Better off Ted

Show: Better off Ted, ABC (2009-2010)
Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes: 26

Remember a few posts ago when I discussed the animated sitcom Dilbert? What if I told you that there was a workplace comedy that's essentially a live-action Dilbert?

Better off Ted is set in the evil corporation, Veridian Dynamics. This is a company that isn't agaisnt:

A) Cryogenically freezing employees
B) Building killer robots and pandas "in case of peaceful, government overthrow"
C) Manipulating global elections in it favor
D) Boasting in their commercials that it (Veridian) is so powerful that there are only "three governments left in the world" that can take down Veridian
E) Ordering male employees to receive vasectomies 

You get the idea.

The show focuses on Ted Crisp, the head of research and development department. Ted serves as  our narrator, often breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the camera to address us the viewers.

image via: abc.com

As a single father, Ted struggles balancing working for such a shady organization while still being a moral role model for his daughter. 

Another important character is Ted's superior, Veronica Palmer, played by Arrested Development's Portia de Rossi.  Veronica is an ambitious, competitive woman (Veronica secretly feeds her sister while she's asleep in order to remain the "thinner sibling.") 

Other characters include Phil and Lem, laboratory scientists who are essentially nerdy versions of The Simpson's Lenny and Carl, and Linda, who works in the experiment department. She and ted share a mutual attraction but don't act out on it due to Ted not wanting a second "office affair."

Thanks to its surreal, satirical setting and it's quirky cast of characters, Better off Ted is easily one of the most original comedies in the last decade.

Despite a ton of critical acclaim though, the show never broke out as a hit and was later cancelled. Thankfully it now has a second life on Netflix.

Also, each episode features an mock ad for Veridian Dynamics that spotlight their latest breakthrough, or works as a piece of propaganda for the company. Check this one below:

Happy Endings

Show: Happy Endings, ABC (2011-2013)
Episodes: 57


What would happen if, at the day of your wedding, your other half leaves you at the altar? How would this affect you and your friends? Should you all try to remain close together, or pick sides?

This is the dilemma that is raised in the pilot for Happy Endings, one of the most criminally underrated shows in history. 

When it first premiered, Happy Endings was negatively compared to buddy comedies such as How I Met Your Mother and Friends. However, as time went on, the show became a critical smash, appearing in several Top 10 lists for all the three seasons the show aired.

Plus, unlike other buddy comedies like How I Met Your Mother and Friends (which frankly, hasn't aged well) the characters here are people that you'd actually want to spend time with.

abc.com

First up, we have the ex-engaged couple Dave and Alex. Alex is a the ditzy member of the group while Dave is the self-appointed "cool guy" of the group, which amuses everyone since they don't consider him like that at all.

We also have Max, an uncultured, lazy, freeloading irresponsible gay man. Personally, the fact that Max displays such non-stereotypical qualities of a gay man is hilarious and practically groundbreaking. 

Gay men on TV are usually portrayed as rather feminine, so to see someone destroy every single one of those stereotypes (and have the rest of the gang be so cool with his sexuality) is refreshing. Also, the fact that the show's straight male characters are incredibly metrosexual makes him the straightest man in the group is hilarious. As one friend points out, he's "a straight guy who happens to like penises."

We also have married couple Brad and Jane who, despite being several years into their marriage, they're still in love and there's never in danger of their flame burning out. A refreshing thing to see since comedies usually depicts struggling marriages. Here, the humor comes from how insanely perfect Brad and Jane are together.

And finally, we have the  the ambitious, talented, but perpetually unlucky in love Penny, one of this decade's best characters in a comedy series. 

A third of the way into the show's first season, Happy Endings ditched its breakup storyline in favor of revolving the episodes around the characters dysfunctional adventures (the search for the perfect restaurant to host a birthday dinner, a kickball battle, a date with a guy who has the misfortune of having Hitler as a last name) and more. 

Thanks to these storylines, the show developed a fast-paced, witty tone that's reminiscent of such classic shows like 30 Rock, Scrubs and Arrested Development. 

Sadly, Happy Endings ended up getting cancelled at the end of its third season, a victim of ABC's erratic scheduling (the third season was rescheduled four times without any warning, causing viewership to plummet.) 

Even sadder, the show is only available on DVD, but have no fear!

This week, VH1 announced that they've bought the rights to the show, and will exclusively air it, starting with a series long marathon on New Year's Eve. Catch it then!

Below is a clip from a season 1 episode, in which Penny discovers she can speak fluent Italian when drunk.

Pushing Daisies

Show: Pushing Daisies, ABC (2007-2009)
Streaming on: thewb.com
Episodes: 22

Meet Ned.
He's a pie maker.
He also happens to have a Midas touch in which anything or anyone that's dead comes back to life.
He uses this gift to solve crimes with a PI.

That's the plot of Pushing Daisies, a fantastical police comedy that's the perfect definition of "whimsical."

The series, which is narrated by Jim Dale, is one of the most bizarre oddities to ever air on TV.

