Jace, Extat Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 I've been thinking about it for a while, and I hold 30 Rock and Scrubs and HIMYM and a number of other shows merit consideration for 'BCSS' but VEEP just seems to be a class apart. Maybe it's telling that Louise-Dreyfus is in both, but I really feel that the shows are both incredibly tight and enjoy balance with the casts. You never groan that its a George episode or that we're spending a lot of time with Mike McClintock lately. There's something to be said about knowing where characters fit in the overarching narrative and not putting pressure on the audience to connect with an actor whose performance was never meant to be the center of a story. What other peeps be thinking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nictarion Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 46 minutes ago, Pony Queen Jace said: I've been thinking about it for a while, and I hold 30 Rock and Scrubs and HIMYM and a number of other shows merit consideration for 'BCSS' but VEEP just seems to be a class apart. Maybe it's telling that Louise-Dreyfus is in both, but I really feel that the shows are both incredibly tight and enjoy balance with the casts. You never groan that its a George episode or that we're spending a lot of time with Mike McClintock lately. There's something to be said about knowing where characters fit in the overarching narrative and not putting pressure on the audience to connect with an actor whose performance was never meant to be the center of a story. What other peeps be thinking? Why in the world would you do that? George was by far the best part of Seinfeld. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Veep is at the top of my list fighting it out with Strangers with Candy, Arrested Development and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for best since Seinfeld. Like all the other series mentioned, Veep has an excellent cast of characters I never get bored of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Veep has been incredible. 30 Rock was insanely brilliant. Curb Your Enthusiasm is ludicrously amazing. What unites those three and Seinfeld was the absence of schmaltz. They're basically a bunch of hilariously terrible people insulting each other. That's the recipe for pure comedy dynamite right there. I mean, I like cuddly sitcoms like Parks & Rec and New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine too, but when it comes to weapons-grade American comedy firepower you just can't beat Seinfeld, 30 Rock, Curb and Veep. (Disclaimer: I haven't watched It's Always Sunny In Philidelphia or Arrested Development yet.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briantw Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Veep is amazing, but I don't think it has topped Arrested Development yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 I didn't watch Seinfeld until well after it had finished and sound it quite dated. So i'd have Veep, it's always sunny, and parks and rec above it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt b Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 3 hours ago, briantw said: Veep is amazing, but I don't think it has topped Arrested Development yet. I would agree with this. Also, Veep is going downhill. Last season wasn't especially great, although it did have it's moments. Probably would've been a good season of any other comedy but as a season of Veep it was sub par (and the handful of very lazy transphobic jokes weren't welcome at all). But it's probably a good thing next season is it's last, I hope they stick the landing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nictarion Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Veep was bound to have at least a slight drop in quality with the departure of Armando Iannucci, but I still love it. JLD is a national treasure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Veep is top tier comedy (and much better than Seinfeld, IMO). Last season saw a slight drop but I’m still excited about the next season. And definitely good for them to wrap it up now rather than try to drag it out. When I rewatch, I’m always surprised by how strongly they started, with every character already well defined. Most comedies take a while to find their rhythm and balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 Other than Veep, I'd nominate five comedies since Seinfeld: Arrested Development, Community, 30 Rock, Always Sunny, and Parks & Rec. (Curb was too much Larry David for me.) Thing is, I stopped watching the last four before they concluded (and even though Always Sunny is still going on I haven't watched in years) because sitcoms grow stale after awhile. Arrested Development was canceled before it could start sucking, but the I found the Netflix return uninspired. Even more recent comedies I've liked, such as Blackish and Goldbergs, have already worn out their welcome. I guess my point is sitcoms have a very short shelf-life, and honestly I've spent much more time over the past 15 or so years watching cartoons like South Park and Family Guy (and even American Dad and Rick & Morty) than your standard sitcom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted January 30, 2018 Author Share Posted January 30, 2018 4 minutes ago, dmc515 said: Other than Veep, I'd nominate five comedies since Seinfeld: Arrested Development, Community, 30 Rock, Always Sunny, and Parks & Rec. (Curb was too much Larry David for me.) Thing is, I stopped watching the last four before they concluded (and even though Always Sunny is still going on I haven't watched in years) because sitcoms grow stale after awhile. Arrested Development was canceled before it could start sucking, but the I found the Netflix return uninspired. Even more recent comedies I've liked, such as Blackish and Goldbergs, have already worn out their welcome. I guess my point is sitcoms have a very short shelf-life, and honestly I've spent much more time over the past 15 or so years watching cartoons like South Park and Family Guy (and even American Dad and Rick & Morty) than your standard sitcom. As one who watched the second season of Family Guy until the fucking DVD lazer gave out, I have a theory about this. Cartoons feel far less focus-group tested to me. They're lower budget and tend to go straight from the writers head(s) to the screen with a quick turnaround time. You see actors get a lot more loose in voice roles, I expect because they feel liberated not to perform on camera. And in general the best shows have this trait. You feel close to Tina Fey when you watch 30 Rock, you're getting her vision. When they're making writers jokes, you're getting writers' jokes. It's what made Always Sunny so eye catching. You're getting a pretty honest take on things. It's been stretched and blown into comedic proportions, but there's real appreciation for how fucked your life can feel in there. And every show eventually loses that feeling. Eventually the original truth has