If You Call Yourself A Quirky Sitcom Fan, You’ve Watched These 8 Recent TV Shows, Right?

For fans of quirky sitcoms, the early 2020s have already offered a few true hidden gems in the form of shows like St Denis Medical and Ghosts. The sitcom seems like a pretty reliable, dependable, straightforward TV institution. In many ways, sitcoms are conventional and reliant on well-worn formulas, but they are also home to some interesting experimentation as well.

Looking back on the most influential network sitcoms ever made, viewers might be surprised to see edgy efforts like The Simpsons and All in the Family alongside I Love Lucy and The Jeffersons. The most popular sitcom of all time, MASH, was an anti-war series that didn’t shy away from highlighting the hardships of conflict.

As such, it should come as no surprise that many of the best sitcoms of the last five years have also been on the more experimental end of the genre’s output. Sitcoms are always changing and evolving, from traditional multi-camera hangout shows with laugh tracks to single-camera family sitcoms with narrators to meta-shows that acknowledge their own status as sitcoms.

8

Grimsburg

Jon Hamm’s Cartoon Cop Comedy Is Wildly Underrated

Set in the titular crime-ridden town, Grimsburg is ostensibly a parody of cop procedurals and gritty crime dramas like True Detective or Mare of Easttown. I say “Ostensibly” because, although Grimsburg does indeed parody these subgenres, the show also somehow finds time to mock everything from M3GAN to recent conservatorship scandals.

The series is a bizarre, surreal comedy where Hamm’s detective, Marvin Flute, could face down anything from a pack of killer dolls to a slasher-movie-style masked murderer in a given week. His investigations are aided and abetted in equal measure by his unhinged colleagues, but Flute himself is far from a model detective.

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A heavy-drinking, divorced father who has a terrible relationship with his son, Grimsburg’s antihero is a compendium of cop show clichés rolled into one character. In a more serious show, the character would be painfully tired and over-familiar, but Grimsburg’s parodies of cop media make Hamm’s character a hilarious introduction to the show’s wild world.

7

English Teacher

Brian Jordan Alvarez’s English Teacher Is An Instant Classic

Although Abbott Elementary’s critical success made Brian Jordan Alvarez’s FX series English Teacher seem like a high-risk proposition, the two shows could not be more different. Where Abbott Elementary is set in a Philadelphia city school, English Teacher takes place in Texas and mines a lot of comedy from this setting.

English Teacher is a raunchy, R-rated comedy that centers on Alvarez’s amoral educator, a teacher who means well but isn’t averse to taking convenient shortcuts in both his personal and professional life. The TikTok star proves he has real potential as a leading man in the role of Evan Marquez, the show’s likable antihero.

English Teacher also boasts a killer soundtrack and a surprising number of poignant moments alongside all the cynical humor and sitcom antics. While Abbott Elementary’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia crossover might have featured some unexpected obscenity, English Teacher uses its adults-only rating to get away with much more than any network sitcom could ever manage.

6

St Denis Medical

This Hospital Sitcom Blends Mockumentary With Medical Drama

While St Denis Medical doesn’t reinvent the wheel with its premise, the show’s style makes the NBC sitcom well worth a watch. St Denis Medical centers on the titular hospital, an underfunded Oregon institution where the staff are constantly stretched thin by the demands of their jobs.

Starring iconic sitcom alumni like Wendi McLendon-Covey and David Alan Grier, St Denis Medical is a rare mockumentary sitcom set in a hospital. There have been plenty of workplace sitcoms that utilized the mockumentary approach before this one, from The Office to Parks and Recreation. Meanwhile, there have also been hospital-centric sitcoms like MASH and Scrubs.

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However, although St Denis Medical proves Scrubs’ upcoming revival can succeed, the show is not a carbon copy of either these earlier mockumentary workplace sitcoms or earlier hospital sitcoms. Instead, the show brings a sense of humor all of its own, equal parts warm and sharply cynical.

St Denis Medical’s mockumentary style makes its comedy a little more deadpan than many of the offerings on this list, but the show displayed real promise in its first season. If its creator’s preceding show, the cult hit Superstore, is anything to go by, this sitcom may only improve as the show grows its audience in the coming seasons.

5

Animal Control

Joel McHale’s Underrated Sitcom Is Worth Seeking Out

Airing on Fox, Animal Control stars Community’s Joel McHale as the bitter Animal Control Officer Frank Shaw. McHale’s character will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has seen Community or the short-lived The Great Indoors, but this shouldn’t put viewers off the Fox sitcom.

With a strong supporting cast that includes Ravi V Patel and Vella Lovell, Animal Control is a little bit like a more cynical Parks and Recreation, and this should be taken as a good thing rather than a knock on the show’s premise. When Parks and Recreation was on the air, the show’s cheerful tone was a breath of fresh air.

