Binge-Watch Beat - Your Weekend Comedies Covered
So, you’ve finally gotten through all 9 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, and you demolished the 10 season box set of Friends your uncle gave you last Christmas. There is a gaping, half-hour comedy shaped hole in your life, quelle horreur. What do you do? I sat down with resident TV Expert and bingaholic Lucy Watson to put together 4 comedies worthy of your time this weekend.
Bobs Burgers
What’s it all about? Lucy describes this as “The Best Comedy Animation Out There” (Sorry to South Park/Rick and Morty fans). Bob’s Burgers centers around typical American dad Bob Belcher, his wife, Linda, three kids, Tina, Gene and Louise, and the family's burger shop. This might sound pretty standard, but this show reaches Futurama levels of mayhem on a regular basis, with weekly shenanigans ranging from 8 year old Louise telling everyone at school that her Dad puts human flesh in their burgers, to the kids all starting an underground casino in the basement of the restaurant.
The Run Down: 108 episodes spread across 7 Seasons – it’ll take you 36 hours to get through Bob's Burgers, so with 3 episodes a day, and maybe a couple more on weekends you could knock this out in just over a month (and we’d be proud of you if you did). If you want to space things out more, with an episode a day, you'll spend just under 4 months getting up to date - the choice is yours!
Why it’s worth it : Lucy loves how relatable the characters are - “You’re either one of Tina, Gene, or Louise. Always.”
Who’s it for – Lucy recommends the show to “Anyone, really." She says, "My mum loves Bob’s Burgers, you know what I mean?... It’s just really smart and funny writing. I think it’s gonna go on for ages, like, it’s never gonna end.”
Lucy's Pick: S05E4:Dawn of the Peck
Community
What's it all about? Community is a left of centre sit-com which follows a group of students at Greendale Community College after they form a Spanish study group and become unlikely friends. It makes fun of overdone pop culture tropes with hilarious results every time - whether you're tuning into a Mafia Movie parody centred around the cafeteria's low stock of chicken wings, or one of the episodes in which a harmless game of school-wide paintball gets taken way. too. far, this oddball show is sure to deliver the goods.
The Run Down: With 3 seasons of around 24 episodes followed by 3 13-episode orders, this is another binge that takes commitment, taking you around as Bob's Burgers. You'll probably burn through the first 3 seasons in a weekend or two, but as the quality of the show wanes a little in seasons 4 - 5, we can forgive you for taking longer to finish them up. Stick with it, though! The finale is "one of the best in TV history," according to Lucy.
Why it's worth it: For rap fans, pre-fame Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, is a regular for the first 4 seasons! Lucy also loves the show because "It doesn’t need all your attention, you can pick any episode to start with,” and she says that the soundtrack, especially the song 'Daybreak', "will be stuck in your head for the rest of the year."
Who’s it for: – Lucy recommends the show to "Culturally informed people [because] there’s a lot of references that you have to get." if you like the wit and fast paced dialogue of Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development or South Park, definitely give this a shot.
Lucy's Pick: S03E17:Basic Lupine Urology
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
What's it all about? Brooklyn Nine-Nine is hilarious, super well put together cop comedy, and a great show to unwind in front of when you're zonked out from school. It follows a squad of officers at a Brooklyn wing of the NYPD, and all the crazy antics they get up to in and out of the field. Expect great banter with serial offenders, high stakes bets between the detectives, and clever case-cracking that will make you wish you were on the team - as Lucy says, this show is "crime meets comedy in the best way."
The Run Down: B99 has three complete seasons with around 23 episodes, and it's 5 episodes into season 4, so you're looking at just over 25 hours of screen time - it's manageable in 4-5 weeks of regular but disciplined watching, although certain CHAC seniors have been known to get through it in a single week during the holidays...
Why It's Worth It : When it comes to Brooklyn's amazing ensemble cast, Lucy puts it best -“Andy Samberg is everyone’s favourite. Enough said." If you've seen Samberg in the legendary "Whatcha Say" skit on Saturday Night Live, or in his band The Lonely Island, you'll love his goofball cop persona. Also featured as Gina, the beyonce-loving, shade-throwing office secretary is Chelsea Peretti, "America’s most treasured stand up comic.”
Who’s it for – Lucy loves that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is "a good starting point if you don’t watch a lot of comedy - it’s easy to watch, and fun for families with different tastes, not too conceptual.” She also picks it for "anyone who loves Michael Schur created things – if you’ve seen the Office or Parks and Recreation, you’re gonna want to watch this.”
Lucy's Pick: S02E23:Johnny and Dora
Parks and Recreation
What's it about: If you haven't heard about Parks and Recreation yet, we feel sorry for you - this is a show that manages to turn the seemingly monotonous, uninspiring world of local government into something fun, hopeful and hilarious, episode after episode. It's hard to go wrong with this total feel-good program that focuses on the capable and not-so-capable members of the Parks and Recreation department in fictional city Pawnee, America (slogan: 1st in friendship, fourth in obesity). The half hour pulls you in with recurring gags that will have you laughing well after your first watch, and gets you addicted once you realise how invested you've become in the success of a town that often does mediocrity better than anywhere else.
The Run Down: We'll admit - this is a tough one. You know a show is great when it packs 125 Episodes over 7 Seasons, but that adds up to over 40 hours of television. Season 1 is skippable at first, because the show hadn't quite found it's voice yet, but still - 2 episodes a day will have you finished in jut over 2 months, or you can wait until the summer and clock three hours a day to knock it out in two weeks.
Why It's Worth It: When I asked Lucy why anyone should watch Parks, she replied with a simple “Why wouldn’t you? With all the mayhem of the American Election right now, you’ll wish Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) was a real life candidate. It’s not too heavy in any way - it always looks on the bright side.” As an added bonus, there's the always delightful “Pre-Guardians of The Galaxy Chris Pratt, in all of his baby fat glory.”
Who’s it for – Lucy says that "If you like characters, you can get really attached, especially to the couples – shippers won’t be disappointed because the writers don’t play with your feelings – couples are in it for the long haul... basically, you can really get into it."
Lucy's Pick: S03E13: The Fight
Did we miss your favourite comedy? Let us know on the submit page, and happy watching!
