Summer Screen No. 1 - Comedy
Each week Summer Screen gives you recommendations for summer viewing. This week, our picks of the comedies.
The Summer Fling – Black Books
With only 18 half-hour episodes, this is perfect minimum-commitment viewing. Created by comedy stalwarts Graham Linehan and Dylan Moran, the show focuses on Moran’s Bernard Black, a chain smoking, semi-alcoholic and fully shambolic bookshop owner, as well as his assistant, Manny, and their friend, Fran. The driving force behind each episode is Bernard Black’s general belligerence in the face of taxes, cleaning, people, real life, his existence and the universe, amongst other things.
Watch It For: The phenomenal cast – Bill Bailey as Manny, Tamsin Grieg as Fran and numerous guest stars (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Stevenson, basically most of the cast of Spaced).
Where To Watch: Watch some of Bernard Black’s best bits here. All episodes are available to stream on 4OD (UK).
If you’re looking for a comedy to commit to, 30 Rock is the one. With seven seasons of hyper-meta, self-referential and often surreal antics to get through, it’ll keep you occupied without ever feeling like a chore.
Set behind the scenes at The Girlie Show, a live NBC sketch show à la Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock follows the misadventures of the cast and writers of TGS, particularly those of Liz Lemon, the beleaguered and `crazy cat lady in waiting’ head writer.
Given that Lemon is played by Tina Fey, 30 Rock’s creator and former head writer for SNL, you might be worried that the show would disappear up its own entity, and sure, the references to real world events and fourth wall breaking can be a little tiring, but the show makes up for it with innovative comedy that subverts expectation at every turn.
Best Characters: Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) - the suave and ruthless executive charged with overseeing TGS and Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) - precious flower, Southern hillbilly and NBC Page.
For Fans Of: Parks and Recreation or Community.
Look Out For: The live episode, the omnipresent and generally mega-famous guest stars, and the background visual gags.
Where To Watch: All 7 seasons are available to stream on Netflix (US).
The ‘Best Left Alone’ – The Big Bang Theory
Still going strong and dominating ratings in the US, The Big Bang Theory is lazy, derivative comedy. Initially the idea of a comedy centring on awkward, science-obsessed losers seems almost charitable and/or forward thinking – a show without a cast that could pass as Abercrombie and Fitch models? Inconceivable! * - until you remember that they’re all guys. The one POC is played as a typical Indian immigrant stereotype, the blonde girl across the hall is a hot waitress who is repeatedly ridiculed for not knowing or caring about quarks or telescopes, even as she falls for the lead ‘geek’ (whose attractiveness is concealed between slogan t-shirts, hoodies and ‘nerd glasses’).
The show could have stuck to its guns with Jim Parsons’ Sheldon Cooper, a decidedly asexual character if there ever was one, but instead conjured up a romantic interest for him, who is also ridiculed for being an intelligent scientist and a woman. All in all TBBT is a pitstain on the concept of representative and diverse TV, made worse for its shoddy attempt at diversity that seems to have convinced so many viewers. How many episodes does it take before it passes the Bechdel Test? Go watch Orange Is The New Black instead to see how it should be done.
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