Is Comedy Good Again?
The days of Must-See-TV sitcoms ('Seinfeld,' 'Friends,' 'Frasier,' et al) are long gone, replaced by an era of prime-time soaps, medical dramas, sci-fi serials like 'Lost' and, of course, reality shows. But a recent spate of good comedy fare (plus a few buzz-worthy new shows on the fall schedule) have us declaring that, yep, the networks are bringing the funny back to TV.
We're still mourning the loss of the truly classic comedy 'Arrested Development' (and hoping that the 'AD' movie is still on track), and, more recently, the demise of the short-lived 'Samantha Who?' and the under-sung quirky laffer 'My Name Is Earl.' But the four major networks still have a few sitcom tricks up their sleeves. -
By Kimberly Potts
• ABC's surprising embrace of the quirky workplace comedy
'Better Off Ted,' as well as the network's equally surprising decision to renew and revamp
'Scrubs,' was a sign that the Alphabet net isn't ALL about 'Lost' and soapy dramas like 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Grey's Anatomy.'
• CBS has the aging
'Two and a Half Men,' but thanks to Neil Patrick Harris' performance on
'How I Met Your Mother' (or, as we like to think of it, 'Everybody Loves NPH') and the breakout (Emmy-nominated) performance of Jim Parsons on
'The Big Bang Theory,' the network also has a buzz-worthy comedy night.
• Fox, whose primetime Sunday night once featured the awesome lineup of 'The Simpsons,' 'The Bernie Mac Show,' 'Malcolm in the Middle' and 'Arrested Development,' boasts
'The Simpsons' in its 21st season, as well as the Emmy-nominated
'Family Guy.'
• And NBC ... well,
'The Office' and
'30 Rock' are two of TV's best comedies.
Fall 2009 also features the return of cable humor gems like FX's
'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' and
'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (with the 'Seinfeld' cast reunion) on HBO, as well as some new potential comedy classics in the making.
•
'Modern Family' (ABC, Sept. 23) -- One of the most talked about (in a good way) new shows of the season features the return of Ed O'Neill, aka Al Bundy, as the patriarch of the Pritchett-Delgado-Dunphy family, who's being followed around by a Dutch film crew for a documentary on -- title time -- the modern family. In this case, that family consists of Jay (O'Neill), who's often mistaken for the father of his much-younger second wife; Jay's neurotic daughter Claire (Julie Bowen), who's married to Phil, who horrifies his children with his knowledge of the lyrics to the 'High School Musical' soundtrack (nice corporate synergy, by the way, by Disney-owned ABC); and Jay's gay son Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who, with his longtime love Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), has adopted a baby girl from Vietnam. They're not quite the Bluths of 'Arrested Development,' but 'Modern Family' is one of the best new sitcoms to hit the airwaves since the Bluths left.
•
'Community' (NBC, Sept. 17) -- The new season's other most buzz-worthy comedy stars 'The Soup' star Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, an attorney who has to get a new college degree after his old one -- from Colombia, the country, not the university -- is deemed invalid by the state bar. Where does Jeff go to get his quickie education? The local community college, where, in spite of, and partly because of, his fast-talkin' ways, he bonds with a group of fellow students that includes the much-married Pierce (Chevy Chase), Spanish professor Señor Chang ('The Hangover''s Ken Jeong), pop culture geek Abed (Danny Pudi) and sassy Britta (Gillian Jacobs), the dropout who may become Jeff's love interest.
•
'The Middle' (ABC, Sept. 30) -- 'Everybody Loves Raymond' mom Patricia Heaton and 'Scrubs' janitor Neil Flynn are the Midwestern parents of a family of misfits in this 'Malcolm in the Middle'-ish comedy. The scene stealer: Seven-year-old Brick (Atticus Shaffer), whose best friend is his backpack, and who even looks like 'Malcolm''s little bro, Dewey
•
'Cougar Town' (ABC, Sept. 23) -- Courteney Cox is back in sitcomland as single mom Jules, who, after a recent divorce, finds that the dating pool in her hometown consists largely of men who are her junior and can't identify with a lot of her experiences (like the C-section scar she tries to pass off as an injury she suffered in a knife fight). The series was created by 'Scrubs' creator Bill Lawrence, who promises that the humor will be edgy and "push the envelope."
•
'Glee' (Fox, Sept. 9) -- Technically, it's more dramedy than straight sitcom (or "musical comedy"), but there's certainly much to laugh at in this series about the adventures of an Ohio high school glee club, created by 'Nip/Tuck' creator Ryan Murphy. At the top of the list: funny lady Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester, the glee club-hatin' adviser to the school's award-winning cheerleaders, the Cheerios.
There's also the new Jenna Elfman comedy 'Accidentally on Purpose,' ABC's 'Hank' with Kelsey Grammer, Fox's 'Family Guy' spin-off 'The Cleveland Show' and the Michael Strahan comedy 'Brothers,' and of course, the comedy bits on the new prime-time talk series 'The Jay Leno Show.'
