30 Parks and Recreation
NBC 2009-15
So many of the comedies on this list are built on pain and anxiety. Parks and Rec rests on a happier foundation, taking its cues from its heroine, Amy Poehler’s cando civil servant Leslie Knope. The series deployed Leslie’s unbreakable hopefulness (and Poehler’s own bottomless reserves of energy) as a weapon, not only against intractable governing problems, but also against the cynicism of colleagues like mustachioed libertarian Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman, magnificently understated) or over-it intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza). A series as capable of making you feel as good as it was of making you laugh at jokes like the town of Pawnee’s infatuation with a tiny horse called Li’l Sebastian, or a fluridden Chris (Rob Lowe) telling himself to stop pooping.