Fall Sitcoms: A Half-Year in Review, by Matt Shirley

There are a lot of things in the world that I don’t love, but television, and specifically television of the sitcom variety, is not one of those things.

(Quick aside: Dramatic television has never really done it for me. With the exception of Dexter [to which I’m quickly cooling] I can report with confidence that I didn’t routinely watch any dramas this fall. Perhaps unfortunately, I am not wired to enjoy stories without ends. The cyclical and interminable nature of dramatic programming doesn’t appeal to the skeptical part of my brain—the part that says ‘Allllright, that’s enough,’ after the 43rd cliff-hanger ending in the Lost series. I figure if I wanted to watch something dramatic, I’d just watch a movie.)

But sitcoms are different. In my eyes, sitcoms aren’t meant to be serialized, or never-ending, or really all that deep at all. Sitcoms are meant to entertain through the medium of comedy and thus my rubric for judging them is pretty simple: I ask myself, “Is this funny?” I think it’s a failsafe method. And now I’m going to share the results with you.

A review of all of the 2009 fall television situational comedies that I felt were worth watching.

30 Rock
Grade: B

For some reason (and by ‘some reason’, I mean the reason that I explain in the next sentence), I have never been exceptionally eager to watch 30 Rock. It’s probably partly due to the fact that a) it’s semi-serialized so you kind of have to pay attention to the season as a whole and b) it’s a very smart show. These two factors clash with my TV laziness/shallowness and push the show to the end of hulu.com queue. However, every time I do get around to watching 30 Rock, I’m pleasantly surprised by just how funny it is. Will Arnett as Devon Banks and the existence of not one but two simpleton characters (Tracy and Kenneth) make this fall’s search for new talent just as exceptional as past seasons. And let it be documented that while I do my fair share of female-sitcom-writer bashing, Tina Fey has proven herself to be a superior word-craftswoman over the course of 30 Rock’s existence.

The Big Bang Theory
Grade: A-minus

The Big Bang Theory, a show about three scientist nerds and their attempts at social interaction, is the highest rated sitcom this season. While this in itself is surprising, the fact that the show is actually good is even more shocking. It’s smart, remarkably easy to watch, and one of the most consistently laugh-producing shows on TV. While other shows struggle with laugh droughts, The Big Bang Theory is like the Drew Brees of television. It never seems to have bad week.

The Cleveland Show
Grade: F-plus

A formula for failure: take the most boring character from Family Guy, give him his own show, surround him with irrelevant and one-dimension characters and supply him with some almost offensively bad scripts. Result: The Cleveland Show. And because he is an animated character, I don’t think much of the blame can be placed on Cleveland. The foundation for this epic disaster was erected solely by its writers and producers

The Cleveland Show does get an award of distinction however: it was the only show I turned off mid-episode this fall. Congratulations!

The talking bear-neighbor is pretty sweet though—he earns the show an F-plus instead of the solid F it would have earned bearlessly.

Community
Grade: C

If I’d have written this review after the first few episodes of Community, the grade above would have been drastically different, in a positive way. In fact, according to historical facebook updates (Yes, that qualifies as “research”), I gave the first episode an A and the show as a whole was earning a B+ through mid-season. And while it is common for shows to front-load their programming, it is apparent that this show is bottom-heavy with shittiness. The clichéd jokes and anti-funny songs (Note: songs and poems and flashbacks are all gimmicks employed by people who think they are funny but aren’t) have been so prevalent of late that I’m contemplating putting on a foam middle finger and rooting for its cancellation. What was funny about Chevy Chase and the Abed/Troy dynamic in the first half of this half-season has been obscured by forced love plotlines, contrived character motivation and a general lack of funny.

Cougar Town
Grade: B-minus

I can’t believe I just gave Cougar Town a B-minus. Besides having a cringe-worthy title and mullet-joke-like cliché subject matter, I was unfortunate enough to have read the script for the pilot episode of Cougar Town right after it got picked up. It was the worst thing I have ever read in the world. Of all time. Ever. Redundancy for emphasis. It was fucking miserable. Use of curse words for emphasis. But when I forced myself to watch the same episode, it became clear to me that they had drastically upgraded in writing talent. And since then, a show that I thought I would hate more than when football commentators use the word ‘strenff’ has actually been quite funny and surprisingly, a little bit not terrible at all.

Family Guy
Grade: B

Standard Family Guy. Nothing of substance, but pretty damn funny.

Glee
Grade: F-minus-minus-minus

I hesitate to even include this show into my list because to me, it isn’t a sitcom in any sense of the term. Sitcoms at least attempt to be funny; Glee, does not. At best, it’s a musical soap-opera. At worst, it’s damaging to society. Not only is Glee completely irrelevant (Glee clubs? What is this, 1858?) and dorky (Glee clubs? What am I, gay?) but it employs something I call second-hand embarrassment with reckless abandon. Embarrassment is when my friend read my “Will you ask out Katie for me?” note to the whole History class in 7th grade. Secondhand embarrassment is when I watch a grown man lip-syncing Ginuwine’s “Pony” on national television. Then I become so embarrassed for him that I want to procure a handgun, go to his house, ask him if he wouldn’t mind comparing head-sizes, and put us both out of our misery with one shot.

