sitcom recs!
Sitcoms You Should Devour
Another recs post for a wishee at insmallpackages! This person wanted recs for sitcoms/comedy shows, and since that's primarily what I wind up watching, I am happy to deliver! There are a ton of classic sitcoms that the entire world knows and loves - Seinfeld, Frasier, Cheers, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family. All that good stuff. (And if you've never watched any of those, I do recommend you go for it!) But I've tried to select some newer sitcoms that I'm really fond of that might interest you, wishee, and keep you laughing as we head into the holidays.
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Happy Endings! Six friends living in Chicago being ridiculous and loving each other. All the main characters are really great, I love them all. I think that if Friends had been made twenty years later, it would have wound up being this show. Season 1 starts off a little slow, but it hits its stride, and Season 2 is the best! There are 3 seasons total. I also recommend watching the show according to the Production Code order listed on the right side of these charts - they were aired out of order, and the show's far better when you watch in the order the episodes were shot! This show is the king of meta and clever references, but not in a pretentious way - if you love pop culture, the jokes in here will kill you. You get sister dynamics, college-friends dynamics, childhood-friends dynamics... lots of fun stuff to keep you invested. Your life will be better off for it once you watch, trust me!
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Parks and Recreation! God, this show is just... it has such a delightful ensemble. Everyone loves each other!!! (You will notice that's kind of a theme with me.) Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, one of the workers in a small-town parks & rec department. Leslie Knope is basically my life hero - she's passionate and loyal and sweet and hot-headed and smart and fun and god, I just love her. They're all amazing. I dare you to watch Parks and not find a character to fall in love with, I'm serious. The show's first season is a little weak - they were trying to model the show after The Office, but once they get into Season 2, they figure out what they're doing and it just becomes amazing. And Season 1 is only six episodes, so it's not so bad to get through! (Or you could technically skip it and go back to it later, once you love the characters. Season 3 is the most perfect season I've ever seen on a sitcom, and the show is currently in its sixth season.
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Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23! I was unsure about this one at first, and I'm not even sure why - the name, maybe? But I picked it up on Netflix recently, and oh my god, it's awesome. June, a midwest girl who dreams of life in the Big Apple, moves in with Chloe... and discovers she's completely insane. That is, until the two begin to strike up a friendship. Which is one of the things I really like about this show! The girls' friendship isn't conventional, and Chloe really is ridiculous, but the two care about each other deep down, and the bonding moments we get with them are so nice. But the #1 reason you MUST watch this show? James van der Beek. He plays himself, as Chloe's best friend, and my god is he ever perfect. He's playing a larger-than-life version of himself and you can just tell he has an amazing sense of humour about it all. He constantly cracks me up and has become one of my favourite people thanks to this show alone. Check it out the show's two seasons, just for him. He is perfection.
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Go On! Go On is about Ryan King, a recently widowed sports newscaster who's forced to go to group grief therapy to deal with his loss. He's reluctant at first, but the wacky band of miscreants he meets wind up changing his life in all sorts of ways. I know this doesn't sound like a sitcom, but it has a bunch of funny moments. It has a great balance of comedy and drama, and the entire ensemble is really great. Poor, poor Go On only lasted for one season, but that is a TRAGEDY. The show's great, and it actually just gets better on rewatches. I watch it - and mourn its cancellation - all the time. And it's worth it to experience these characters, even if it's only for twenty-two episodes!
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New Girl! I know people who are hesitant to give this show a try because they aren't crazy about Zooey Deschanel, but if that's your case, do it anyway! After five or six episodes, the show shifts from being Jess-focused to an ensemble show, and it's one of the best decisions they could've ever made. Her three roommates are hysterical, each with their own quirks and neuroses, and it soon becomes evident that Jess isn't all that strange, after all. Again, yet another example of a show where the characters love each other! And I love that! And also, you will come into this show and you will fall in love with Winston. That's a guarantee. That man is a gem, and everyone in the world should have more Winston in their lives.
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Suburgatory! Once single-father George becomes convinced that life in the big city is moving too fast for his teenaged daughter Tessa, he moves them both to the suburbs - and introduces them to the foreign world of country clubs, small dogs, and helicopter parents. I'll 'fess up - this is the only currently-airing sitcom on the list that I'm behind on, so I can't tell you much about the current season. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, though! The relationship between Tessa and George is really great - a nice mix of sweet and sarcastic, which I love. And the other characters in Chatswin, their small town, are exactly that: real characters. This show doesn't tend to go too deep, but it's a nice light-hearted sitcom with some cute relationships - and Tessa's a really fun, relatable teenaged protagonist. :D
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I think that's about all I've got to say about sitcoms! Other favourites, if you've seen all of these, are 30 Rock and Community, and I've also heard great things about The Mindy Project and Party Down, though I haven't watched much of those yet. I'm also strangely addicted to the sitcom Baby Daddy, as well - it's kind of terrible, and yet so addicting. Plus is has a really great unrequited love ship going on, which I'm a sucker for. :D
I hope that one or two of these sitcoms I've recommended are new to you, wishee, and that they bring you some smiles and laughs just as they have with me!