been explored about as much as it can be and you start treading water. It's always the beginning of the end. Only Family Guy and The Simpsons have managed to somehow keep enough eyes tuning in to even stay on the air. As others have said, VEEP took a big step down last season and I'm hoping that in the final turn JLD has something new to show us from her fight with cancer. I expect that's what will happen, and in a weird way I'm very excited to see her answer to her struggle. I think it might be a medicine thing, lots of PT people are like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davrum Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 On 1/30/2018 at 3:35 AM, Nictarion said: Veep was bound to have at least a slight drop in quality with the departure of Armando Iannucci, but I still love it. JLD is a national treasure. The first season after he left held beautifully and had some of the show's best episodes, but the second post-Iannucci season was the weakest so far. Richard Splett remains the funniest sitcom character of the decade though. https://www.splettnet.net/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 On 1/28/2018 at 9:40 PM, Nictarion said: Why in the world would you do that? George was by far the best part of Seinfeld. That might be a point I have to concede. Elaine is great, but she's usually doing a balancing act for either George or Kramer pushing the episode. Speaking of Veep. Every time Patton Oswalt is on the screen I just can't stop smiling. What a guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn Stone Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Jeff Richmond was the secret weapon of 30 Rock that I felt propelled it above the others. His musical numbers were effin' hilarious. I'm in a trivia league and one of the questions this past week was tied to Alan Alda's Milton Greene character. For the next hour I could not get the Milton Greene "Kidney Now" song out of my head. Elvis Costello telling me how when someone stops and talks in the middle of a song that it's really important. And Cyndie Lauper just singing "Milton Greene Milton Greene Milton Greene" over and over again. And of course Jane Krakowski had an amazing run doing some of those songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I watched the first two or three episodes of Veep and found it wasn't on the level of its sort-of parent show The Thick of It. I'm told it gets better, and I'll watch it eventually, but I have a hard time believing it's gonna top the best of Thick of It (which also improved wildly as it went along), especially since only one of those two shows has Malcolm Tucker in it. There's a lot less of The Thick of It at this stage, admittedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Antony Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Thick of It is marginally superior but it doesn’t make Veep any less watchable. I loved every bit of the first four seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 39 minutes ago, Mark Antony said: Thick of It is marginally superior but it doesn’t make Veep any less watchable. I loved every bit of the first four seasons. The addition of Dr. House really covered up a lot of flaws that became obvious in S6. As I said the other day, I am hugely optimistic of a backbounce S7 after JL-D fucks cancer in its PICC line. If there's anything good that can come out of that awesome lady's suffering hopefully she can represent for a lot of people who know how brutal the Big C is. I get a weird like 'let's kick ass' vibe watching the show when I think of a potential S7. I fully expect Selena Meyer to have had cancer, although that is obviously not a decision I have any impact on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 It just occurred to me that a spinoff named SHEEP following Catherine's journey from Mushroom Log eating animal right's activist to president could be pretty fucking awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mother of The Others Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Community had paintball episodes and that time Asian Guy took over the campus (Chang Dynasty), and the alternate realities explored episode was bang. The drawback is it features Abed with the same intensity Will and Grace uses to showcase gayhood. 30 Rock compiled a complete modern vaginal mythos. Many characters went on to exhibit powers. I felt no shame as a viewer. King of Queens had a very extensive body of work. A louvre? They tackled modern life and held it down and well, you know, got at it from all angles. A complete exploration, along the lines of what Malcolm in the Middle ended up being by the.... end. New Girl actually impregnated me at the start. The Canyon, etc. It was incredibly solid and launched deep comedic strikes that I identified with wholeheartedly..... the way other people speak of Sunny In Philly (which totally lacks appeal to me). Then New Girl diluted itself and left the true path and got lost like moses in the desert for a few years. Every once in a while though, oh my god the magic was back. Someone should mark that series on hulu for which eps to avoid. That'd help people. Family Guy appreciation came late for me, taking me a few years to overcome my racism toward cartoon people. But they're doing something with comedy, unlike all the useless comedies like How I Met Your Mother. So Family's fascination has remained strong with me. Futurama was probably more pure joy than any other post Seinfeld comedy. The day the earth stood stupid; In-a-garden-de -Lela; partying with all the presidents' heads, Hypno Toad, so many success stories. Reno 911? Show destroyed my mind. The pregnant Weigel stuck in a stripper cake for a bachelor party gone wrong when she then went into labor and the cake wouldn't fit in the ambulance so they had to roll her in it, topless, down main street parade style to the hospital with her wailing away while pedestrians WTF'ed. Hardest laughing in 21 centuries. The drawback is the formula gets old fast and bombs half of the time. Arrested Development was for me what Christ is to Christians. The only downside is when you realize that, like in Airplane, they're really only retelling the same joke over and over. The same exact spin on everything each time. Eh. Still. At the time, it worked like an ultra laxative to squeeze all the laughter out of me. Only seen like 3 eps of Larry David, sadly. No access. Seems like he gets things hot, but can't pressure cook you all the way because that would require the lid of realism to be brought down on the viewer , and the show is too absurdist to make you really "feel" Larry's mess; you're just "oh Larry," instead of "oh my god! Larry! No!" But maybe i'm missing the fun of regular viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 2 hours ago, The Mother of The Others said: Snip This is Grade A analysis. Forgot about New Girl. What a disappointment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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