A love letter to sitcoms

Hulu quietly added the entire run of Happy Endings to its library last week. Happy Endings, if you are sadly unaware, was a hilarious, weird, well-crafted little gem of a sitcom that aired on ABC from 2011 to 2013. It was never a substantial ratings hit, hence its too-short three-season run, and its previous unavailability on streaming platforms combined with its somewhat generic "friends living together in a big city" premise (that the show quickly rose above) kept it from being a cult hit along the likes of Arrested Development or Parks and Recreation. But at the time, it was one of the funniest shows on television, a proud member of what we may eventually know as the "last golden age" of sitcoms on television. This was a time around the late 2000s/early 2010s, from about 2008 to 2013, where there was a sudden uptick in quality of network television sitcoms, heralded by the much-cherished block of NBC Thursday sitcoms at the time (30 Rock, The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Community). These shows, heavily influenced by the adoration of shows like Arrested Development as well as animated sitcoms like The Simpsons and Futurama, managed to bring TV comedy to a new level. As The Office took its British counterpart's dry wit and realism and mixed it with big swings of emotion, 30 Rock set the joke-per-minute ratio to astonishing heights all while serving as a cutting satire of the entertainment industry. And then came Parks and Recreation, daring to have a big heart and a sunny worldview in an era where most sitcoms were downbeat and cynical, as Community tore apart the sitcom structure and re-examined it on a weekly basis. These were unique, strange, big swing shows that could only survive as long as they did on a network failing as hard as fourth-place NBC was at the time. And they went onto influence shows like Happy Endings, Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23, and New Girl, which helped round out an era where network comedy felt more daring and alive than either.

That era died a fairly fast death, though, as network TV ratings plummeted and streaming services heralded in a brand new world. NBC phased out its much beloved but low-rated and aging comedies for generic procedurals with half the creativity but double the ratings. Happy Endings and Don't Trust the B were cancelled, and while New Girl holds up a fort of generally strong comedies over on FOX and ABC has assembled a line-up of surprisingly strong family comedy, the sparkle and wit once found on network TV not so long ago now mostly exists on cable and streaming comedies like Broad City, You're the Worst, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Bojack Horseman, places where these niche shows can conform to their own rules and structure without having to worry about appealing to a broad audience. It's great! I love it! I really do!

But as someone coming of age just as the NBC Thursday night line-up became the most exciting collection of comedy on television, I can't help but feel nostalgia for the old line-up. It's ridiculous to get nostalgic for a time that is barely even gone, but as I've been navigating this post-grad world as someone who wants to do fucking comedy for a living, the era has been on my mind a lot lately. I remember five years ago when every Thursday I would tuck myself into bed and watch the entire NBC Thursday line-up (taking a snack break during Perfect Couples), forgetting about whatever my anxious 17-year-old brain was fretting about at the moment and immersing myself in weird, rough-around-the-edge worlds like Pawnee and Greendale, where I felt I belonged. I remember nights where my friends would ask me to hang out and I would tell them I was "hanging out with my other friends" - yes, I was referring to TV characters. (I was not the coolest high schooler.) I remember realizing how happy these shows made me, how great it felt to just sit back and laugh all night, and I remember how it finally gave me a sense of purpose and direction in life. These were the shows that led to me writing my own comedy and finding my own voice. These were the shows that led to me majoring in motherfucking television, of all things. (Okay, it was communications with a focus in television, but ya know, still.) And weirdly, marathoning Happy Endings this weekend brought a lot of those feelings back. I guess it's because I've never stopped endlessly watching shows like Community, Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock - they've become regular "leave them on repeat endlessly" shows for me - but Happy Endings was almost like a re-discovery, and it brought me back to being barely graduated from high school, believing that a career in comedy was the most exciting direction I could go in.

Now, I have graduated college with my useless degree. Comedy is slowly becoming something resembling a job to me (though not one that pays), as I attempt to navigate my way through the New York improv scene and learn just how the fuck to actually do what I want to do. It's not exactly the fun comfort zone it was when I was a teenager, although it's still something that guides my everyday life and overall being. But watching Happy Endings reminded me of a time when it was, which reminds me of why I am, like an idiot, attempting to do this whole comedy thing anyway. It made me realize just how much joy it brings me at its root. It made me remember how great that feeling of watching someone take the thing you feel so passionately about - the thing that gives your awkward, strange, generally useless self meaning - and do something great with it is. And that's a nice, necessary reminder sometimes.

Best TV of 2013

Hello, everyone! Due to some "oh no I never watched Breaking Bad let me binge through it so I don't look like an asshole when I make my top TV of 2013 list" related issues, my Best of 2013 post is a bit delayed. But that's okay! It's here now, and that's all that matters, right?

2013 was a pretty fantastic year for television, and it was an interesting year for my personal television habits. I've expanded my taste a lot this past year - previously I had mostly contained myself to the comedy genre, but that wasn't the case this year. There are plenty of shows on this list that I would've never dreamed could be on there in previous years. Why did I decide to finally expand my TV mind? Maybe it was because this was the year we lost 30 Rock and I needed something to vill the void. Maybe it's because Community was off and I needed something to fullfill THAT void. Maybe it's just because I was bored. I don't know! But I'm glad it happened. It lets me see TV in a broader and more interesting light.

Alright! Let's get down to it. But before we get there, I wanted to give a shout-out to....

30 Rock
30 Rock aired only four episodes in 2013, so it wasn't eligible for my list. But if it was? It would be a strong contender for the #1 slot. There wasn't a single episode of TV this year I enjoyed more than the final 3 episodes of the shows' run, which brought each of its characters to a perfect, well-earned conclusion. And all the while, it never stopped being the funniest show on TV. Farewell, sweet 30 Rock. We'll miss you. Well, we'll miss making new episodes. We're still going to watch you obsessively on Netflix, obviously.

