Read on for info about and the times of the funniest TV shows of the current season. Clicking on the title of the TV show will take you directly to the official site.
SUNDAY
The Cleveland Show-Sundays 7:30PM ET FOX (09/25)
The Cleveland Show is the spin off of Seth MacFarlane’s hugely successful Family Guy. If you enjoy the harsh comedy of Family Guy you should definitely check it out. It’s about Cleveland Brown who got back together with an ex from high school and is helping her raise her children. He usually came across as the nicer friend on Family Guy but gets to be a bit meaner on here. His best friends are loser rednecks (including the voice talents of Jason Sudeikis) and a bear. A neat thing about this comedy is that the women are shown as angry and dramatic in a way that is usually steered clear of by other shows.
The Simpsons-Sundays 8PM ET FOX (09/25)
I’m sure that you are aware of The Simpsons, which is the longest running animated comedy out there. It’s a personal favorite of mine. I know that it gets criticized in the way that SNL does of “it’s not as funny as it was” but you have to realize that a show will not always be the same. I love the experimental creative leaps they’ve taken in some episodes over the last few years. Of course the show is about the dysfunctional Simpsons family.
Most of the time, excluding the Who Shot Mr. Burns? arc years back, the show doesn’t do cliffhangers. However during the last season finale Ned started seeing Edna. Over the summer Fox did a Pro Nedna Vs. No Nedna poll to see if they should continue dating. I initially was against it but now think that it could liven things up a bit.
Family Guy-Sundays 9PM ET FOX (09/25)
Family Guy is Seth MacFarlane’s over the top comedy that you either think is undoubtedly, absurdly funny or you already hate it.
MONDAY
Hung-Sundays 10PM ET HBO (10/02)
Hung is based on a dream I had about Thomas Jane as a prostitute. Wait, it isn’t? Well it is about Thomas Jane being a struggling, middle age gigolo and it’s hella good. This year he competes against a younger model, cat fight! Jane Adams and Anne Heche costar as his pimp and ex wife, respectively.
How I Met Your Mother-Mondays 8PM ET CBS (09/19)
This used to be my favorite show. I used to turn people onto it all of the time. However the last couple of seasons have went with melodrama (who kills Dauber!?, that is just cruel) for no reason. Please stop this and give us the funny back. Even with that it was sometimes funny though. New promo photos like this are really making me wish that they hadn’t wasted the possibilities of the Barney/Robin romance which could have been funny and wait for it…awesome! Instead we got sad depressing. If this season is really all about a wedding and a pregnancy I’m going to find it very hard to stay awake &/or not throw my drink at the screen. This show features the incredibly talented cast of Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris & Alyson Hannigan.
2 Broke Girls-Mondays 8:30PM ET CBS (09/19)
I am not going to lie, this sitcom about a formerly rich but now poor waitress and another waitress doesn’t look all that hot but I’d watch Kat Dennings read a phone book.
Two And A Half Men-Mondays 9PM ET CBS (09/19)
For a show that everyone says that they don’t watch Two and a Half Men has a huge viewership. I became a fan a few seasons in and it’s obvious, frat boy funny. I understand the need for them to replace Charlie Sheen and I like Ashton Kutcher but I kind of wish that they had went with someone a little older, like Hugh Grant. I also thought that they could have just made Ryan Stiles a regular, which would have been awesome. The funny series stars Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones.
Bored to Death-Mondays 9PM ET HBO (10/10)
I haven’t seen much Bored to Death. I only caught a few episodes on Ion & it didn’t click with me. That may be because they were out of order and everything. It does seem like something that I would enjoy though. Hopefully I’ll catch up soon. Plot: “Inspired by detective stories, A well meaning but struggling writer decides to lead a sort of double life by pretending to be a private detective.” (from IMDB.com). It stars yummy Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson.
TUESDAY
New Girl-Tuesdays 9PM ET FOX (09/20)
“I’ll probably be watching Dirty Dancing 6 or 7 times…a day”
Zooey Deschanel stars as a girl who just got dumped and decides to live with 3 male roommates (1 is Damon Wayans Jr. from Dance Flick, yay!).
New Girl is well, uh, it’s okay. It’s basically a hipster sitcom. The problem with that is that hipsters (as far as I understand them, which isn’t well) are trying to be cool all of the time with a border of ironic. To be extremely funny you have to be willing to look like a complete idiot. If you hold back and then pull out the cutie pie look at the end it diminishes the funny.
I don’t have a problem with Deschanel. I’m pretty much in the middle when it comes to her but many people either love her to pieces or hate her with a firey vengeance (yeah, she seems to elicit a strong response). I feel that she’s basically created a strong image of herself. I’m not saying she’s fake but that her presence is probably an exaggerated version of who she is.
