).  Very funny show, but I haven't seen the final season yet.  The plot after she leaves office got a little too nonsensical for me.

Community:  Man, what a weird, weird show.  But "Troy and Abed in the Moooooorning" was so freaking fun.  And I fell in love with Alison Brie, even though "Annie's pretty young.  We try not to sexualize her."

Barry:  Great premise, poorly executed.  Bill Hader plays it super strait, while all the threatening characters are hilarious incompetent.  I'd rather have seen it played more strait all around -- Hader can actually do the drama, so crank it up!  Have the villains be competent and real threats.  Keep the hilarious premise of "Hitman dreams of something more, wants to become an actor" -- that's solid comedy, but put it into the real world with real consequences if he fucks up.  (Disclaimer:  I got rid of HBO after season 2, so I haven't seen the rest yet but intend to).

Episodes:  I enjoyed the "Matt LeBlanc is not Joey" portrayal on this show, but lost interest in the plot after the first season.  Still pushed through with it to the end.

GLOW:  I already said I fell in love with Alison Brie, so naturally I was a fan of this show too.  So freaking weird, but I was into it.  This was also my first exposure to Marc Maron, who is amazing.

30 Rock:  Like most shows, the best seasons are the first few.  

Okay, I'm losing steam here.  Powering through it. Ha.

Frasier:  I didn't watch every episode, but I enjoyed the easy comedy between three very different Cranes: Successful Nerd Frasier, Failure Nerd Niles, and their Confident Blue Collar dad.

Trailer Park Boys:  My dad is such a huge fan of this show.  The only time I've ever seen him crying-laughing was while he was watching it.  But I haven't been able to get into it myself.  

Schitt's Creek:  I just recently finished watching this.  The premise starts strong and then completely unravels into a mess of a plot that makes zero sense -- but I still loved the characters.  "EWW, David!"

Reno 911: I enjoyed this when it was first on the air.  Then I bought a DVD with extended features, showing more of the improv...and seeing how the sausage was made ruined the show for me. Ha.

As for my own recommendations, I think you'd really like Bojack Horseman if you haven't yet.  Extremely intelligent, extremely deep, extremely funny.

Also I loved Kim's Convenience, about an Asian-Canadian family, which was really funny and just recently ended.

 

[vcczar]

7 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

I'll go point by point with the ones I've seen.

US Office:  I actually saw the British Office first, years before the US Office came to be.  I absolutely loved the British Office.  The US Office was a different thing entirely (after the first season or two), but I really loved the new directions they took with it as well.  I know a lot of people hated this piece, but I loved when they'd occassionally show that despite being tv show soulmates, Jim and Pam's marriage still wasn't flawless.  Marriage is hard, ya'll.   Great show.  Interesting side note:  Despite loving the British Office first, I tried to go back and watch it again after the US Office ended...and I couldn't.  Couldn't make my way through a single episode anymore.  Not sure if my tastes changed because of the US Office, or if it was simply the reality that I was a decade older now and had matured past the point of finding David Brent's cringiness to be hilarious.  Not sure.

Parks and Rec:  Perhaps one of the greatest ensemble casts of all times.  Andy and April together -- I was sure they would crumble, and instead they stayed together and were some of the best comedy in the entire show.  I thought this was a great show the first time I watched it.  And it's the only time I've ever thought Rob Lowe was a great actor.  I recently rewatched the whole series again...but this time, having now served in Government positions myself...I couldn't help but notice all of the insane ethics/integrity violations on the show:  most of which are conducted by Leslie, who is supposed to be this pure, gold-hearted individual in it for all the right reasons.  She's the top violator!  Ha.  Clearly we're not supposed to think about these real-world implications, and on my first viewing, I didn't.  But on the rewatch, it was overwhelming.    

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: I loved the first two seasons, and the theme song is a banger.  I thought this was such a fascinating premise for a comedy series -- and as I have a dark sense of humor from things that I've experienced in my life, I loved seeing that in a show (even though the character remains largely wide-eyed and naive despite her dark backstory).  But after two seasons...I just wasn't into it anymore and stopped forcing myself to watch it half way through the third.

The Good Place: What an amazingly intelligent, deep comedy.  Oh man, I already am questioning whether Parks and Rec should keep their "best ensemble cast" show or if it should go to the Good Place.  And the writing!  How do you have hilarious jokes about Socrates in the same show where one of the main characters refers to his dad lovingly as "Donkey Doug"?  I don't know -- but it works.  And the plot twists!  Man...this was just an amazing show.

Arrested Development: First couple seasons are hilarious.  I actually liked the original cut of the later season where they just focused on telling things from one character's perspective at a time, creating hilarious mysteries.  I was disappointed they caved to feedback from those who hated it and I found the re-cut version to lack all of the humor.  Final two seasons or so were disappointing.

VEEP:  As a former Federal employee who worked in Washington, I recognized a LOT of these characters (even if most of the actual plots were nonsense).  Very funny show, but I haven't seen the final season yet.  The plot after she leaves office got a little too nonsensical for me.