Alright! And now for the...

Honorable Mentions

These shows didn't quite make my top 10, but they came very close. Therefore, they deserve mentions!

Parks and Recreation
2013 saw Parks & Rec comfortably settling into its middle age. Many times, the show felt like it was running around in circles, rehashing plots it had done better in its peak years. It also lost its usuallysharp focus, often seeming unsure of what left it could do with its characters (and particularly its protagonist, who seemed halted in her growth). But even though the storytelling left something to be desired, Parks remained a show that I was happy to spend a half-hour with every week. And at the end of the year, the show made the curious decision to recall Leslie from her City Council position and send her off on an unknown path. It was the most interesting narrative choice the show made in several seasons, and it provides some hope that Parks can re-emerge as a vibrant and compelling show once again. But even if it doesn't, spending time in Pawnee is sure to remain a simple pleasure for as long as the show airs.
Highlight Episodes: "Leslie and Ben", "London", "Recall Vote"

Archer
Archer remained an incredibly funny show in its fourth season. The cast was still aces, and the writing was still sharper than just about every other comedy on TV. But one important competent was missing - the element of surprise that always drove the show at its best. This is pretty natural - as a show ages, there's no way it can continue to bring the same thrills it did at its peak. But it was still incredibly funny and entertaining, which likely would've been enough to give the show a long and fulfilling future - even if it meant a little bit of coasting. Of course, as we all know now, that wasn't enough for Archer. They hit the reset button this year, sending us on an insane journey that recalls the fast-and-loose experimentation that drives the show at its best. I'm glad Archer wasn't content to settle into a groove, but Season 4 proves that Archer coasting still made for a pretty great time.
Highlight Episodes: "Live and Let Dine", "The Papal Chase", "Sea Tunt"

Happy Endings
Happy Endings spent most of 2013 in burn-off mode on ABC, which caused many people - including myself - to sort of forget about it come the end of the year. But when VH1 marathoned all of Happy Endings on New Years' Day, it reminded me how much of a perfectly crafted joke machine it was. Few shows on TV make me laugh as loudly and consistently as this one did, and I'm going to miss its delightfully insane characters and jokes that are fucking poetic in how perfectly hilarious they are. The marathon also reminded that Happy Endings closed out with a fairly strong set of episodes. They were just as hilarious as the show had always been, and for the first time, they successful rang some pathos out of situations like the end of Penny's engagement with Piece and Alex and Dave deciding to call it quits. I'll really miss Happy Endings, but at least it went out on a high note.
Highlight Episodes: "The Ex Factor", "The Marry Prankster", "She Got Game Night"

Arrested Development
Arrested Development's long-awaited fourth season was sort of a beautiful mess. On one hand, the excitement of seeing the Bluths back in action was matched by very little else on TV this year. On the other hand, the confusion of the shows' downright strange narrative style was also matched by anything on TV this year. Since the original recipe of Arrested Development was heralded for its innovation to the TV sitcom, the Netflix revival seemed to feel like it had to follow in its footsteps - but that caused the show to often forget about what made it work so well in the first place. Luckily, this wasn't always the case. Even though the narrative was convulted, the humor on AD remained mostly sharp, and the fourth season succeeded in providing a new wave of classic Arrested Development quotes. It may not have completely lived up to the shows' original run, but what could? At its best, AD Season 4 was still an incredibly funny and entertaining show, with some intriguing character work. That's more than enough to keep me hoping we don't have to wait another seven years to see the Bluths again.
Highlight Episodes: "Colony Collapse", "Senioritis", "Off the Hook"

Alright. That's that. Now let's get on to the Top 10!

10. Veep

Veep is one of those shows that could've simply repeated its first season for its entire run, and a good portion of its audience (possibly including me) would've been content. I mean, it's a bunch of hilarious people dressing up as politicians and cursing, and that's awesome. But I was impressed by the narrative choices the show made in its second season - rather than continuing to hammer the "Selina is useless" shtick, Veep made her an integral part of her administration in Season 2 after her nameless party received a particularly harsh setback in the midterm elections. This raised the dramatic stakes in ways that helped keep the show fresh and interesting. The season ended with an even more intriguing twist, suggesting that POTUS will not be seeking re-election and that Selena will attempt to fill his seat. That paves the way for a third season that could be quite interesting indeed, and will certainly continue to give us the classic, profanity-laced exchanges we've all come to crave.
Highlight Episodes: "Hostages", "First Response", "D.C"

9. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the most promising new network comedy in several seasons (perhaps since Community?), and the reason why it's been so delightful can be boiled down to a few simple components: it has a killer ensemble cast, it has top-notch talent behind it, and it has an interesting set of characters that it's willing to dig into. Oh, and it's really, really funny - far funnier than any sitcom halfway through its first season has any right to be. The shows' only real blind spot is its protagonist - Andy Samburg does a fine job with Jake Peralta, but the show has yet to give us a reason why we should be rooting for such a self-absorbed, obnoxious character. But other than that? Just about everything on this show is fire right now, and I'm incredibly excited to see where it's going to go.

Highlight Episodes: "The Vulture", "Halloween", "Thanksgiving"

8. The Middle

It's rare that I get overly excited about a family sitcom, but The Middle is just that good. And unlike most aging comedies, it's only getting better. As the Heck kids grow up and begin dealing with things like graduation, college, and part-time jobs, The Middle is able to renew its comic energy by digging into these rites of passages and putting its own unique spin on them. But change isn't limited to the kids - the show made the wise decision to give matriarch Frankie a career change last year, and it's resulted in a surprisingly interesting story about people trying to re-invent themselves in their middle age. The way The Middle manages to consistently find fresh new challenges for the Heck clan is the key to its success, and it's what makes it continue to be the quietest great show on television.

