By
Ammar Anwar
1st Year MBBS
Ramazan is over and so are the vacations and the short-lived enjoyment. Everyone is stressed out about the send ups and the prof exams. Theetas everywhere are chilling and the regular people (myself included) are now praying to somehow get through the monstrosity unscathed. But who is to stop us from having a little fun along the full-of-depression way to the prof? NO ONE.
And that is why I'm writing this blog today. Between hours and hours of parhai, everyone deserves to blow off some steam by watching something funny, something that will not force them to quit their parhai to watch it, yet relieve them of their pre-prof depression in-between lengthy study sessions.
Let's start by taking a look at the shows to watch during the upcoming depressing months.
1. Modern Family
Starring: Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ed O'Niell, Eric Stonestreet, Ariel Winter, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Aubrey Anderson Emmons and others.
IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
Boasting an incredibly funny cast and an oddball mixture of three hilariously disfunctional-ish families, Modern Family is THE sitcom to watch. It has been winning the Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series for quite a lot of years now, and its cast has also been honored with a lot of awards and rightfully so.
Shot in a mockumentary style like The Office and Parks and Recreation, Modern Family ties the families of Jay Prichett, his daughter Claire and his gay son Mitchell in episodes about 20 minutes in length each and packed with good jokes and funny everyday situations. The cast is great and the storylines are great as well. The jokes are funny, clean and the show is the perfect one to watch with your family, provided they're into sitcoms.
Claire and Phil raise their three kids Haley (a college dropout), Alex (a total nerd) and Luke (not-such-a-bright-kid) in one of the three families. The second family sees Mitchell, Claire's brother who happens to be in a relationship with Cameron and adopt an Asian baby, Lily. The third family deals with Jay Pritchett, father to Claire and Mitchell, who has a younger woman Gloria for his second wife. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Gloria has a teenage son Manny from her previous marriage.
Sofia Vergara shines as Gloria, easily the best character on the show. Her performance is matched by Emmy Award winner Ty Burrell, who is a dad dealing with household issues his own funny way.
My Verdict: All in all, Modern Family has short, crisp episodes, a great cast and a lot of guaranteed laughs. Definitely should be on top of your must-watch list.
My Rating: I love it. 9.5/10.
2. How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM)
Starring: Josh Randor, Cobie Smulders, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris and others.
IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
Here is a show that you probably have heard of or read about in your newsfeed somewhere around April last year, when it came to a somewhat polarizing conclusion after a 9 year long run on television. It was touted as the worthy successor to Friends and told the story of Ted Mosby in the year 2030 telling a 208 episode long story of how he met his wife to his kids through flashbacks spanning the length of 20 minute long episodes.
Ted is an architect who is not very good with building lasting relationships. He has an on-and-off stint with Robin who is a news reporter trying to make it big in the city. They are friends with Marshall and Lily who are a married couple and Barney who is a rich womanizer and also one of the most well known characters in TV history.
It is not over the top funny, it is like a rom-com sitcom (that rhymed!).
The relationships are funny and the situations are relatable. Barney is the backbone of the show's humor. All characters are funny, but Barney outshines them all. Once you start watching this show, you'll burn through the 9 seasons because it is SO interesting! I mean, a guy boring his children with the story of how he met their mother over a period of 9 years is pretty good sitcom material.
How it all pays off in the end entirely depends on you. For me, the ending was great. It was not something I had in mind until the last season's last few episodes, but it was kind of fitting considering that it was the point of the show all along.
So before you go googling the ending, take my advice and don't spoil it for yourself. It is better to keep away from the hatred that the series finale faced, because it would just ruin the mood for you. Delve into the series with an open mind and enjoy.
My Verdict: Great show. Worth checking out.
My Rating: 9/10.
3. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Starring: David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Matt Le Blanc, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and others.
IMDb Rating: 9/10
Let's be honest here. Even if you're not into watching sitcoms or english television series in general, there is a very good chance that you've heard of this excellent sitcom. Friends is an amazing sitcom featuring an ensemble cast of 6 core characters and occasionally featuring guest stars like Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller and Paul Rudd among others.
The show deals with Ross (a paleontologist) and Monica (a cook) who are siblings who live an NYC apartment and become friends with Phoebe (a struggling singer), Chandler and Joey (a struggling actor). The show deals with the different love interests in and out of their group and features pretty great storylines. All characters are equally good but my favourite is Phoebe Buffay played by Lisa Kudrow. She has the best moments and to me, she is the best character in the show.
The show has total 9 seasons. Each episode is almost 20 minutes in length, so watching one episode per day is not going to have a terrible effect on your parhai.
I'm not going to write about this one a lot, because you have to check this out yourself to see how good this is.
My Verdict: Great, funny, all you need to blow off some steam.
My Rating: 9.5/10