5. Parks and Recreation (2008-present)
When it comes to Parks and Recreation, I’m still in the discovering stage. I love The Office. One night last month while waiting for it to come on, I caught the end of P&R and liked what I saw. The next week I made sure to watch an entire episode. I was thrilled. Not only did I laugh a lot, I also began to invest in the characters. I hadn’t done that with a show since…well…The Office. Now I’m just as excited to watch P&R as I am to watch the program that follows it. The show’s first six episodes were shaky at best (though the season finale “Rock Show” was a pretty good season finale). But the writers really hit their stride in season 2 (the current season) and Parks and Recreation has improved by leaps and bounds. Some critics are even calling it the best comedy on TV right now and I for one have to agree. Amy Poehler made the right move when she left Saturday Night Live to star in the show. She’s wonderful as Leslie Knope and it’s only a matter of time before the award nominations begin pouring in. Supporting characters like Tom, Ron, Ann, April and Andy are becoming just as important to the show as well. The greatest compliment I can give the show is that it’s currently the most consistent, entertaining, funny and satisfying comedy airing on NBC. That’s saying something when you consider it proceeds The Office and 30 Rock. Those shows are more critically acclaimed and have a larger fan base, but Parks and Rec won’t be lagging behind them for much longer. I say that with confidence for one simple reason. As I’m writing this, the show is better than The Office and 30 Rock. To put it simply, P&R is on fire. There hasn’t been a bad episode all season. Not bad for a show that was almost canceled last year due to poor ratings. Parks and Recreation airs Thursdays at 8:30 on NBC.
Best Episodes: “Practice Date,” “Ron and Tammy,” “The Camel,” “The Set Up,” “Leslie’s House”
It’s hard to categorize Monk. It’s a detective series. It’s a comedy series. It’s a series similar to…well I’m not sure what it’s similar to and here’s why. A series whose main character is a former police detective who took a leave of absence after his wife was murdered and he had a nervous breakdown and now suffers from serious OCD seems like a series doomed to fail for the very reason that viewers like to know what they’re getting into. The writers on Monk weren’t concerned about viewer expectations and yet it will go down as one of the most successful series in the history of basic cable. The main reason for that is Tony Shaloub who stars as the title character (Shaloub won an impressive three Emmys for his role). Adrian Monk is a man who can solve three murders just by reading a newspaper yet he can’t sit in the front seat of a car or leave the house without checking four or five times to see if he turned off the stove. The dynamic between Adrian and his assistants (Sharona for the first three seasons; Natalie for the last five) as well as his interaction with members of the San Francisco police force (particularly Capt. Stottlemeyer and Lt. Disher) who often used him as an outside consultant created the most memorable and touching moments of the series. At its best, Monk was a show that sympathized a genius of a man who solved over a hundred cases but was haunted by the fact that he never found his wife’s killer (until the final episode that is). It was the kind of show that could just as easily crack you up (Adrian housing a suspected murder who happens to be a monkey in his always neatly cleaned house) as make you tear up (Adrian, realizing he can’t take care of himself let alone a child, fighting back tears when saying goodbye to little Tommy). Monk just ended this past year and while the series’ best episodes were behind it, I was still really sad to see it go. I’ll never forget how moving it was to watch a man create so much humor because of his OCD, while also struggling to free himself from the prison that is the same disease. Monk seasons 1-7 are available on DVD.
Best Episodes: “Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine,” “Mr. Monk and the Kid,” “Mr. Monk and the Paperboy,” “Mr. Monk and the Miracle,” “Mr. Monk and the Three Pies”
Psych is only four seasons into its run and yet it’s attained somewhat of a cult status. In other words, there’s a good chance that if you’ve seen it, you love it. There’s also a good chance that you might not have heard of it at all. Fans lucky enough to have discovered it are witnesses to one of the funniest shows on TV. It’s filled with quick wit, zany one liners and pop culture references galore. The show centers around it’s two main characters: best friends Shawn and Gus. Shawn pretends to be a psychic in order to get work solving crimes for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Gus is his partner and life long best friend who not only keeps Shawn’s ruse a secret but also happens to be an bottomless well of information. The comedic timing between James Roday and Dule Hill, the actors who play the pair, is outstanding. They might have the best chemistry of any private investing duo since Thomas and T.C. in Magnum P.I. It’s not just the comedy that makes it must watch TV but the dynamics between the main characters as well. They’re being ever more explored in recent seasons and that aspect makes this series more than just a silly detective show. Shawn’s relationships with Gus, with his retired cop father, with potential love interest detective Juliet O’Hara and with head detective Lassiter are all fun to follow. Psych’s creative team is also adept at creating incredibly well themed episodes that feature parodies of such genres as horror , westerns and even John Hughes’ films. I discovered Psych because it came on after another of my favorite shows, Monk, on Friday nights. Over the course of the past two years I’ve come to enjoy Psych even more than Monk, which is something I never anticipated. Monk has ended and Psych has moved to Wednesdays. I moved with it because the show is better than it’s ever been. Psych airs Wednesday nights at 10 on USA Network.
UPDATE: Part 2 of the “Yang” saga, “Mr. Yin Presents…” is right around the corner…
Best Episodes: “An Evening With Mr. Yang,” “Shawn Takes a Shot In the Dark,” “Tuesday the 17th,” “Murder?…Anyone?…Anyone?…Bueller?,” “Death Is In the Air”
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