Highlight Episodes: "Wheel of Pain", "Change is in the Air", "The Potato"

7. Mad Men

After a dynamic 5th season that experimented with the shows' form in incredibly interesting ways, Mad Men's 6th season first appeared to be a bit of a cooldown. It was still thought-provoking and genre-pushing, sure, but it didn't quite have the spark of the 5th season. And then, about halfway through, everything changed, and the season arc became clear: this is the beginning of the end for Don Draper. The season suddenly became the story of a broken mans' downfall, as we saw Don sink to depths we had never seen him reach before. Add this to a sudden status quo change that merged Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce with one of its rival firms, and you have another great, intriguing season of television.

Highlight Episodes: "For Immediate Release", "The Crash", "In Care Of"

6. Orange is the New Black

The most surprising new show of the season may have been Orange is the New Black, a Netflix original series that came seemingly out of nowhere and blew us all away with its intriguing premise, refreshing characters, intricate character work, and unique storytelling structure. Of all of the things to love about the show - from all of the reasons I just listed along with its amazingly diverse cast and subtly effective social commentary - the single element that made the show work may be the way it challenged the way we view characters on television. The way it was able to take characters that started off looking like villians - such as Alex or Red - and turn them into truly sympathetic individuals was an amazing feat, as was their ability to do the opposite with a character like Healy. Of course, the best example of this may be Crazy Eyes (or Suzanne), who starts off the series as a terrifying wildcard and ends it as perhaps the most lovable character on the entire show. The show even achieves this goal with its protagonist, who goes from poor, helpless soul to dangerous anti-hero in a surprisingly natural way. After a year where it made such a splash, there's few shows I'm looking forward to in 2014 more than Orange is the New Black.

Highlight Episodes: "Lesbian Request Denied", "Fucksgiving", "Tall Men With Feelings"

5. New Girl

New Girl continued its momentum in 2013 by giving us one of the most compelling will they/won't they arcs on TV in a long time - the epic romance of Jessica Day and Nick Miller. I was originally completely against a Jess/Nick pairing, but the show did an excellent job turning me by basically just forcing me to accept it. In "Cooler" - quite possibly the shows' best episode to date - the series simply throws the characters together for a passionate kiss and refuses to give the audience time to process it all. And it worked! That episode kicked off New Girl's best run of episodes yet, fueled by the perfectly constructed Jess/Nick romance. But Jess and Nick aren't the only factors that made New Girl so compelling in 2013 - the show continued to dig deep into its characters and ask them tough questions about who they really were and what they wanted. This was perhaps most obvious with Schmidt, who was forced to hold a bit of a mirror up to himself and question how good of a person he really was. It didn't always work, and the show had a few rocky episodes this fall, but when it did, there wasn't much else on TV that could match its mix of top-notch humor and deep-rooted characterization.

Highlight Episodes: "Cooler", "Parking Spot", "Menus"

4. Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad's final eight episodes were some of the most upsetting and emotionally disturbing things to air on TV this year, but that only cemented just how fantastic the story they were closing out was. All of the characters we've grown to care about (except Walt, because he's a terrible, terrible human being) were put in the desperate, grim situations we've known were coming for them since Season 1 - and it was every bit as terrifying and emotionally draining as we knew it would be. The best example of the beautiful misery of Breaking Bad's final stretch episodes was the breathtaking "Ozymandias", a nauseatingly tense episode of television in which everything we spent the past five seasons fearing was going to happen, happened - in the span of about 10 minutes. While the finale was a mild disappointment that never engaged with the psychological questions that the show was able to at its best, the build-up to it was perfect enough that Breaking Bad's curtain call will certainly be remembered for years to come.

Highlight Episodes: "Blood Money", "Confessions", "Ozymandias"

3. Enlightened

(The picture represents Amy and Tyler's reactions to ranking above Breaking Bad).

Enlightened is gone too soon, but what a beautiful story it told while it was here. After a strong first season that created a compelling protagonist in Amy Jellicoe, the second season of Enlightened put things into the highest gear possible and told a no-frills story about realizing what you're capable of. It was one of the most powerful shows on TV, and it was also one of the most unique - very few shows ever wear their heart on their sleeves as much as Enlightened did, which is perhaps why it wasn't a show for everyone. But if you could get on the shows' wavelength, you were lucky enough to experience some truly powerful messages about human connection, all done with some of the most lovable misfits this side of Community. It's a shame that we aren't getting anymore Enlightened, but part of me thinks we don't even need any more. What we got is such a beautiful, self-contained story that articulated its message so well, I'm just glad it existed in the first place.

Highlight Episodes: "Higher Power", "Follow Me", "The Ghost is Seen"

2. Doctor Who

On a purely subjective level, Doctor Who is probably not the #2 show of 2013. The second half of the shows' seventh season wasn't its all-time best, hurt a bit by the decision to split the season into two separate parts (although the two specials - the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special - were fantastic). But damn it, I'm putting it here anyway, because I don't know if there's a show that aired on TV this year that made me as purely happy as this one. 2013 was the first time I watched Doctor Who, and I binged through all seven seasons of the modern incarnation of the show pretty fast. What I love about Doctor Who is how, despite its seemingly complex nature, its really incredibly simple: it's about a time traveler and his companion, traveling all through space and time. Sure, there's plenty of other mythology to it, but that one sentiment sums up the child-like glee that you get when you immerse yourself in the shows' world. It's fun. It's campy. It's often funny, it's often heartbreaking. It's Doctor Who, and while it sometimes slips up a bit, there's nothing remotely like it on television.

Highlight Episodes: "The Rings of Akhaten", "The Day of the Doctor", "The Time of the Doctor"

1. Bob's Burgers

Oh, Bob's Burgers. Is there any show on TV that accepts people from all corners of the Earth as much as this one does? Is there any show with characters as downright lovable as the Belchers? Is there any show that could come up with a line as brilliant as "they'll say aw, topsy at my autopsy?". No. No, there is not. Bob's Burgers has such a refreshingly warm comic tone that brings a much-needed change of pace not just to the Fox animation family, but to television comedy in general. The way it manages to take characters that would easily be the butt of the joke on any other show and turn them into sympathetic and beloved figures is what truly sets it apart. That and its wonderfully weird and consistently hilarious sense of humor, of course. Sure, other shows might have kept me on my toes more, but no show made me as excited to spend time in its universe this year than Bob's Burgers. The way it accepts its completely weird, off-beat characters with such open arms is the kind of thing that really melts the heart of internet losers like me all over the world. Here's to another great year with the Belchers.

Highlight Episodes: "Mother Daughter Laser Razor", "Topsy", "Christmas in the Car"

So there's 2013. It was a great year, but with the re-emergence of Community and Archer, the return of Louie, and a whole slew of promising new shows, I wonder if 2014 could somehow be even better. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! How FUN!

"Now I know how webisodes feel" - Tuesday Comedy Clusterfuck 1/8/13

New year, same old Tuesday comedy clusterfuck. Well, now with added Cougar Town! So let's dig right into the ridiculously abundant comedy choices our friend television gave us tonight.

Ben and Kate started off the year a little below the high standards it set for itself in the fall, having one of those typical "off" episodes that tries to cram too much into one half-hour. The only plot that felt completely satisfying was the BJ sub-plot, which had her meet her mother and successfully add another comic layer to her already hilarious character. I always like when we meet a characters' parents for the first time and it all feels so natural that it actually seems like that character was shaped by whatever guest actor is dropping in to play their parent and not a room of writers, and Ben & Kate achieved that with the BJ plotline. The rest of the episode was...fine, and had some really great moments - particularly from Dakota Johnson, who is already nearing all-star levels. But the show was juggling so much - Ben's failed business prospects! Kate's insecurities as a single mother! Being happy with yourself! - that it never quite stuck the landing on any of it. All of these themes are viable directions for the characters and would've been better off in separate episodes, rather than being crammed into one. Still, an episode that ended with a fake newscast by Ben and BJ which included the line "the only safe squirrel is a dead squirrel" can't be all that bad.

New Girl kicked off 2013 in pretty strong fashion, though. "Cabin" was a solid showing of everything the show does well - excellent character moments, a handful of top-notch Nick Miller speeches, and subtlety impressive characterization. Really, the entire episode could've just been the two couples in the cabin getting drunk and acting ridiculous, and it would've been a quality half-hour of television. But, as has become typical with New Girl, the show yearns for something more, so "Cabin" was both hilarious and a clear set-up for upcoming character movement. The show in particular seems to be building towards some kind of revelation for Nick, trying to figure out what it is he truly wants. Clearly, what he wanted wasn't Angie, someone completely out of his comfort zone who he thought "pushed him forward" but really just confused both of them. Having the episode end with Nick, freshly dumped by Angie, not quite processing his break-up was an interesting choice, and one that sets up a lot of interesting territory for the next few episodes. But I would be lying if I said my favorite part of the episode wasn't B-plot - a delightfully cringe-worthy story about Schmidt demonstrating some hardcore reverse racism and trying to get Winston to "embrace his culture". It's not really a sweeping statement to say that the scene where Schmidt and Winston invite a man into their car and the three of them proceed to think they're robbing each other is the funniest TV scene of 2013 so far, but I feel like it might hold that title for a while.

Happy Endings had two offerings this week, one on Sunday and another one tonight. Why ABC is doing this is...not really as exciting as it seems, they just needed something to fill the hole 666 Park Avenue left and they happened to have unscheduled episodes of Happy Endings/Apartment 23. Anyway, Sunday's episode was Happy Endings at its playful best, throwing out two comfortingly wacky plotlines and watching its actors sell the hell out of them. I thought tonight's episode, though, was the show's weakest in quite a while. The fact that I still laughed pretty much through-out the entire thing goes to show just how consistently satisfying the show has been lately, but I thought the plots were all pretty dull and just never really came together. I was surprised, in particular, with how straight the show played the pretty generic pop star plot. Typically, Happy Endings will take a stock sitcom storyline and tweak it to fit their own outlandish style - like how Sunday's episode looked like it was going to have a groan-worthy "characters break something while their friend is away and try to fix it" plot, until said characters end up killing their friends' racist parrot in the process. But tonight's plotlines - especially the pop star one - were pretty much straight out of Sitcoms 101. The exception would probably be Max's plotline, which did a typically great job of subverting a lot of gay stereotypes to tell a weirdly meaningful and simultaneously bizarre story about Max's sexuality. The other two had plenty of laughs, but ultimately lacked that spark that makes for a truly great Happy Endings.

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 has been seriously fucked over by ABC's weird scheduling decisions. After Sunday's episode put June in a new job and had Mark almost ready to admit his feelings for her, tonight's episode - a holdover from Season 1 - hit the reset button and put her back in the coffee shop while Mark just started to realize he had any feelings for June. Despite all that, both of this week's episodes of the show were really good, demonstrating the show's impressive ability to put together an incredibly ridiculously and cartoonish half-hour and still somehow make us care about the characters in them. In fact, if you take tonight's episode and stack it up against Sunday's (produced much later) episode, you can see how much the characters have grown over the course of the show's run - particularly June, who's gone from a Chuckie Finster "I don't know if that's such a good ideaaaa, Chloe" type to someone who can be just as cunning as Chloe herself, in her own way. I mean, tonight's episode had her desperately trying to win the love and respect of her neighbors, while Sunday's episode had her stabbing her nemesis at work. That's some excellent character work. Maybe one day we'll get to see in the order it was supposed to happen.

I don't even really have anything to say about The Mindy Project anymore, other than the usual "it should be so much better" type of stuff that everyone on the internet is already saying. At this point, it just feels like the show is about absolutely nothing - the plots are all meaningless, just about every character other than Mindy, Danny, and maybe Morgan is totally disposable, and the show doesn't even really have a central focus other than "Mindy's a mess" anymore. Tonight's episode could have been a nice story about Mindy's relationship with her brother, and it could've provided us with some nice-needed characterization for the show's problematic lead character. Instead, it...ended with a broad and not all that funny rap number where Mindy had to stand in for her brother's back-up singer and sing dirty lines to him, and...that was it. The show has just added two more great comedy writers to its staff - 30 Rock alumni Jack Burditt and Tracey Wingfield. Let's hope they can get this show on track. I mean, no one else could, but...

Oh, and I also watched the cable premiere of Cougar Town. I've only sporadically watched the show, but I did watch the premiere and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's one of those shows on my backlog to catch up with, and I'm hoping to do so as soon as possible. I'm planning on writing something about what the show's move to cable could potentially mean for the broadcast sitcom soon, so I'll talk about it a little more in-depth there, if it happens!

The 12 Best Comedies of 2012 (if you have the exact same taste as me)

Hello, everyone/no one! I haven't posted in a while, because holidays I'm lazy/was busy with finals then got lazy. But I decided, on this wonderful New Years' Eve, that while everyone else is getting drunk, I'd intoxicate myself with television feelings, like I do most other nights. So, I'll be posting my top 12 TV shows of 2012 and my top 20 TV episodes of 2012.

Here are some disclaimers: I pretty much only watch comedies, so you can consider this a list of the best comedies of 2012. I do watch some dramas (okay, mostly just Mad Men), but I'm not as well-versed in them as I am in comedies. Also, I chose 12 because...I felt like it. Besides, 2012! Get it? Okay.

Anyway, here are the 12 comedies you should've been watching in 2012, according to me.

12. South Park 

2012 wasn't really South Park's strongest year, but it still managed to churn out a ton of pretty damn fantastic episodes that easily rank among the show's best. For a show that just ended its 16th season, that's no small feat, and when you compare to other aging cartoons like The Simpsons and Family Guy, the show's continued strength becomes even more impressive. There are probably dozens of factors as to why South Park remains a viable entertainment option while other cartoons have fallen prey to the DVR delete button, but I'd attribute it to the fact that the show is still interested in pushing itself and its characters to places they haven't been before. In this year alone, the show turned itself into an action reality show for half an episode, put its own spin on "shipping", and even questioned its own influence on morality. As long as the show can keep churning out similarly fresh ideas, it should have no problem remaining the reigning champ of long-running animation on TV.

Highlight Episodes: "Cash for Gold", "Cartman Finds Love", "Raising the Bar"

11. Suburgatory

Suburgatory was a show that I was pretty torn on last year. I loved so much of the cast and felt it had tons of potential, but the whole "city dad moves his troubled daughter to the SUBURBS!!!!" angle seemed so trite, and the show wasn't really putting any new spins on it. Luckily, the show downplayed that aspect of it this year, turned its homebase Chatswin into less of a demonic Stepford Wives-esque world and more of a lovingly bizarre Pawnee/Springfield type setting. But what really made the show stand out - aside from America's favorite family, the Shays - was the way it was able to take Tessa's maturation into adulthood and relationship with her father seriously. The show was by far at its best when it was dealing with Tessa trying to reconnect with her long-lost mother and figure out just where exactly she came from, and how that affected who she is today. Suburgatory still stumbles into over-the-top territory a bit too often, but when it's at its best, mixing its off-beat humor with serious emotional depth, it's easily one of the most compelling shows on television.

Highlight Episodes: "The Motherload", "The Wishbone", "Krampus"

10. Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 was easily one of the year's most surprising new shows. Its high level of quality wasn't necessarily what was surprising, but rather the fact that an ABC sitcom was allowed to go to places as dark, disgusting, and downright weird as Apartment 23 - or, more affectionately, Bitch 23 - went over the course of the year. The fact that a network that refuses to even air the show's actual title somehow gave the green light to a scene that prominently featured a main character blatantly masturbating in a bathtub is a television miracle in and of itself. Unlike some other shows that highlight their raunchiness, though, there's a lot of talent that goes into Apartment 23, and what makes the show as great as it is is not necessarily its raunchiness, but its excellent performances (especially by surprising comic genius Krysten Ritter), truly unique style of humor, and its way of taking old sitcom plot points and turning them in completely bizarre directions that somehow make total sense in its world. There's nothing else quite like it on TV, especially live-action TV. Unfortunately, that very well might lead it to an early demise, but even if Bitch 23's reign is a short one, the fact that it even happened at all is a pretty amazing achievement.

Highlight Episodes: "It's Just Sex", "A Reunion", "Love and Monsters"

9. Ben and Kate

Few shows have developed an online following as quickly as Ben and Kate, and with good reason - in the time where most sitcoms are figuring out just what the hell they're trying to say, Ben and Kate had already established one of the best comic ensembles on TV, with each character bringing something truly unique to the show's warm, pleasant rhythm. Ben and Kate's strength lies in its authenticity - the show's stakes aren't that high and it never digs all that deep, but it's formed a bunch of misfit characters whose problems and personalities feel real, down-to-earth, and extremely relatable. That's probably why its small but dedicated audience clung onto it so quickly, other than the fact that it's boasting some seriously excellent comic performances from just about every member of its cast. Unfortunately, as dedicated as they are, Ben and Kate's audience does remain very small. Here's to hoping 2013 brings around some kind of turn in fate for the show, because its created such a pleasant world that would be a lot of fun to hang out in for a few more years.

