Shows To Binge Watch This Summer Part 4 : Humor Pill

Shows To Binge Watch This Summer Part 4 : Humor Pill

By 
Ammar Anwar
2nd Year MBBS

Hello everyone. No one's beloved series of blogs is back with another installment. Yes, I'm talking about Shows To Binge Watch This Summer. And this time it is all about humor. Afterall, who doesn't deserve a couple of laughs after surviving scorching heat from the Sun and every single department of KE. Let's get to it!

Arrested Development (2003 - Present)

Starring:  Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffery Tambor, Jessica Walter, Ron Howard (Narrator) and others.

IMDb Rating: 9/10

Number of seasons and episodes: 4 Seasons, 85 Episodes

Duration per episode: 22 Minutes (Season 1-3), 32 Minutes (Season 4)

Arrested development is the highest rated comedy series on IMDb and not without reason. This is an exceptionally well written series and well worth your binge-watching time. An amazingly funny cast, amazingly funny writing and amazingly funny scenarios make this series one of the best sitcoms I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Arrested development is like an onion with many layers, the more layers you peel, the more you laugh becuase the extremely intelligent humor of this series is going to reward you every time upon multiple viewings.

Talk about foreshadowing *wink wink*

Tobias Funke is the funniest character ever.

Arrested development is about the wealthy Bluth family which is brought to bankruptcy and shame when the head of the family George Bluth (Jeffery Tambor) gets arrested for fraud and embezzelment and among the dysfunctional family, it is upto the sane and level headed Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), to run the company his father has left behind and to get his father out of jail, all while trying to hold the very incoherent family together. The series spans a total of four seasons, three in the regular 22 minutes per episode format and the fourth one being different both in timing per episode as well as the general format of the episodes, choosing to go for episodes that are each based on specific characters from the family. Each character is equally brilliant, bringing something differnet and hilarious to the table (and each giving us some quality memes).

Gold.

The first three seasons of the show are exceptionally well done, there are hidden jokes, subtle foreshadowing, references and jokes that span the entire season, hidden from plain sight. A lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes here, so complete attention is a pre-requisite because you would miss many quality jokes if you don't pay attention to details. The fourth season of the series takes a different approach as the medium is changed from regular television to Netflix, because the series was cancelled after its third season, God knows why. The fourth season chooses to focus on a single character per episode and chooses to show us the same events from different characters' perspectives. There is very good writing here as well, quality jokes and all, but I felt that the fourth season was a bit dull as compared to the first three. But once you start binge watching this series, it would be extremely hard (and foolish) to stop. So binge away!

Typical Lucille

Bottomline: Exceptional writing meets exceptional oddball characters resulting in one of the best and most intelligent and layered sitcoms you'll ever see. Plus I hear the 5th Season and the movie are in the works, so catching up on the show will not go wasted.


Parks and Recreation (2009 - 2015)

Starring: Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O'Heir, Retta and others.

IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

Number of Seasons & Episodes: 7 Seasons, 125 Episodes 

Duration Per Episode: 22 Minutes

Parks and Recreation tells the story of Leslie Knope, an impossibly optimistic official of the Parks and Recreation department in the state of Indiana and how she is hell bent on turning a local pit into a park for children. The story mainly focuses on the bonding between these different characters that seemingly have different motives for their hilarious actions but at the end of the day everyone does the right thing. Amy Poehler is brilliant as Leslie Knope and Chris Patt is amazing in his role as Andy Dweyer that made him famous. Aubrey Plaza is also great as the very robotic intern and both Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman shine in their respective roles, giving us a lot of quality memes in the process.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
#SedLyf

The show has seven seasons, the first one being great but not quite at the level of the preceeding ones. Many new characters are introduced throughout the show which keeps things interesting and makes one want to binge-watch the show.

LOL, right?

That's some dedication!

Bottomline: Parks and Recreation is one of the best sitcoms you can watch right now. The undying wisdom of its oddball characters will never let you down.

We totally get you 

Hear, hear

30 Rock (2006 - 2013)

Starring: Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Alec Baldwin and others.

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Number of Seasons & Episodes: 7 Seasons, 138 Episodes

Duration Per Episode: 22 Minutes

30 Rock is hilarious. It is intelligent, spontaneous and straight up hilarious. The characters are brilliant and so is the writing. The series tells us the story of behind the scenes action at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on NBC Channel's program "The Girly Show With Tracy Jordan" all while dealing with the personal and work issues of Liz Lemon, the titular character. Be it her boyfriend issues or her untimely and inappropriate jokes or her fixing his boss Jack Donaghy's personal and work issues, 30 Rock tells every story brilliantly, all while giving us some quality memes in the process.

DOES THIS NOT MAKE YOU BURST OUT LAUGHING!
If you don't laugh at this, I don't consider you human.
And I'm not talking to you again.

Isn't this a fine, fresh meme?
You know what? It is!
Because I made this myself.
Taking screencaps and stitching them together takes some dedication, yo!

*neighs in agreement*

The show has a total of seven seasons, differing in number of episodes. The first season is a bit different as compared to the other seasons, but it is just as brilliant as the others if not too heavy on jokes. The later half of first season is when the series picks up its pace and becomes a well-oiled joke machine. Tina Fey is brilliant as Liz Lemon, the confused 37 year old workaholic who is the head writer for TGS. Tracy Morgan plays the disturbed, loud and hilarious black sterotype as Tracy Jordan, Alec Baldwin plays the eccentric business minded Jack Donaghy, Jane Krakowski plays an attention deficient star of TGS, Jenna Maroney and Jack McBrayer shines as the always optimistic, childish, loveable and extremely funny intern, Kenneth Parcell. Having a television channel based setting of the story, each episode features a cameo from a famous celebrity and the cameos range from Peter Dinklage to Oprah Winfrey. The series definitely deserves to be watched on a binge because once you start watching it, there's no putting it down. Definitely deserves to be on your playlist for being one of the most intelligent sitcoms that does not rely on fart jokes for humor.

Oh, Jack! 

Oh, Lemon. Perfectly portraying out inner hunger!

Bottomline: Absolutely hilarious, absolutely brilliant - 30 Rock deserves your time.

The author loves (read: obsesses over) movies and seasons and thinks you should too. So here are the other entries in the author's self-proclaimed "Best Blog Series Ever (Since Comprehensive Subject Guides & Survival Guides)". 
Happy Reading!

Shows To Binge Watch This Summer: Part 1

Shows To Binge Watch This Summer: Part 2

Shows To Binge Watch This Summer Part 3: Prof. Edition