The first episode is about how she’s trying to get over a break up and is probably easy for people to sympathize with. I find the main actor somewhat off putting just because it seems less like he’s trying to get her over a breakup and more like he’s trying to teach her to be a woman, which is insulting. Justin Long will be making an appearance in an upcoming episode.
WEDNESDAY
Modern Family-Wednesdays 9PM ET ABC (09/21)
Modern Family is about a father (Ed O’Neil) and the lives of he and his adult children and their children. Back before the show came out I didn’t want to give it a chance because it’s about families. However as we all now know it’s freaking hilarious and seems to just get funnier as it progresses. Ty Burrell (love him!), Sofia Vergara (so beautiful people probably can’t look directly at her), Julie Bowen, Eric Stonestreet, Sarah Hyland and Jesse Tyler Ferguson costar.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter-Wednesdays 9:30PM ET FOX (11/23)
I really love the premise of this, 2 grown women who were unpopular in high school now have witchy teen daughters to deal with. So much so that I’ll take the leap and ignore the fact that Jaime Pressley has always been freaking gorgeous. I’m not crazy about the canned laugh track in the preview and it seems a little too slapsticky but I bet that it will be tinkered with a bit and improve.
THURSDAY
The Big Bang Theory-Thursdays 8PM ET CBS (09/22)
It’s a comedy about a bunch of (mostly) PHDs. I thought that the season ending cliffhanger of Penny and Raj (whose social anxiety is so bad that he can only talk to women, at all, while drunk) get drunk and hook up was pretty crazy. Good crazy, bad crazy, I’m unsure. However I just wish that they’d sort of mix this show up a bit. I was really into it in the beginning but them it seemed to become only about everyone getting girlfriends, which is like lots of other shows and not as imaginative as it was.
Parks and Recreation-Thursdays 8:30PM ET NBC (09/22)
This show just seems to get increasingly funnier the long that it goes on and the more that we learn about all of quirky characters. It’s about a bunch of people who work at a town hall in a fictional town in Indiana. The last season ended with Amy Poehler and Adam Scott’s characters finally getting together but now their relationship is in peril because Poehler’s Knope is going to run for office.
The Office-Thursdays 9PM ET NBC (09/22)
Who will be the new manager of The Office? Um, as long as it stays funny what’s the difference? Seriously though I’m just glad that we don’t have to drag out the schmaltzy Michael’s leaving stuff any longer. A great ensemble sitcom that is basically consistently funny.
Whitney-Thursdays 9:30PM ET NBC (09/22)
Whitney Cummings gets every comedian’s dream with her own sitcom. The problem might be that it’s on network television and she is very filthy so I’m not sure how much she will be able to get in. The preview is uneven but when she’s funny she’s very funny. The loose “plot” (to have something to make jokes around) seems to just be about her dating Chris D’Elia. I totally miss him on Glory Daze and it only ended earlier this year. Hopefully they both get to be outrageous and bounce stuff off of each other because if he has to play her straight man that will suck. So yeah, I’m hoping that it will be really funny, not censored too much and last.
30 Rock-Thursdays 10PM ET NBC (09/22)
Truly hilarious sitcom. Everybody on it is great. It’s about a variety show set at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC, ala SNL. They often make inside jokes about the show and the companies that own the show, which is pretty awesome. Stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia-Thursdays 10PM ET FX (09/15)
I pretty much avoided watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia until this summer because I already have too many shows to watch. It’s quite ridiculous and funny. It’s about a group of friends who run a bar in Philadelphia.
SATURDAY
Rules of Engagement-Saturday 8PM ET CBS (10/08)
Rules of Engagement is always funny. It gives me a way to see David Spade every week, which would be enough but on top of that everyone else on it is also great. The cast includes Patrick Warburton, Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich.
It’s mainly about the differences between men and women. I’m sort of upset that CBS moved it to Saturday though because that’s where shows go to die. On the plus side though you can watch this and then many, many hours later watch SNL.
HIMYM could take some clues from Rules in the area of players. They routinely diminsh Barney when he’s dealing with relationship issues while Spade’s Russell on Rules is a player but even when he’s seeing someone it’s still funny. In fact, it’s often funnier.
Saturday Night Live-Saturdays 11:30PM ET NBC (09/24)
Not a sitcom, but completely hilarious. This year SNL is in its 37th season. The current cast includes Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig, Bobby Moynihan, Abby Elliott, Jay Pharoah, Nasim Pedrad, Taran Killam, Paul Brittain and Vanessa Bayer. So far the hosts/musical guests announced for this season include: Alec Baldwin with Radiohead (09/24), Melissa McCarthy with Lady Antebellum (10/01) and Jimmy Fallon with Michael Buble (12/17). There is no way for me to accurately describe how much I love Saturday Night Live (every cast/season) so I won’t try. Just watch it.