Highlight Episodes: "Kate's Birthday", "Scaredy Kate", "Reunion"

8. The Middle

If there was one comedy underdog in 2012, it was The Middle. Sure, the show's ratings are higher than any other show on this list. But in terms of acclaim and general fanfare, The Middle has slipped quietly under the radar - and that's a bit of a shame, as it's slowly turned into one of the most realistic family comedies in several years, and just a really great sitcom on the whole. It's understandable that the young folks of the internet wouldn't be interested in a family show that airs on ABC and stars Patricia Heaton, but the show has done an excellent job of painting an accurate picture of what it's like to be a family on the brink of economic turmoil - and considering the age we live in, the one where everyone is running around yelling things like "DEBT CEILING!" and "FISCAL CLIFF!" all the time, its message has become incredibly poignant. Still, the show's slow but steady march to greatness needs to be partially chalked up to the Hecks themselves - a flawed but endearing bunch who all have pretty big problems but are able to get past them and become a functional and even loving family unit anyway. With the show going into syndication next year, let's hope people who wrote it off as family-fluff will catch an episode in between Seinfeld re-runs and discover one of the strongest, funniest family sitcoms of our time.

Highlight Episodes: "The Guidance Counselor", "The Second Act", "Christmas Help"

7. Veep

Veep is one of those shows where there was basically no way it could have gone wrong. The Thick of It creator Armando Ianucci creating an American political satire with Julia-Louis Dreyfus playing a frazzled vice president? With Buster Bluth and the girl from My Girl playing her cronies? That sentence alone would be enough to make my "best of 2012" list. The best thing about Veep, though, was its ability to mix razor-sharp satire with extremely strong comic characters. The fun of Veep lied not nesseccarily in its big statements about American politics - truth be told, there weren't really many of those - but in the way it took seemingly powerful, all-important people and brought them to human levels, having them nonchalantly toss around phrases like "fuckload of bread" and...well, various other spins on the F word. It brought a weirdly human level to the annoyingly un-human world of politics, even as it was having its characters make some classically despicable political moves. And of course, so much of Veep's magic comes simply from having a bunch of talented people working in a room together. Sometimes, that's really all you need.

Highlight Episodes: "Frozen Yoghurt", "Catherine", "Tears"

6. Parks and Recreation

2012 was a big year for Leslie Knope. Not only did she embark her on one of the most extensive fictional political campaigns in TV history, she got engaged to her Game of Thrones-loving boyfriend Ben Wyatt and was awarded with the seat of City Council. But if I'm being completely honest, I enjoyed Parks and Recreation the most this year not when it was telling big, grand stories of triumph and victory, but when it was telling smaller, more intimate stories, like Leslie learning she'll have to compromise a bit to be successful in politics, but can still stick to her roots - or April subtly showing she's grown to care about her job and the people in it. Not all of the beats the show hit during the campaign arc worked for me, and there were times where I felt like the story was taking the show off the rails a little bit. But the show always brought itself back around with the small, subtle character details that made it stand out in the first place. Parks is an aging show now, but it's built enough love and respect for its world and the people ingrained in it that it'll have us following them no matter where the show takes them. And that's pretty much exactly the place a veteran comedy show should be. No matter what happens, we'll always treasure the time we get to spend hanging out with the Parks Department in Pawnee.

Highlight Episodes: "The Comeback Kid", "Win, Lose or Draw", "How a Bill Becomes a Law"

5. Louie

I almost think Louie can't be ranked against the other comedies on this list, because what it's trying to do is so radically different from what any show on TV is trying to do. Louie has absolutely no concern with story, or character, or really anything that usually makes TV what it is. Instead, Louie is simply 22 minutes of Louis CK telling amazingly crafted short stories where he lets us in on his view of the world. The show doesn't just disregard continuity - it snarls in the face of it. Character development, storytelling - none of that has any place on Louie. It's a little jarring the first time you sit down to watch it - but it eventually reaches a point where everything is just so damn beautifully crafted that you stop caring about any of those things. And then it gets to a point where you actively enjoy the fact that you can sit down, watch an episode, and have no idea where it's going, because any sort of storytelling convention is completely out the window. You like that you're actually caught by surprise when the end credits pop up. It's a really unique and interesting new spin on the television format, and it'll be interesting to see if it winds up being a trendsetter or an outlier. Either way, Louie is something that's incredibly rare in pop culture - something that's never been done before.

Highlight Episodes: "Miami", "Daddy's Girlfriend (Part 2)", "New Year's Eve"

4. Community

Community had a turbulent 2012. It started the year on a forced hiatus with no announced end date. Then, its creator, the beloved Dan Harmon, was fired right after NBC announced the show would return for a shortened fourth season that would be buried on Friday nights. Right before its planned return date, NBC delayed the premiere until early 2013 - and if that wasn't enough, the troublesome Chevy Chase quit the show just before production on Season 4 ended. All of this turmoil seemed to cause a lot of people to forget that Community actually produced a fairly great run of episodes in 2012. Despite a few missteps, the show carefully put together an emotionally satisfying arc that dug deeper into its misfit study group than ever before, using Ken Burns-style documentaries, 8-bit video game spoofs, and Law & Order homages to tell a really excellent story about how far these people have come since we first met them, how much they've had an affect on each other, and how the influence they've had on one another will stay with them forever. Community's future may be uncertain, but its fans can at least take comfort in the fact that the three excellent seasons it did air were able to build to such an excellent, moving character study. Hopefully Season 4 will continue down that path- but even if it doesn't, and even if 2012 will go down as the end of an era for the show, it'll be an era that ended on a high note.

