Reaper — There’s almost never a good reason to turn your channel to The CW, but Reaper once stood as one of the few exceptions. A combination of Dead Like Me, Chuck, and Clerks, Reaper combines geekery, slacker deadpan, and the supernatural into the amazing comic performances of Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine, who are never as good as when they’re together (see, e.g., all their other shows combined). Ray Wise as the devil is the cherry on top.
Nevertheless, I urge you to give it a chance: It’s three seasons, 18 episodes in all. It’s one of my ten favorite series of all time. It’s funny. It’s intoxicating. It’s amazingly written. It launched the career of Rachel McAdams. My colleague over on Pajiba said it best: “Slings and Arrows will not, in all likelihood, change your life. It is not the best series ever. It is, however, so impeccably written and acted, and so self-contained and purposeful in its execution that you might be led to think otherwise. At least for a few fleeting moments.” Find someone else that has seen Slings and Arrows. They’re few and far between, but they will all back me up on this.
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Seth MacFarlane is my guilty pleasure. I know his stuff is not that funny, is left leaning, and everything that is funny is probably stolen from somewhere else… But I like it.
I’m so ashamed.
Really?
Mine is dousing cats in gasoline and setting them on fire.
Also, The Big Bang Theory.
what does his humor being left leaning have to do with anything?
Probably has something to do with lazy political humor being doubly groan-worthy.
Reaper was a great show. Not enough people know about it.
My old roommate introduced me to it earlier this year. I thought it got old after a while (constantly the same premise every episode with little variation other than the vessels he had to use were different) but overall the whole angle of the show and writing were smart and funny. Plus Kevin James had a hand in the pilot and the show in general, what’s not to like?
Kevin Smith not Kevin James.
I enjoyed Reaper, but I thoroughly disagree with Dustin’s assessment of the comic performances of Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine as “amazing.” They were fine, but Ray Wise was the primary reason that the show worked for me. Also, the subplot where Sock banged his stepsister was probably the creepiest thing I’ve seen on TV in my whole life.
Spaced is an awesome show but Black Books is better
god bless you sir, he missed IT Crowd and Father Ted too, ALL HAIL GRAHAM LINEHAN!
I only saw season 1 of Slings, but it is brilliant. Paul Gross is fantastic, and Mark McKinney is, well, Mark McKinney
There are so many good shows I need to watch. I saw a few episodes of Slings & Arrows and liked them but never finished the run. I should revisit the show post-haste.
I’d recommend The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. The first season is on Netflix. I hope the second season shows up soon. David Cross is a hapless salesman in London and Will Arnett is his foul-mouthed boss. It’s fantastic.
For Christ’s sake Dustin, PEEP SHOW. How many goddamn times do I have to tell you to watch this?
[4.bp.blogspot.com]
also, That Mitchell and Webb Look and The IT Crowd.
But mostly Peep Show.
Mitchell and Webb because of this:
[www.youtube.com]
Numberwang!
(That’s not actually a link to a Numberwang sketch. I just like saying it.)
THIS. Peep Show is amazing.
Numberwang and Sir Digby Chicken Caesar alone make Michell and Webb worth the watch, but almost everything else is funny too.
That Sherlock sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look was fucking amazing.
i clicked on this article just assuming Peep Show would at least be #3. boy was i shocked and disappointed
We should all boycott Warming Glow until the entire staff binge watches Peep Show and then starts blogging about it and stuff. New series this fall! I demand coverage!
@ Stacey: [25.media.tumblr.com]
[www.youtube.com]
Hear, hear!
This is my favorite Mitchell and Webb skit. The only people who don’t like it are Sami-lovers.
[www.youtube.com]
A Slings recommendation? Where in the hell am I? I’ll know the paint huffing is finally catching up with me if I hallucinate a post about Theater Talk on PBS.
I’m happy you all already recommended Black Books, Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and The IT Crowd.
I would like to add A Bit of Fry and Laurie to the list. You can’t go wrong with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. I also wish Fry’s quiz show QI would get a proper release here, rather than having to be scrounged off of Youtube.
I tried a few episodes of Fry and Laurie and discovered, yes, you can go wrong with them.
I tried watching a few episodes of Inbetweeners but I only got through five of them. I normally don’t like British comedies and this one was no different. I don’t know if it’s the strange slang or that I have to really listen to get what they’re saying but it never connects with me. The IT Crowd is the exception to that tho.
i miss terriers so goddamned much.
I thought Terriers, Better Off Ted and Bob’s Burgers were all Warming Glow favorites. How are they considered “under the radar.”