Another recs post for a wishee at insmallpackages! This person wanted recs for sitcoms/comedy shows, and since that's primarily what I wind up watching, I am happy to deliver! There are a ton of classic sitcoms that the entire world knows and loves - Seinfeld, Frasier, Cheers, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family. All that good stuff. (And if you've never watched any of those, I do recommend you go for it!) But I've tried to select some newer sitcoms that I'm really fond of that might interest you, wishee, and keep you laughing as we head into the holidays.
-----
Happy Endings! Six friends living in Chicago being ridiculous and loving each other. All the main characters are really great, I love them all. I think that if Friends had been made twenty years later, it would have wound up being this show. Season 1 starts off a little slow, but it hits its stride, and Season 2 is the best! There are 3 seasons total. I also recommend watching the show according to the Production Code order listed on the right side of these charts - they were aired out of order, and the show's far better when you watch in the order the episodes were shot! This show is the king of meta and clever references, but not in a pretentious way - if you love pop culture, the jokes in here will kill you. You get sister dynamics, college-friends dynamics, childhood-friends dynamics... lots of fun stuff to keep you invested. Your life will be better off for it once you watch, trust me!
-----
Parks and Recreation! God, this show is just... it has such a delightful ensemble. Everyone loves each other!!! (You will notice that's kind of a theme with me.) Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, one of the workers in a small-town parks & rec department. Leslie Knope is basically my life hero - she's passionate and loyal and sweet and hot-headed and smart and fun and god, I just love her. They're all amazing. I dare you to watch Parks and not find a character to fall in love with, I'm serious. The show's first season is a little weak - they were trying to model the show after The Office, but once they get into Season 2, they figure out what they're doing and it just becomes amazing. And Season 1 is only six episodes, so it's not so bad to get through! (Or you could technically skip it and go back to it later, once you love the characters. Season 3 is the most perfect season I've ever seen on a sitcom, and the show is currently in its sixth season.
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Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23! I was unsure about this one at first, and I'm not even sure why - the name, maybe? But I picked it up on Netflix recently, and oh my god, it's awesome. June, a midwest girl who dreams of life in the Big Apple, moves in with Chloe... and discovers she's completely insane. That is, until the two begin to strike up a friendship. Which is one of the things I really like about this show! The girls' friendship isn't conventional, and Chloe really is ridiculous, but the two care about each other deep down, and the bonding moments we get with them are so nice. But the #1 reason you MUST watch this show? James van der Beek. He plays himself, as Chloe's best friend, and my god is he ever perfect. He's playing a larger-than-life version of himself and you can just tell he has an amazing sense of humour about it all. He constantly cracks me up and has become one of my favourite people thanks to this show alone. Check it out the show's two seasons, just for him. He is perfection.
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Go On! Go On is about Ryan King, a recently widowed sports newscaster who's forced to go to group grief therapy to deal with his loss. He's reluctant at first, but the wacky band of miscreants he meets wind up changing his life in all sorts of ways. I know this doesn't sound like a sitcom, but it has a bunch of funny moments. It has a great balance of comedy and drama, and the entire ensemble is really great. Poor, poor Go On only lasted for one season, but that is a TRAGEDY. The show's great, and it actually just gets better on rewatches. I watch it - and mourn its cancellation - all the time. And it's worth it to experience these characters, even if it's only for twenty-two episodes!
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New Girl! I know people who are hesitant to give this show a try because they aren't crazy about Zooey Deschanel, but if that's your case, do it anyway! After five or six episodes, the show shifts from being Jess-focused to an ensemble show, and it's one of the best decisions they could've ever made. Her three roommates are hysterical, each with their own quirks and neuroses, and it soon becomes evident that Jess isn't all that strange, after all. Again, yet another example of a show where the characters love each other! And I love that! And also, you will come into this show and you will fall in love with Winston. That's a guarantee. That man is a gem, and everyone in the world should have more Winston in their lives.
-----
Suburgatory! Once single-father George becomes convinced that life in the big city is moving too fast for his teenaged daughter Tessa, he moves them both to the suburbs - and introduces them to the foreign world of country clubs, small dogs, and helicopter parents. I'll 'fess up - this is the only currently-airing sitcom on the list that I'm behind on, so I can't tell you much about the current season. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, though! The relationship between Tessa and George is really great - a nice mix of sweet and sarcastic, which I love. And the other characters in Chatswin, their small town, are exactly that: real characters. This show doesn't tend to go too deep, but it's a nice light-hearted sitcom with some cute relationships - and Tessa's a really fun, relatable teenaged protagonist. :D
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I think that's about all I've got to say about sitcoms! Other favourites, if you've seen all of these, are 30 Rock and Community, and I've also heard great things about The Mindy Project and Party Down, though I haven't watched much of those yet. I'm also strangely addicted to the sitcom Baby Daddy, as well - it's kind of terrible, and yet so addicting. Plus is has a really great unrequited love ship going on, which I'm a sucker for. :D
I hope that one or two of these sitcoms I've recommended are new to you, wishee, and that they bring you some smiles and laughs just as they have with me!