Highlight Episodes: "Pillows and Blankets", "Digital Estate Planning", "Introduction to Finality"

3. Happy Endings

Happy Endings was the true underdog of 2011, starting off as a generic mid-season replacement that no one cared about only to rapidly and unexpectedly develop into one of the fastest, funniest shows on the air. In 2012, Happy Endings cemented itself into the hearts of comedy lovers everywhere, continuing its delightfully wacky antics and joke-a-minute dialogue while simultaneously adding new comic layers to its dizzying array of hysterical characters. The show has little goal other than to make you laugh and smile for 22 minutes, and it hits the mark perfectly every single time. As the show continues on, though, it's begun to develop its own distinct personality - a perfect example is the fact that it has practically invented its own language through the weird iterations and shortenings of words that its characters use. Watching an episode of episode of Happy Endings is almost like entertaining another universe - a universe where just the way everyone talks is hilarious, and where you're constantly surrounded by people who would be the  "funny one" in any other group of friends. Other shows may make you think more or have better developed character arcs, but there's no show on TV right now you're going to have more fun watching than Happy Endings.

Highlight Episodes: "The Butterfly Effect Effect", "Cocktails & Dreams", "No Ho Ho"

2. 30 Rock

Most sitcoms limp their way to the finish line. Truth be told, trying to mine comedy out of the same characters for years upon years gets to be pretty difficult. But the very best comedies figure out a way to keep the momentum going despite their age, to keep you laughing and loving their characters right up until the end. 2012 was 30 Rock's last full calender year, but it can sit proudly up with the show's prime years as a fine example of the show at its very best. So how? How does a show keep such a high standard of quality after having so many episodes behind it? In 30 Rock's case, the answer came from two different factors - a willingness to go deeper and darker with its humor than it ever had before, and carefully plotted character arcs that brought its characters to their crescendo as 30 Rock neared its sunset. The best example is Liz Lemon, who the show has put through hell on her quest to "have it all" - which only made her first stable relationship, the first time she found someone who actually accepted her, her decision to finally fulfill her dream of having a baby, and her long-awaited marriage even more satisfying. There's still a few more episodes of 30 Rock left, so it remains to be seen if the rest of the show will wrap up as nicely. But either way, 30 Rock is going out with one of its best seasons and one of the strongest final seasons of a sitcom I can remember - and one of the best comedies of our times deserves nothing less.

Highlight Episodes: "Leap Day", "Stride of Pride", "Mazel Tov, Dummies"

1. New Girl

No comedy had a more exciting 2012 than New Girl. The show debuted last fall to huge numbers, but most critics wrote it off due to its obnoxious advertising campaign and middle-of-the-road pilot as a soulless Zooey Deschanel star vehicle. Most comedies likely would've been completely fine with this, ranking in their huge numbers and carrying on. But despite its rocky beginnings, it was always clear that New Girl wanted to be something more than that. And in 2012, the show rapidly turned the corner - it brought out the talented members of its comic ensemble, toned down Deschanel's performance while simultaneously bringing out the best in her, and started working its way toward being a comic character study of a bunch of weird, lost 30-somethings who have nothing to rely on but each other. The show slowly started to earn back all of the people it had lost by churning out strings of excellent episodes that no one would've ever believed the show was capable of when it first started. This can be attributed to many things - creator Liz Meriweather's dedication, some truly excellent writing, but perhaps most important is the the chemistry between the show's ensemble, who - much like their characters - each have their own unique vibe and personality that they add to the show's whole. Watching New Girl grow from a troubled young show with a lot of potential into a legitimately excellent comedy has been pretty incredible, and while maybe the show isn't technically the very best comedy on TV right now, the journey it took me on this year was more rewarding than any other show this year, and that's why it's getting top honors on my list.

Highlight Episodes: "Normal", "Fluffer", "Eggs"

Notable mentions:

• Archer - Admittedly, I've just started watching this and haven't made it to the show's 2012 offerings yet. But considering I assume I'll be all caught up by the time next year rolls around, I would be pretty surprised if it didn't end up high on my list in 2013, unless it has a terrible year or something. Because man, I am loving the shit out of it.
• Saturday Night Live - SNL is like a totally different TV experience for me, so I didn't rank it among the other comedy shows on my list, because it'd be a weird comparison. The show's quality fluctuates so much from week-to-week and operates on such a different standard that I think it'd be difficult to really rank on a list like this. But don't worry, I still love it.
• Raising Hope - Poor Raising Hope suffers with me because there's just too much good TV on Tuesdays, but when I do happen to watch it, I usually really like it. Hopefully I will discover it on TBS in like 2 years and fully appreciate it or something.
• The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Soup - Again, like SNL, these shows are kind of a different type of TV viewing for me, but I enjoy them all very much.
• Mad Men - I'm not nearly caught up on all of my Mad Men, but I really enjoy what I what I do see of it, and it's a show I'm planning on sitting down and watching from start to finish sometime hopefully soon. It's definitely a landmark TV show and one that is doing some pretty amazing things.

Well, there we have it. This was a pretty incredible year for TV, honestly - lots of amazing stuff all-around. I feel like 2013 is going to bring a lot of change, but hopefully things remain just as good, because having TV be so great is pretty fun, right?

Tuesday Comedy Clusterfuck 12/4

So for some reason, the networks decided they were going to throw all of their good (or, in NBC's case, trying too hard to be good) comedies on the same night because...I don't know, why the fuck not? That's made Tuesday into a gigantic comedy clusterfuck. Tuesdays include a whole lot of the very best comedy that network television is churning out right now (and, on NBC, some of the worst). So in this post, I'll run through each show (that I watch) and offer you my inspiring thoughts on each of these programs that air on the televisions.

(Note: I usually don't watch Raising Hope because even though I like it, I need a fucking break at sometime during this n ight. I also don't watch the NBC comedies because, if you can't tell from my previous passive aggressive comments, I think that they suck).