Community:  Man, what a weird, weird show.  But "Troy and Abed in the Moooooorning" was so freaking fun.  And I fell in love with Alison Brie, even though "Annie's pretty young.  We try not to sexualize her."

Barry:  Great premise, poorly executed.  Bill Hader plays it super strait, while all the threatening characters are hilarious incompetent.  I'd rather have seen it played more strait all around -- Hader can actually do the drama, so crank it up!  Have the villains be competent and real threats.  Keep the hilarious premise of "Hitman dreams of something more, wants to become an actor" -- that's solid comedy, but put it into the real world with real consequences if he fucks up.  (Disclaimer:  I got rid of HBO after season 2, so I haven't seen the rest yet but intend to).

Episodes:  I enjoyed the "Matt LeBlanc is not Joey" portrayal on this show, but lost interest in the plot after the first season.  Still pushed through with it to the end.

GLOW:  I already said I fell in love with Alison Brie, so naturally I was a fan of this show too.  So freaking weird, but I was into it.  This was also my first exposure to Marc Maron, who is amazing.

30 Rock:  Like most shows, the best seasons are the first few.  

Okay, I'm losing steam here.  Powering through it. Ha.

Frasier:  I didn't watch every episode, but I enjoyed the easy comedy between three very different Cranes: Successful Nerd Frasier, Failure Nerd Niles, and their Confident Blue Collar dad.

Trailer Park Boys:  My dad is such a huge fan of this show.  The only time I've ever seen him crying-laughing was while he was watching it.  But I haven't been able to get into it myself.  

Schitt's Creek:  I just recently finished watching this.  The premise starts strong and then completely unravels into a mess of a plot that makes zero sense -- but I still loved the characters.  "EWW, David!"

Reno 911: I enjoyed this when it was first on the air.  Then I bought a DVD with extended features, showing more of the improv...and seeing how the sausage was made ruined the show for me. Ha.

As for my own recommendations, I think you'd really like Bojack Horseman if you haven't yet.  Extremely intelligent, extremely deep, extremely funny.

Also I loved Kim's Convenience, about an Asian-Canadian family, which was really funny and just recently ended.

 

I don't know why, but I'm one of those weird people that somehow finds a way to like later seasons. For instance, the final seasons of Arrested Development and the Office aren't any worse than the previous seasons for me. They're just different, and I sort of welcome the change when I rewatch the show. I'm also one of those people that wish my favorite shows ran on indefinitely. I think the Office could still be going on today and still be funny, even if the cast has evolved many times. 

[MrPotatoTed]

7 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I don't know why, but I'm one of those weird people that somehow finds a way to like later seasons. For instance, the final seasons of Arrested Development and the Office aren't any worse than the previous seasons for me. They're just different, and I sort of welcome the change when I rewatch the show. I'm also one of those people that wish my favorite shows ran on indefinitely. I think the Office could still be going on today and still be funny, even if the cast has evolved many times. 

Yeah, usually first seasons aren't that great as a show is still finding it's footing -- and especially if you've watched a series more than once, the early seasons suffer in retrospect as they aren't at the level that you remember from the later seasons.

I didn't mind the later seasons of the Office.  I know people hate everything that came after Steve left, but I thought James Spader was brilliant.

[vcczar]

59 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

Yeah, usually first seasons aren't that great as a show is still finding it's footing -- and especially if you've watched a series more than once, the early seasons suffer in retrospect as they aren't at the level that you remember from the later seasons.

I didn't mind the later seasons of the Office.  I know people hate everything that came after Steve left, but I thought James Spader was brilliant.

Yeah, I like Kathy Bates and the two new guys from the last season. The guy that plays Clark is great when he's teamed with Dwight. I think if Jim and Pam left the show that Clark could have replaced them. He wasn't as inventive as Jim, but I found Clark more interesting than both Jim and Pam. Pete's a little dull, but you need a sort of "straight man" character, and he sort of takes that roll from Jim and Pam. 

I think if the show was still on today that Dwight would still be leading the company. I think some characters that left will have come back. Somehow I think Kevin and Stanley would be back. Erin would have left for Kimmy Schmidt so they might have taken Pete out too. I think Clark would still be there, as would Meredith. Creed and Toby would probably be out. Creed because of his age, and Toby because Pam isn't there. Andy Bernard wouldn't be there (actor too famous now). There'd be like 5 or 6 new people. I think Oscar would still be there. Angela would still be there. 

I'm born the same year as Jim, so I always wonder what it would be like if I worked in that office. When I've had boring office jobs, I've been a lot like Jim. But picture Jim hyped up on 12 cups of coffee and probably a little more random conversationally. I'll say 50% Jim, 10% Michael Scott, 10% Creed, 10% Robert California, and 10% Erin Hannon. I'm much more serious if I'm in charge of something or if I'm working with my own creation. As an office worker, I'm more of a goof off that thinks everyone else takes the job too seriously. I remember I had Dwight-like coworker once. Every day I taped up one thing in his office to sort of "create a life" for him. He was really mysterious, so people wanted to know about his past and interest. Slowly, his office was filled with pictures of bananas, shanty towns, outlines of the state of Virginia, Brett Favre, and feet. I remember when the owner of the company walked into his office once and walked out kind of stunned, as if she just witnessed the weirdest thing she'd ever seen.

