Forget Friends! The 25 greatest overlooked sitcoms – from Lovesick to Younger
1 Free Agents
All 4A six-part Channel 4 comedy from 2009 about talent agents, the show starred Stephen Mangan, a prestratospheric Sharon Horgan, and features Anthony Head’s greatest ever performance. It made central London look as beautiful as it has ever looked. And yet it came and went in the space of a single series.
2 Better Things
BBC iPlayerMy theory is that many more people know about Better Things than have actually seen it, thanks in part to the participation and then very sudden non-participation of its co-creator Louis CK. It’s an unvarnished, auto biographical see ming sitcom about a divorced woman (Pamela Adlon) who singlehandedly raises three children. It is raw, touching and incredibly funny. And yet the most remarkable thing about is Celia Imrie’s exceptional performance as Adlon’s mother.
3
Lovesick
NetflixNobody watched Lovesick when it was first on Channel 4, because back then it was called Scrotal Recall. Which is a shame, because Tom Edge’s comedy was a thing of true beauty. A man learns that he has a sexually transmitted disease and has to revisit his past partners to let them know. The episodes are told in flashback, as we watch the birth and death of each individual relationship. Lovesick isn’t just funny; it is also exquisitely constructed and beautifully performed.
* * * 4 Lee and Dean
All 4Mark O’Sullivan and Miles Chapman’s mockumentary began as something deceptively broad: a Stath Lets Flats-ish look at two working-class builder brothers from Stevenage. But in this final form, it is much more nuanced and multi-layered than the premise would suggest. It slowly blossoms into a sweet, beautifully observed meditation on fraternal friendship.
* * * 5 AP Bio
Sky ComedyA sitcom about a disgraced Harvard professor forced to teach high school biology. Dripping with talent, it is consistently riotously funny and as structurally solid as any sitcom can be. In a parallel universe, this show is as big as 30 Rock.
* * * 6 Mister Winner
BBC iPlayerThis might be the funniest thing on terrestrial television at the moment. Spencer Jones plays a down-on-his-luck chancer who drifts in and out of absurd situations. A selfplaying piano lets him fake his way into a job as a restaurant pianist. A painting and decorating job ends with a visit from the armed response unit. Imagine a much sillier Only Fools and Horses and you’re on the right track.
* * * 7 Miracle Workers
Sky ComedyA show set in heaven that aired at the same time as The Good Place was never going to come out on top. And yet Miracle Workers, in which Daniel Radcliffe plays a celestial worker trying to save Earth from destruction at the hands of an absentee God (played by Steve Buscemi), is arguably just as smart and clever as its more successful peer. The first season is a self-contained story with a finite ending. It will take you a day to watch from start to finish, and your life will be better for it.
* * * 8 The Comeback
Sky ComedyThe only true postFriends success; an excruciating faux reality show starring Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a former sitcom actor bidding for a second shot at success. The Comeback is so funny that you will ache and so unflinching that you will chew the flesh from your hands.
* * * 9 Future Man
AmazonThe third season of Future Man came out a month ago, and nobody seemed to notice. Co-created by Howard Overman (who co-created Merlin and last year’s War of the Worlds), this swing-for-the-fences silly comedy sci-fi is about a gamer who becomes a time-travelling superhero. There is a huge chance that you will forget about Future Man the second it finishes, but at least you will have a good time while it’s on.
* * * 10 Loudermilk
AmazonIn some ways, Loudermilk is the archetypal comedy of the decade, in that it’s a) a sad and vaguely redemptive show about an alcoholic and b) maybe a fraction of 1% of people have heard of it. However, it was created by Peter Farrelly and features a brilliant central performance by Ron Livingston, so while it isn’t going to make you fall out of your chair laughing, it is at least capable of being compelling.
* * * 11 Casual
AmazonMichaela Watkins should be one of the most famous performers in the world and Casual is proof of that. Playing a therapist who moves in with her brother after leaving her husband, Watkins is funny, sexy, sad and raw all at once. It’s a revelatory performance that never quite got the response it deserved.
* * * 12 Pete Versus Life
All 4George Jeffrie and Bert TylerMoore’s 2010 sitcom is as undemanding as it gets. Rafe Spall plays a slappable man-baby who struggles with the most basic of tasks and interactions, and the whole thing has a running sports-style commentary, which gets old within seconds. But underneath all that, you will find a solid hangout comedy about a bunch of friends in their first flush of adulthood.
* * * 13 Younger
Now TVDarren Star’s comedydrama has an excellent premise; a 40year-old single mother must pretend to be 26 to make a success of herself in the publishing industry. What’s more impressive, though, is that Younger is somehow able to sustain this premise for a full series. It is lightweight and disposable, but never manages to fall prey to any of the obstacles that litter its path. For something that could have fallen flat at the first obstacle, it is tremendously well done.
* * * 14 Crashing
All 4A Phoebe Waller-Bridge sitcom about twentysomething property guardians. The characters are broader than you would expect, and the tone is slightly too twee. Nevertheless, if you squint, you can tell who wrote it. There are moments where the characters sidle up to big realisations and then back away, trapped in the words unsaid. But also there are ukuleles, so tread carefully.
* * * 15 The Other Two
All 4One of the best comedies of recent years, The Other Two is as bright and confident as a sitcom can be. Drew Tarver and Heléne Yorke play siblings who get left behind when their 13year-old brother is catapulted to Justin Bieber levels of fame. Vicious and warm, it might actually be perfect.
* * * 16 Mrs Fletcher
Now TVLike Casual, Mrs Fletcher isn’t exactly laugh out loud. It is a quiet, slow, contemplative Transparent-esque sadcom about a middle-aged woman rediscovering her sexuality after her son leaves for college. However, it is held together by a towering performance by Kathryn Hahn. With her ability to flit between dozens of directly conflicting emotions in a single take – not to mention the smart, compassionate script by The Leftovers’ Tom Perrotta – Mrs Fletcher is absolutely worth your time.
* * * 17 Great News
NetflixIf there was a God, he would show us that he loved us by bringing back Great News. Written by 30 Rock’s Tracey Wigfield, it is a frantic workplace comedy that takes place at a cable news show. The hook is that a middleaged woman takes a job in a newsroom alongside her high-achieving daughter, but really this is just a relentless screwball of a show. The script is perfect. The cast is perfect. Every episode fires on cylinders you didn’t know even existed.
* * * 18 Champaign ILL
YouTubeAdam Pally and Sam Richardson play two members of a rapper’s posse who find themselves trying to adapt to civilian life after the rapper dies. It is an aggressively stupid show, and you will love it with all your heart.
* * * 19 Black Monday
Now TVA period comedy starring Don Cheadle, set in the weeks leading up to the stock market crash of 1987, this is both a whirlwind comedy of vulgar excesses and a tightly plotted murder mystery. Almost nobody watches it, which is a crying shame.
* * * 20 Review
AmazonArguably the most underrated comedy of recent years, Andy Daly’s Review is a thing of total perfection. Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a critic who reviews life experiences chosen for him by the public. It starts sensibly enough, with a review of stealing and cocaine addiction. And then comes divorce, at which point things really begin to spiral. The genius of Review is how each new indignity piles on top of the last, causing MacNeil to quickly lose his grasp on reality. This show is a masterpiece. If you only watch one thing on this list, make it this.
* * * 21 Please Like Me
AmazonThis is one of those shows that only really qualifies as a comedy because it is half an hour long. There is a suicide attempt very early on in the series, which is used to vault to a place that deals with heavy issues like depression, homophobia and cancer. Reviews came bookended with the numbers of crisis support services. It is not something to sling on to unwind after a hard day. But if you’re in the mood, it is also so warm and brave that you will want to clutch it to your chest.
* * * 22 Detroiters
Now TVIn a way, it is a good thing that Detroiters died, because it freed Tim Robinson to make the untouchable sketch show I Think You Should Leave.
But in another sense, it is unbearably sad, because Detroiters was magnificent. Robinson and Sam Richardson play best-friend advertising partners with no money and barely any IQ. Each episode is basically just an excuse to watch Robinson and Richardson tool around like bozos. It will for ever be missed.
* * * 23 Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet
Apple TV+Like The Morning Show, this is another excellent series that nobody watched because Apple overestimated its own popularity and will go down as a hidden gem. Rob McElhenney from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia plays the charismatic lead developer at a videogame studio, and we watch as the effects of his obnoxious whims ripple out across his overloaded workforce. Mythic Quest could have simply become another tired old workplace comedy, but there is real artistry to be found here. A highlight is the episode A Dark Quiet Death, which is basically a sweet little indie movie that exists completely outside the universe of the rest of the show.
* * * 24 Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman
NetflixThis list has been short on Japanese-language sitcoms, and even shorter on sitcoms about pudding-obsessed men who sneak out of work during the day to eat desserts that make them hallucinate and then ejaculate. Reader, Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman is that show. It isn’t consistently funny, but it is consistently weird, which is just as good.
* * * 25 The Righteous Gemstones
Now TVDanny McBride is a weird one. On film, where he often appears as a side character in Seth Rogen-y comedies, he comes across as crude and obnoxious. And yet the TV shows he creates are exquisite. Eastbound & Down was a classic, Vice Principals was extremely good and The Righteous Gemstones might be his best work yet. As a sitcom about dysfunctional televangelists, it is necessarily satirical, but at the same time it is crude and bleak and – sometimes – surprisingly big-hearted. McBride has stated that he wants this to run for years. Hopefully he will get his chance.