Let's start off with Ben and Kate, which is pretty easily the best new comedy this season and arguably the only one really worth a damn. Its tepid ratings suggest it may not be long for this world, but right now I don't want to think about that, and I just want to enjoy the misadventures of these wonderful weirdos for a half-hour every week. Actually, tonight's episode was sort of about just how weird all of the people in Kate's life are, and although I thought that was a flimsy excuse for her to break up with the guy whose name I can't remember (I'm sorry, I just can't keep track of all of these vanilla temporary love interests peppered through various sitcoms), it was a nice way of kind of tying together the ensemble and showing just how important they are to Kate. I also really enjoy the BJ/Tommy interaction in this episode. It's gotten to the point where basically anything BJ says is going to make me laugh out loud for several minutes, and she said a lot of things in this episode, so I was happy. This show has really found its groove rather quickly - I can't remember the last time a show was firing on all cylinders a mere nine episodes in. (Well, maybe Apartment 23 this season, actually, but whatever, before that). I keep praying for a ratings miracle with this show because it really seems like the type of show that could stick around for a long time and not wear out its welcome. It's just so pleasant, and very low-key while still being funny and entertaining, which a lot of shows that try for that down-to-earth, conversational style forget to be. Seriously, if you like comedy and you aren't watching it, watch it! I don't care how weird Nat Faxon's teeth look, the dude's hilarious.

New Girl has become a reliable powerhouse this season, churning out excellent episodes pretty much every week. "Bathtub" wasn't quite on the levels of the best of this season, like last week's "Eggs" or "Menzies" from a few weeks ago, but it was still an episode I really enjoyed on the whole. I particularly liked seeing Jess and Winston sharing a storyline together, even if it got a little typical sitcommy at points, but Zooey Deschanel and Lamorne Morris were clearly having a lot of fun with the material which really sold it and made it really entertaining. It also provided a nice contrast to the surprisingly heartwrenching Schmidt/CeCe plot. I was unsure of how the show was handling the CeCe/Schmidt break-up early on, but I like how they seem to be building to getting them both to a point where they realize they both need each other. It'll make their reunion feel earned rather than typical sitcom will they/won't they schmuck. (Can I use that word?). Nick's plot was also pretty entertaining (can a Nick Miller plot ever be less than at least pretty entertaining?) and having his crush turn out to be a stripper was kind of an interesting test for the character. While I like Olivia Munn far less than Lizzy Caplan, let's hope her character can do just as many good things for the show as Caplan's did. I also liked the return of perverted landlord Remmy. Yay for universe expansion! I'm just really enjoying the fuck out of New Girl right now. Never change, friend.

The Mindy Project, on the other hand, was...fine. I don't know, I'm just really not being drawn into at all, and I can't say this episode did much to change that. There was nothing particularly bad about it, and I chuckled a lot through-out the episode, but the whole thing still feels weirdly unfocused for a show so early in its run. This episode was about Mindy trying to balance her home life and her work life, but really, we've hardly seen any of her home life, so who cares? The show has a bad habit of trying to get us to give a shit but never actually taking the steps required to get us to give a shit. That said, the office dynamic worked better for me in this episode. The generally useless assistants got some funny lines, and the Jeremy/Danny/Mindy dynamic was well-done. I see plenty of inklings of a good show here, but the show really needs to sit down and realize exactly what it wants to be, because right now it's a mildly amusing jumbled mess.

And now on to the ABC side of the equation...

Tonight's Happy Endings might have been my favorite episode of the season so far. As much as I appreciate it when it tries to do something experimental and play with its format a bit like it did in the last episode, I always enjoy it the most when it just buckles down and does a lot of silly shit. When Happy Endings is going all out with its playfulness, there's nothing quite like it on TV. I love just sitting down and having no idea what weird place any of these plotlines are going to go - who would've known that the seemingly generic "Jane tries to be one of the guys" story would turn into Brad becoming a trophy wife and buying an obnoxious pig? (This show is a big fan of impromptu animal purchases. First Alex's parrot, now this). Penny's guy-of-the-week plotline was once again great if for no other reason than the fact that it was an excuse for Casey Wilson to do a bunch of perfect physical comedy, and I like that the show is making Dave a more interesting character by essential having him lose his mind. Happy Endings is never going to be a particularly deep show or one that takes its characters very seriously, but damn if it isn't the most fun show to watch right now. The recent news that ABC is pulling it from the schedule in March seriously depresses me, and I hope it can pull a Cougar Town and save itself somehow because my life will be sadder without its servings of pure insanity every week.

Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 - or simply Apartment 23, or as I prefer to call it, "Bitch 23", had a Season 1 holdover on tap for tonight. It was pretty obvious that it was a Season 1 holdover considering it featured that unnecessary stalker girl that we haven't seen at all this year, and it seemed a little less polished than the show's other offerings this season. Still, it was pretty funny, even if it was one of the show's weaker outings thus far. The sequence in the beginning that showed Chloe and June's routines on fast-forward was the highlight of the episode, though there were plenty of good gags through-out. My main issue with the episode was the plot, which came across as rushed and even slightly out of character for June. This show may have the tendency to go dark, but this episode may have been a step too far. I have to say though, after watching a handful of episodes of American Dad recently, it's interesting just how much this show plays as a live-action version of that one, and I mean that in the best way possible (I mean, American Dad's a pretty excellent cartoon). Chloe has so many similarities to Roger that it's uncanny, and June is kind of like Francine, seemingly well put together on the outside but just as horrible as everyone else on the inside. So while tonight was far from the show at its best, I'm still enjoying just how weird this show is willing to go every week. This is another show whose future is looking pretty grim, so I guess I'm just going to have to enjoy its insanity while I can. Again, if you aren't watching this and you enjoy comedy, you should watch it, as it is fantastic.

Geez, this took a long time. Make smarter scheduling decisions, networks.