[MrPotatoTed]

17 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Yeah, I like Kathy Bates and the two new guys from the last season. The guy that plays Clark is great when he's teamed with Dwight. I think if Jim and Pam left the show that Clark could have replaced them. He wasn't as inventive as Jim, but I found Clark more interesting than both Jim and Pam. Pete's a little dull, but you need a sort of "straight man" character, and he sort of takes that roll from Jim and Pam. 

I think if the show was still on today that Dwight would still be leading the company. I think some characters that left will have come back. Somehow I think Kevin and Stanley would be back. Erin would have left for Kimmy Schmidt so they might have taken Pete out too. I think Clark would still be there, as would Meredith. Creed and Toby would probably be out. Creed because of his age, and Toby because Pam isn't there. Andy Bernard wouldn't be there (actor too famous now). There'd be like 5 or 6 new people. I think Oscar would still be there. Angela would still be there. 

I'm born the same year as Jim, so I always wonder what it would be like if I worked in that office. When I've had boring office jobs, I've been a lot like Jim. But picture Jim hyped up on 12 cups of coffee and probably a little more random conversationally. I'll say 50% Jim, 10% Michael Scott, 10% Creed, 10% Robert California, and 10% Erin Hannon. I'm much more serious if I'm in charge of something or if I'm working with my own creation. As an office worker, I'm more of a goof off that thinks everyone else takes the job too seriously. I remember I had Dwight-like coworker once. Every day I taped up one thing in his office to sort of "create a life" for him. He was really mysterious, so people wanted to know about his past and interest. Slowly, his office was filled with pictures of bananas, shanty towns, outlines of the state of Virginia, Brett Favre, and feet. I remember when the owner of the company walked into his office once and walked out kind of stunned, as if she just witnessed the weirdest thing she'd ever seen.

Haha.  That's great.

I had a Dwight who had a desk right outside my office.  I used to shoot rubber bands at him while he was on the phone.  I got one in his mouth once.

[Dobs]

Favorite Comedy and in fact favorite TV Show of all time: The Golden Girls

[Sean F Kennedy]

I didn’t vote for it but I’ve watched Community. The Office, Trailer Park Boys, Arrested Development and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are some of my favorites.

[Sean F Kennedy]

11 hours ago, vcczar said:

Yeah, I like Kathy Bates and the two new guys from the last season. The guy that plays Clark is great when he's teamed with Dwight. I think if Jim and Pam left the show that Clark could have replaced them. He wasn't as inventive as Jim, but I found Clark more interesting than both Jim and Pam. Pete's a little dull, but you need a sort of "straight man" character, and he sort of takes that roll from Jim and Pam. 

I think if the show was still on today that Dwight would still be leading the company. I think some characters that left will have come back. Somehow I think Kevin and Stanley would be back. Erin would have left for Kimmy Schmidt so they might have taken Pete out too. I think Clark would still be there, as would Meredith. Creed and Toby would probably be out. Creed because of his age, and Toby because Pam isn't there. Andy Bernard wouldn't be there (actor too famous now). There'd be like 5 or 6 new people. I think Oscar would still be there. Angela would still be there. 

I'm born the same year as Jim, so I always wonder what it would be like if I worked in that office. When I've had boring office jobs, I've been a lot like Jim. But picture Jim hyped up on 12 cups of coffee and probably a little more random conversationally. I'll say 50% Jim, 10% Michael Scott, 10% Creed, 10% Robert California, and 10% Erin Hannon. I'm much more serious if I'm in charge of something or if I'm working with my own creation. As an office worker, I'm more of a goof off that thinks everyone else takes the job too seriously. I remember I had Dwight-like coworker once. Every day I taped up one thing in his office to sort of "create a life" for him. He was really mysterious, so people wanted to know about his past and interest. Slowly, his office was filled with pictures of bananas, shanty towns, outlines of the state of Virginia, Brett Favre, and feet. I remember when the owner of the company walked into his office once and walked out kind of stunned, as if she just witnessed the weirdest thing she'd ever seen.

Robert California was and is a very underrated character, I found him absolutely hilarious.

[Edouard]

I watched none of these !

[Edouard]

7 hours ago, Patine said:

Of course not! None of them were written or filmed in French! 😛

Exactement !

Only friends made its road to us (and Desperate Housewives but is this comedy 😛)

[MrPotatoTed]

On 4/17/2021 at 11:10 AM, Edouard said:

Exactement !

Only friends made its road to us (and Desperate Housewives but is this comedy 😛)

I was going to say -- when I was in Paris, I specifically remember flipping through the channels and seeing (a French dubbed) episode of Friends! ;c)

[DakotaHale]

On 4/16/2021 at 10:55 PM, Dobs said:

Favorite Comedy and in fact favorite TV Show of all time: The Golden Girls

Such a Dobs thing to say.

Also Ron Swanson fan club 🇺🇸🥃🥩