The best way to describe this show would be that it's an amusing mashup of the dreamy French film Amelie and Tim Burton. The show features such elaborate, fantasy-oriented sets and eye-popping visuals and dialogue that's fairy-tale like. Check out the image below to get an idea of what the show's like.

abc.com

The pilot kicks off when Ned attends the funeral of his childhood sweetheart, "Chuck." In a completely spontaneous move, Ned ends up resurrecting her, despite the consequences.

You see, whenever Ned brings someone to life with his touch, he can't touch that person again, because a second touch will bring about permanent death.

The couple have no choice but to have a hilariously chase love life in which they're both cursed to not even touch each other and distract themselves by solving cases.

It's a quirky TV show that truly is unlike anything ever seen on television and we've yet to see anything come close to matching it in terms of quality, quirkiness and uniqueness.

Despite strong critical acclaim and healthy averages in its first season, the show was cancelled in its second season due to dwindling viewership. This is often attributed to the nearly year-long wait between season 1 and two and a lack of promotion from ABC.

Thankfully, creator Bryan Fuller (the genius behind Dead Like Me, a brilliant workplace comedy about grim reapers, and NBC's Hannibal, the best drama on network TV) has plans of resurrecting the show via in comic book format or as a Broadway musical. I vote for the latter.

Below is a trailer for the show, just so that you can get an idea of the series.

American Horror Story: Asylum

Show: American Horror Story, FX (2012-2013)
Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes: 13 


Usually, this blog covers shows that are cancelled. American Horror Story is still airing.

However, I decided to write about this show because it's an anthology series, meaning that each season is a completely different setting and story with a new cast of characters.

Therefore, I'm writing about the show's second season, which is its best yet.

The first season, set in a haunted house, is incredibly uneven (though the fact that Dylan McDermott is usually naked makes up for it) and the third season, Coven, is incredibly underwhelming.

However, Asylum is all kinds of awesome. 

Asylum switches back-and-forth between the present day and 1964 at the Briarcliff Mental Institution. In 1964, a serial killer known as Bloody face is skinning women alive. During the investigations, reporter Lana Winters (Sara Paulson) ends up getting locked up at the asylum by the stern Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) over Winters' lesbianism.

As Lana tries to escape, we meet the rest of the characters like Kit, an inmate who is framed for Bloody Face's murders, Sister Mary Eunice, a saintly nun who ends up getting possessed by the Devil, and Dr. Arden, a possibly former Nazi scientist who is doing gross experiments on the inmates.

image via: fx.con

Despite a shaky start in which waaaaayyyyyy too much stuff happens (murders, alien abductions, etc.) 

the show evolves into a smart, confident, and ultimately scary attack on the nation's mental health institutions and how it treats its patients. And it does so with Nazis and aliens and a murderous Santa Clause, one flashy musical number and more.

This is a season in which we actually care about the characters and are legitimately terrified of their outcome. Also, the season provides some amazing sequences and visuals. The penultimate episode "Continuum", is a delirious episode from the point of view of a mentally insane character. the result is an almost hallucigenic, dreamlike episode that flashes back and forth between the past and present with such daring jump cuts and shocking twists that it makes the season worth watching.

My So-Called Life

Series: My So-Called Life, ABC (1994-1995)
Streaming on: Hulu and YouTube
Episodes: 19
Time it took to binge: Watched it during Black Friday instead of shopping

Meet Angela Chase (Claire Danes in her breakout role), a teenager starting her sophomore year of high school. Like the average teen, she's conflicted and uncertain about herself and wishes to forge her own identity. This leads to her dying her hair red, disobeying her parents, abandoning her old friends and hanging out with her rebellious classmate Rayanne Graff and gay outcast Rickie Vasquez.

image via: startkedwitch.com

Angela, who narrates the series, pines for bad boy Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto, so all the stupid things she does to get his attention is totally acceptable.) Unbeknownst to her, however, is that Brian, a childhood friend of hers is in love with her

Reading this, you're probably thinking that show is nothing more than a silly soap opera.
Yes, the show indulges in some soapy conventions, but it's so much more than that.

The show deals with several important issues, which range of self-esteem, homophobia, child abuse and homelessness. However, unlike other shows that do a horrible job of dealing with these issues via "a very special episode (looking at you Glee))that solve these problems with a happy ending at the end of the episode. My So-Called Life did just the opposite. These were issues that were there throughout the series and sometimes took episodes to find something close to a solution. Sometimes one wasn't found.

The show succeeds by treating all these issues and more with such depth and complexity that we realize why these issues are such a big deal for these teenagers that even something as dumb as a zit becomes a life-or-death situation.

It helps to that the characters, from Angela, her friends and her family, are such great characters that are totally reletable.

Of course, with a show that is at times so painful to watch, it shouldn't be such a surprise that the show received such low ratings (it aired at the same time as NBC's Friends and Mad About You.) However, according to some reports, and a 2004 article by Entertainment Weekly, ABC was willing to keep the show alive thanks to its devoted fanbase and critical acclaim (at 15, Claire Danes received a lead actress Emmy nomination, becoming the youngest woman to receive such an honor.)

