Television You May Not Be Watching

I watch a lot of television. It's a legitimate artistic medium! And you can stop lamenting the cancellation of Arrested Development and Firefly, because there's plenty to watch this very autumn!

The four comedies I've listed here are the funniest things on television right now. I fear that the newer shows will get cancelled in their prime, due to low viewership.  The other two shows are on seasons five and six, respectively, and still haven't lost their sparkle.

I've also included Smallville, for some reason.

Fun fact: I don't recall any of the shows listed here ever using painfully prolonged cringe humour.

Disclaimer: These programs are rated 14+, as they may contain violence, profanity, and depictions of sexual activity.

Relative Newcomers

Cougar Town 

Wednesday 8:30 (ABC/CITY) - New episode November 17th
The only cougar remaining on this program is a peripheral character. It's the most improved show of last year.

If you watch Modern Family, I implore you to keep the television on for another half-hour. Because, with a name like "Cougar Town", this show needs all the spill-over it can get. More than any show on television right now, Cougar Town gives me the feeling of hanging out with friends and family. It played out the title's appropriateness in the first six episodes or so, but the real premise is a woman who at 42 was never prepared for single life (or for her son to grow up) learning where she can find meaning in her life. Like the next "relative newcomer" on this list, Cougar Town has managed to live up to the promise of its first season. The other feel-good family comedy to share the 8-9 block, Modern Family, deserved it's Best Comedy Emmy last year, but I can't help but feel that it's losing momentum in comparison.
Fun fact: I never see the title card coming. You think it must have passed already, because it is very brief and it's 8:37... then, BAM!, there it is. This season they've made humourous additions to the title screen including "(Still) Cougar Town", "It's not what the show is... Cougar Town" and "Titles are Hard: Cougar Town"


Community
Thursday 8:00 (NBC/CITY) - New episode November 11th
It shares its time slot with The Big Bang Theory, but this show is doing way more interesting things with it.

I've heard this show compared to the early seasons of The Simpsons (yeah, I played that card). The characters are wacky and the situations are surreal, but I must care about the students at Greendale Community College because this show is so gosh diddly-darn heartwarming at times. Setting a show at a community college is a genius idea, because it puts together characters that are so diverse in terms of age, race, faith, political views, family, and interests. It's great to see how they learn to learn from each other AND how they all get sucked into the same craziness. You may have heard of their big concept episodes like "Modern Warfare" (action movie parody), "Contemporary American Poultry" (mafia parody), and  "Epidemiology" (zombie parody), but lower-key episodes like "Accounting for Lawyers" and "Psychology of Letting Go" have a lot of emotion with a good measure of crazy.
Fun Fact: It has the catchiest title sequence I've seen since 30 Rock first came on the air. Also, in a recent episode a main character had an entire plot play out in the background of other scenes, with no commentary.

Stalwarts

30 Rock
Thursday 8:30 (NBC/CITY) - New episode November 11th
It's still got it, even if it looked like it might lose it.

I'm mostly recommending 30 Rock to those who jumped ship because they felt the quality drop. The latter half of Season 4 had over-arcing plots with great returns, namely Liz's "future husband" plot with guest star Michael Sheen and the purchase of NBC by Kabletown. This season had a great premiere, and last week's "Reaganing" used each character really well (even Jenna and Kenneth). Since the premiere also used Jenna well, I'm wondering if there's a correlation there. If you're watching season four, a low tolerance for Julianne Moore's Bostonian impersonation may discourage you.
Fun Fact: I got nothing. I considered doing some research for a fun fact, but you could do that if you wanted to.

American Dad! - New episode tonight!! (November 7th)
Sunday 9:30 (FOX/Global)
It's simply hilarious. It makes me laugh my weird, loud, suffocating-seal laugh -- and more often than most other shows.
 
It has the wild, manic energy of that other Seth MacFarlane show, except there are no cut-away gags. The humour happens right there, when the characters are interacting with each other. It can be pretty violent, risqué, and off-colour, just like Family Guy, but here the character relationships aren't sacrificed to service the offensiveness. The only real relationship left in Family Guy is between Brian and Stewie, but on American Dad! great episodes have come from the relationships between all five leads. I'd say "passionate" describes each of the Smith family members, but "obsessive" and "delusional" also work.
Fun fact: As of last year, all events depicted in this program may be an elaborate illusion.

Surprising comeback?

Smallville
Friday 8:00, Saturday 5:00 (SPACE)
It's still on the air. I was surprised too. This season, we might actually see some blue tights and the return of Lex.

I have high hopes for Smallville's last season (season ten). The last two seasons had to do without the series' best villains, Lex and Lionel Luthor. It was dark times. They had replacements, but Doomsday was dull and Tess Mercer (female Luthor surrogate) is still all over the place. Even worse, the show devoted way too much time to Green Arrow's melodrama. But the first few episodes of this season teased the viewers with a satisfying conclusion to the series. A disturbed Lex clone is rapidly aging from childhood, Lois and Clark are on the same page, and Clark is getting pressured to be a more public figure. As long as Tess avoids sleeping with every new male character, Green Arrow remains seen and not heard, and Tess avoids being part of every secret organization, this season should turn out great.

Fun fact: Oh god, what am I saying? How about you don't watch Smallville, and I just tell you which episodes are worth it.  Last night's wasn't. If you liked Smallville years ago and forgot about it after the writer's strike, this is a good time to pick it back up.

I Watch, But I Don't Feel Strongly About Recommending

If you didn't like these shows before, you still won't like them.  Some are really good shows, but are so hyped that I don't think they need my endorsement. Some have consistency issues.

The Simpsons, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, The Office

But seriously. Arrested Development was starting to get weird near the end, and was on long enough to tell some really great stories, but Firefly barely had a chance! There was so much left unexplored!