Oh no! The Glee Club is going to lose its funding!! Oh wait, who gives a shit.

How I Met Your Mother
Grade: D

This season of How I Met Your Mother has been a shitshow. The decline is analogous to the latter days of Friends, when the jokes became tired and the emphasis was taken off of ‘funny’ and placed squarely upon the shoulders of ‘dramatics’. Gimmicky ‘comedy’ tactics (See: Community) have also become commonplace and are a sure sign of a show’s decline. Like a Greatest Hits album for a washed-up singer or a celebrity cast for a reality show. While recent plotlines have trended away from incestuous sitcom relationships and soap-opera drama, I’m afraid it might be too late, and How I Met Your Mother might be terminated before the creators even have to think of how to conclude the story of how he met their mother.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Grade: A

This review is going to be biased and not all that fun because Always Sunny is my favorite show, perhaps of all time. And touting a show’s merits isn’t nearly as much fun as tearing one down. Season 5 has been amazing. While this season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has had its comedy valleys (“Mac and Dennis Break Up”, “Kitten Mittens”), even the valleys have a greater elevation than most other sitcoms. Charlie is the best dullard character ever created, and if you aren’t watching this show yet, you’re the simp.

The League
Grade: B

I didn’t start watch the inaugural six episode season of The League until just a few weeks ago, but when I did break my League seal, I quickly rolled through all six in quick succession. This show – about married guys in a fantasy football league – was extremely front-loaded, but may have built up enough funny capital in the first few episodes to counteract the last three and coast into multiple-renewal-ville. It’s dumb, unrealistic, and sometimes explosively contrived, but the lengths to which the show’s characters go to win their fantasy league is funny enough to get my stamp of approval.

Modern Family
Grade: A

Sometimes, critics know what they’re talking about. So far, Modern Family is the champion of comedic consistency—I have yet to dislike even one episode. Furthermore, I had an opportunity to hang out on the set of their Christmas episode and can honestly say that the people who make this show are exceptionally nice and genuinely good people. Plus, the guy who plays the overweight homo is from Kansas.

The Office
Grade: C-plus

The decision to make Jim a co-manager this season has turned out to be a disaster. And might have wholly ruined the show in the process. Jim has gone from loveable loser prankster to straight-man authority figure with devastatingly unfunny consequences. The resulting dynamic between him and the rest of the office hasn’t only become bland, it has become painful to watch. Producer Idea: “Let’s make Jim yell at everyone, that will be funny, right?” Bad Producer. Back behind the cameras with you.

A prediction: something will change in the Jim vector before the end of the season, making things a little more like they used to be at Dunder Mifflin. If that doesn’t happen, I will make a second prediction: a fatal end to this once proud franchise of paper companies.

Parks and Recreation
Grade: A-minus

You need to watch this show. Similarities to The Office—derivative characters and almost identical style of mockumentary—are hard to get used to, but once you do, it will be well worth it. Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) and Andy Dwyer (Some White Guy You’ve Never Heard Of) have found their comedic niches this season and Andy, as the love-struck shoe-shining dumbass, shines especially. What makes this show so good? No poorly-conceived characters. Quite a concept, I know.

Scrubs
Grade: B-minus

Scrubs is back. Again. Unfortunately, I can’t complete the cliché and write that it’s better than ever, because it’s not. When Scrubs made its debut on ABC with Courtney Cox and Aziz Ansari (see: Parks and Recreation) it seemed that a Scrubs revival from suckdom was a possibility. But when Cox left, they fell back into the same tired march and reverted to what got them in trouble at the end of their NBC days in the first place. This time around, they have streamlined the cast—gone are Carla the mother hen and Elliot the new mother hen and the godawfully one-dimensional janitor character—and brought in some new faces, none of which have offended my comic sensibilities. Rumor has it, though, that Zach Braff will taking his leave from the show soon, which will certainly be a death blow to any hopes of a Scrubs ratings revival.

Awards

Best Male Character: Charlie (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Best Female Character: Liz Lemon (30 Rock)

Favorite Quote:

“Gosh that Italian family at the next table sure is quiet.” –The trigger phrase for a KGB sleeper agent, because otherwise this phrase would never be spoken. (Family Guy)

Best Scene:

Dennis buys a pear from a gypsy and then upon recognition that the pear is unripe, wants to return it. (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia)

Dennis: I want my 35 cents back. Charlie, give him the pear.
Charlie: I can’t. I just ate it.
Dennis: The whole thing?
Charlie: Yeah. It was pretty gross, and I…
Dennis: The stem and-and the core?
Charlie: You didn’t tell me not to eat the stem, dude.
Dennis: Did you eat the stickers that are all over it?
Charlie: Yeah, it was gross.
Dennis: Of course, it’s gross. It’s a sticker, bro!
Charlie: I eat stickers all the time, dude!

Best Episode: The Gang Hits The Road (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Biggest Disappointment: The Office

Biggest Surprise: Cougar Town

Best New Show: Modern Family

Biggest Comeback: Parks and Recreation

Best Textfromlastnight About A Sitcom:
(412): do you think the kids from 7th heaven are mad that dennis and sweet dee are their half-brother and sister? (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Worst Show: Glee

Best Show: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia