Comedy Television
Comedy television is one of my biggest passions. Comedy alone is enough, but comedy television is the TV type I consume the most and the media type I consume as well.
Over the years, I have written out a physical resume of the TV shows I’ve watched. This includes every show I’ve watched as an entire series from start to end. It does not account for random shows, one-offs, or shows I didn’t watch from A to Z. The number of episodes is also cataloged.
For many years, my dedication to watching TV was so incredible that I thought I should at least walk away with a resume for my efforts.
One way I found out about new shows to watch was by Googling the names of previous shows I loved in a series. For instance, Googling TV show 1, TV show 2, TV show, what should I watch, will likely yield a forum where someone has recommended all these shows in a concentrated space.
If you are lucky, buried in those familiar TV show names will be your new gem. The show that you vibe with instantly. The one that inspires binging and the feeling of victory when you know consistency and quality are underway.
People watch TV shows for a plethora of reasons: to unwind, entertain, decompress, laugh, kill time, or distract themselves. Often, televisions are even turned on in the background to generate conversation and a flow of ideas.
Anyway, as we have seen with The Office, Friends, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, etc., the market for re-watching content is at its highest ever. I often attribute this to several things. People enjoy background noise for working. They enjoy paying low-level attention and distraction from a familiar set of characters and circumstances. Have you ever been doing work and glanced every once in a while at the screen, when a particular line or moment triggers a memory that makes you not want to miss a line or image? This happens to me for sure!
One reason I think self-imposed re-runs are very popular these days is because of the need for familiarity. My mother (whose birthday it is today and I’d love to wish her a Happy Birthday while thanking her for encouraging me to get my latest certification, which I completed today) and I often discuss a theory about the prominence of celebrity culture and why it may not be as superficial as it seems. The basis is that we like to feel a community, and knowing a cast of characters we can communally discuss makes us feel connected in a sometimes overwhelmingly globalized world of increasing division. Kim and Kanye's headlines may serve an important societal or social function. Anyway, I have a similar theory on why we watch our old characters from favorite TV shows. There are plenty of new shows and new characters, but being introduced, and learning their ways, is an undertaking. A lot of the time we like to settle for the familiar and what we already know. It’s comforting and soothing and requires less emotional labor and focus. Emotional labor and focus are currencies that we guard quite closely these days, as a result, re-watching has met an insatiable demand.
Anyway, I am really excited to contribute some television show recommendations to you. I do this by asking, “What are three shows you love?” I can best answer this if the shows differ. If I get three true crime-style shows, I’m usually useless in my ability to recommend something with a bulletproof success rate. Otherwise, I’m pretty confident that if you give me three shows, I could occupy a good chunk of your future time.
I’d like to have discussions on television and put out some materials, guides, and thoughts on TV shows that have greatly impacted me and changed my life.