Now, after over a decade of shows trying to replicate its style, it is fun to see Animal Control season 3 take a familiar premise and treat it with a little less reverence and a little more mean-spirited charm. While Animal Control isn’t entirely dark, it does have a little more edge than the average network sitcom, and this is a welcome addition to the show’s formula.

4

Miracle Workers

This Anthology Comedy Focuses On Two Angels and their Adventures

Arguably the most ambitious show on this list in terms of its premise, Miracle Workers follows a pair of angels played by Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan as they undertake new assignments from God, played by Steve Buscemi. An anthology series, Miracle Workers deposits the characters in various settings for each season.

While the second season brings the angels back to the Dark Ages, the third is set on the Oregon Trail, and the fourth jumps ahead to a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland. Miracle Workers was canceled before season 5, but the show still managed to explore a wide variety of settings and characters in its short run.

Moreover, Radcliffe and Viswanathan brought charm and verve to every new iteration of their characters. With each season’s new setting, the angels inhabited increasingly absurd characters, but the stars always managed to find their humanity, no matter how ridiculous the circumstances they find themselves in are.

3

Abbott Elementary

Quinta Brunson’s Award-Winning Sitcom Brought Back The Rockumentary Format

Set in the eponymous Philadelphia school, Abbott Elementary is a mockumentary sitcom that follows the staff of an underfunded public school. This allows the show’s creators to make all sorts of canny commentary on the state of public schooling, but viewers need not worry about the show being didactic or hectoring.

Abbott Elementary is the best sitcom on television right now, thanks in part to its razor-sharp writing and in part to its stellar ensemble cast. From the worry-prone Jacob to Quinta Brunson’s Abbott Elementary heroine Janine, there isn’t a weak link in the show’s lineup. Abbott Elementary seasons 1-3 focused on Janine’s growth, while season 4 prioritized Principal Ava.

However, each season manages to give Melissa, Barbara, Gregory, Mr. Johnson, and the rest of the beleaguered educators moments in the spotlight. With witty dialogue, pitch-perfect performances, and a tone that wavers between smart social commentary and pure, inspired farce, Abbott Elementary is a genuine must-watch that rivals classics like The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine at their best.

2

Derry Girls

This Successful Sitcom Is Set In An Occupied Territory

Every show on this list has something that makes it stand out, a unique perspective or hook that makes its story more interesting or original. Although Derry Girls season 4 is unlikely to ever happen, the show undoubtedly fits this mold thanks to its killer premise.

Derry Girls is set in Northern Ireland during the dying days of its British occupation, and the show is entirely aware of what viewers think this means about its style, tone, and content. Audiences might reasonably expect a sitcom set in a territory occupied by an invading army to be tense, dark, and unpleasant.

Instead, Derry Girls is one of the warmest, silliest, and most life-affirming shows of the last decade. Anchored by a superb quintet of central performances, Derry Girls is elevated by star Saoirse Monica-Jackson’s fearless portrayal of Erin. Unafraid of seeming utterly ludicrous, Monica-Jackson makes the comically pretentious but deeply lovable Erin a uniquely memorable sitcom protagonist.

1

Ghosts

CBS’s Quirky Sitcom Follows A Group of Ghosts Living Together

Most hang-out shows have pretty simple, straightforward premises. Everything from Seinfeld to Friends to How I Met Your Mother to New Girl to The Big Bang Theory to Happy Endings could be summarized with the phrase “A group of mismatched friends navigate life, work, and romance in the city in their thirties.”

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Ghosts Has No Choice But To Explore Uncharted Territory Due To Jay’s Predicament In Season 5

Ghosts season 5 needs to explain a bizarre piece of lore that was revealed by the CBS sitcom’s season 4 finale in its bombshell twist ending.

As such, it takes a lot for a show to come up with a truly original spin on this perennially popular premise. However, CBS’s underrated sitcom Ghosts managed this feat. Based on the BBC series of the same name, Ghosts follows a group of mismatched ghosts that inhabit a mansion.

After a young couple, Sam and Jay, inherit the house, a near-death experience allows Sam to see and talk to ghosts. Soon, she is trying her best to accommodate the needs of the house’s undead residents, and Ghosts is providing viewers with the most original sitcom setup since St Denis Medicat brought the mockumentary format into a sitcom hospital.

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Ghosts (US)

8/10

Release Date

October 7, 2021

Directors

Christine Gernon, Jaime Eliezer Karas, Katie Locke O’Brien, Nick Wong, Jude Weng, Pete Chatmon, Richie Keen, Alex Hardcastle, Kimmy Gatewood, Matthew A. Cherry, Cortney Carrillo

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  Rose McIver

  Samantha Arondekar

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  Utkarsh Ambudkar

  Jay Arondekar