My love for Green Wing knows no bounds. The finale to the first season is the most hilarious, unhinged, batshit hour of TV I’ve ever seen.
And Sue White from that clip (Michelle Gomez) is the hottest thing Scotland’s ever produced.
Absolutely! I love that they did a “cliffhanger” and all of the mother sexing stuff was enough to make me vomit in my mouth a little while laughing like a loon.
I gave Terriers a try a few months ago after the constant mentions on here and because of that I hate you! Why the hell would you make me watch a show that I would like so much but only get one season of it!
DAMN YOU DUSTIN!
Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.
Seconded. I watched the first season in like 3 days and, even though I knew there would ben no more I went through with it. It hurts.
This happened to me on the Firefly recommendation. Even the movie didn’t help. I won’t be fooled again.
Replace “Raising Hope” with “The IT Crowd” and you’ve got a pretty great list.
It’d be awesome to see these sorts of posts done for other streaming services (Amazon, Hulu, etc.) as well.
I’ve got to argue that The Hot Chick launched Rachel McAdams’ career, not a Canadian show she was in a year later.
The Hot Chick wasn’t capable of launching careers, only killing them.
Spaced was ridiculously brilliant at times: [www.youtube.com]
Loved Reaper when it was on the air. Also, Supernatural is (was?) worth watching on the CW. Demon hunters? Hot girl of the week formula (which is a formula i LOVE)? What’s not to like?
i agree, reaper was great, and i still love supernatural, even though i think most people have jumped ship on it.
Raising Hope is about as funny as a field trip to Auschwitz.
That’s reviewing oven other kind.
Pretty much the first time I’ve seen Slings and Arrows mentioned by someone besides me. Good stuff. In Betweeners is pretty on-point too. A lot of people know about the American shows but these two are really deserving of attention.
Every time I think I’ve finally gotten over having Better Off Ted ripped from my life unjustly, you guys have to tear open the wound. Damn you!
Seriously, thank you. Reaper is one of the best shows I have seen in years, just because of Ray Wise.
I hate to be the dissenting opinion on here, but I thought Terriers was awful. I watched the first episode when it was on TV, and I found the writing boring and predictable, as the show was going along I could guess almost verbatim what they were going to say. And as much as I like the cast (the biggest reason I checked it out), I thought the acting was weak as well. I was so disappointed after watching the first episode that I had no interest in watching any others.
I re-watched the entire season of Terriers about a month ago. I had watched it on first-run, but had it all DVR’d. I had resisted re-watching it, because it made me so damn sad that it was done. But I was bored one weekend and decided to start re-watching, and I couldn’t stop. I watched it all — again — in 2 days. And now I’m sad again. So. Damn. Good.
I’m glad slings and arrows is on this list
No love for ”The Mighty Boosh”? :/
The funny thing for me is I have all of these in my queue with the exception of Slings and Arrows. I just haven’t gotten around to watching them. With the exception of Better Off Ted. That show I watched when it aired and loved it.
Stop trying to make Terriers happen. It was a horrible show and was deservedly canceled. Pure dreck.
thanks for this.
it’s great to see terriers, raising hope, better off ted & the inbetweeners recommended. i have to recommend them as well with better off ted’s cancellation being the biggest disappointment. i thought the show was brilliant and would class it as my favorite comedy, at least prior to community.
spaced i started but my tv’s sound was too poor for me to make out the dialogue clearly enough. just upgraded so i’ll have to go back and try it. sons of tuscon has been surprisingly good so far, so i’ll def check out reaper. also most likely whatever other recommendations you made that catch my eye.
oh and green wing i’ll def check out. episodes unfortunately i feel tries too hard to blend american and british humor. i watch it but it’s often either yawn or cringe inducing. love the cast though.
I’m not the biggest Seth McFarlain fan thanks to South Park (I pretty much do whatever Matt and Trey say), but Bob’s Burgers is f*cking garbage. It’s the antithesis of comedy. It’s terrible animation when there is no excuse for it. (South Park started as bad animation in the 90s with a low budget so don’t start). Just plain awful.
I loved Slings and Arrows. I just got around to watching it last week, and I was amazed at how funny this show was. As a Canadian, far too often I turn the channel when a Canadian show comes on – because far too often, its a poorly written piece of crap on CBC. I have always liked Paul Gross, so I gave this show a chance – and I’m so glad I did.
i agree, reaper was great, and i still love supernatural, even though i think most people have jumped ship on it.
absolutely correct…..
best comedy tv