So what led to the show's cancellation? Homework.

image via: ign.com

Reportedly, Danes and other cast members wanted to focus on their schoolwork and were having trouble balancing high school with filming, leading to them not being enthusiastic for a second season. The show was then cancelled, despite the fact that a huge online campaign popped up to save the show (the first time this happened in the history of television and the internet.)

Good thing then that the show is still being talked about nearly 20 years after cancellation, proving that it's stood the test of time as a classic television show.

Terriers

Series: Terriers (FX, 2010)
Episodes: 13
Streaming: Netflix
Time it took to binge: My Saturday

Imagine Roman Polanski's Chinatown, but set in California, and you have Terriers, a gem of a show from the creator of The Shield.

In Terriers, we are introduced to Hank Dolworth (Donal Louge), a disgraced ex-cop and recovering alcoholic. He partners up with his best friend, former criminal Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James) and opens up an (unlicensed) Private Investigation business.

image via: screened.com

What separates this show from other PI series', however, is its charming, breezy So-Cal setting and tone.

While the show isn't exactly a slow burning drama, Terriers moves in calm and confidently breezy manner. This is a great tone for the show to have since it allows for a ton of world-building fir us viewers to get familiarized with the show's setting and characters.

The series begins with Hank tracking down the missing daughter of an old friend of his. This leads to Hank and Britt unwillingly discovering a conspiracy involving their home town, several shady characters and the city's top real estate mogul. Several episodes feature our heroes attempting to unravel this conspiracy.

Aside from this conspiracy, the duo must also fix their own life. Britt and his girlfriend are debating whether or not they should have a baby, while Hank is having a crisis is his ex-wife is remarrying soon. In an act of = impulsive recklessness, he buys their former home, much to the chagrin of everyone.

Even with this main plot, the show still offers room for the case-of-the-week format that procedural are known for. Thankfully, these cases are just as fun as the show itself.

One case, the third episode titled "Change Partners," has Hank and Britt trying to catch a client's wife in the act of adultery. However, the husband doesn't want proof of his wife cheating on him because he plans on divorcing her. Rather, he wants it because he has a fetish of seeing his wife (played by the great Olivia Williams) with other men.

image via: cnn.com

The episode, much like the show itself, is odd, unpredictable, thrilling and downright clever.

Sadly though, this show was cancelled due to low ratings-the series averaged around 680,000 viewers a week. In interviews, the stars of the show and the then president behind FX production blame its failure on the show's confused marketing (apparently, due to the show's poster and title, many viewers assumed the show was about illegal dog fighting.)

Personally, I blame it on the fact this this show was on the FX network, one that has given birth to such gritty, fast-paced shows such as Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Damages and more. Terriers is tonally different from those shows that obviously it didn't belong in that channel, so viewers weren't used to something like Terriers on the FX network.

Despite the fact that the show isn't available on home video, it's streaming on Netflix and co-producer  Ted Griffin has said in several interviews that he he's planning on a revival of the show of some sort, be it as a second season in Netflix or a TV movie.

I hope we see more of Hank and Britt. This series deserves a second chance.

Here's the show's opening theme music, which like the show, is a blast.

Are you planning on checking out Terriers?

Firefly

Series: Firefly (FOX, 2002)
Episodes: 14
Streaming: Netflix
Time it took to binge: My Saturday

This is one that took me awhile to get too.

This is Firefly, a show that, no matter where you look, is always featured in a list of shows that were "Unfairly Cancelled" or "Gone Too Soon."

image via: wikia.com

Created by Joss Whedon (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Marvel's The Avengers) Firefly is a Western that focuses on a group of smugglers. The twist? This is a Western set in outer space in the 22nd century.

Leading the cast is Nathan Fillion as badass extraordinaire Malcolm Reynolds. He's a veteran of a universal civil war that had him fighting for an independent army known as "browncoats" (fun fact, this is what fans of the show call themselves.)

After the war, he becomes captain of the Serenity, a ship that resembles a firefly, as he and his crew of oddball characters travel around the galaxy.

The action picks up when Malcolm picks up a doctor, who smuggles in his sister. She's a psychic who went through several highly invasive experiments as a child, and now the government is after her following her escape.

image via: ign.com

Firefly has all the signature elements of a Whedon show. We have the fast-paced, witty dialogue that made Buffy so famous, as well as a quirky premise that makes the show so unique.

That's probably why the show was cancelled, this show was so..odd.  

The show had several Western motifs that made this show feel so anarchistic, and yet that was part of the charm.

The show provided a ton of swashbuckling fun that shouldn't have worked, and yet oddly enough it did. 

Luckily, the show has lived on. first in a series of comic books that serve as a sequel to the series, then a 2005 threatrical film (that was seriously awful, but whatever) and more comics are coming out, so yay!