If you know me, you know I am a sitcom aficionado. In a TV show, I look for witty dialogue, interesting character dynamics, and digestible plotlines.
More recently, though, I’ve been expanding my horizons because I just finished re-watching all of Schitt’s Creek for the second time (yes, including the sixth season that literally just aired) and I’m looking for a palate cleanser before jumping in to round three. Especially with quarantine, I’ve been spending quite a lot of time on various TV streaming services searching for new or refreshing shows. Specifically, I’ve been enjoying shows with both comedic and dramatic elements, that can’t quite be classified as your typical sitcom. Here are my three favorites:
- Younger
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Starring Broadway alum Sutton Foster and the iconic, ever-charismatic Hillary Duff, Younger chronicles the life of fourtysomething, ivy league-educated Liza Miller (Foster), who left her successful career in publishing to be a stay-at-home mom and care for her family. When her marriage ends and her daughter goes off to college, Liza attempts to reenter the workforce, but her fifteen-year hiatus from the industry doesn’t make her an attractive candidate to employers. As a solution, Liza lies on her resume and pretends to be 26, which lands her a job at a prestigious publishing company.
With Liza’s new, younger boyfriend and a huge secret she’s keeping from her boss and work best friend Kelsey (Duff), I’m sure you can imagine the entertaining plotlines and awkward situations that can arise from balancing a double life and having a secret identity (I mean, we’ve all seen Hannah Montana). Younger feels like a cousin to Ugly Betty or The Bold Type, and while the show is a bit soapier and melodramatic than your typical sitcom or dramedy, the positive portrayals of female friendships ground it. And while it’s become a trend in pop-culture to rag on millenials for supposedly being lazy, quirky, and technology-addicted (remember the trainwreck that was The Great Indoors?), Kelsey and the other young professionals are never the butt of the joke.
While the episodes clock in at around 20 minutes, the episodes are more serialized and less self-contained than a typical sitcom — the cliffhangers will reel you in and keep you pressing “Next Episode.”
Number of Seasons: 6
Where to Watch: Hulu
- Upload
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Speaking of cliffhangers… Upload depicts a world roughly twenty years in the future, where after you die, you become uploaded into a digital afterlife, paying for data like a cell phone plan. Upload was created by Greg Daniels — if his name sound familiar, it’s because he’s written for The Office and Parks and Recreation. A show about a secular afterlife created by an Office and Parks alum sounds like off-brand The Good Place, but Upload sets itself apart through its unique themes and character development. And while The Good Place interrogates issues of morality and what it means to be a good person, Upload is moreso a critique of capitalism and how mega-corporations control and monetize so much of human life. While the show at first seems pretty sci-fi heavy and futuristic, it doesn’t get too technical, and the technology feels pretty easy to grasp as an audience member because of how feasible the premise seems.
The show focuses on Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), a young computer programmer who dies prematurely. Since his family had not yet planned for his death nor purchased an upload plan, his wealthy girlfriend adds Nathan to her family’s plan and he is “uploaded” to the premier Lake View afterlife community. What is especially interesting about this show is that it is not set just in the afterlife because people who have been “uploaded” can still communicate with those on earth via phone call, video chat, and text. This also makes for interesting plotlines — like Nathan calling in to his own funeral. As well, we’re treated with complex character dynamics, such as between Nathan and his possessive, still-living girlfriend, as well as Nathan and Nora, a living person and customer service rep for Lake View. Upload does an amazing job not only at worldbuilding and producing entertaining standalone episodes, but also at building tension throughout the season and unfolding the season-long mystery about the nature of Nathan’s death. The show has some one-off jokes and amusing moments, but it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny nor does it maintain a humorous tone, so if you’re looking for a sitcom or even something sitcom-adjacent, you won’t find it here.
Number of Seasons: 1
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
- Everything’s Gonna Be Okay
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This show got a lot of promotion when it first started airing this past spring, and I was initially pretty turned off by the trailer. For one, the show airs on Freeform, a channel that’s more known for cliche teen dramas. Additionally, one of the main characters, Matilda, has autism, and the trailer made it seem like she was being tokenized or that her autism was the butt of the joke.
When I finally bit the bullet and started actually watching, I realized that my first impressions were dead wrong and I finished the entire first season in a day. Created by and starring comedian Josh Thomas, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay tells the story of twentysomething Nicholas who, out of the blue, assumes guardianship over his estranged teenage half-siblings after their father dies. Interestingly, it serves as a bildungsroman for all three of the main characters: Nicholas, who struggles to act as a functioning adult and an effective guardian, as well as for his teen siblings Maeve and Matilda, who navigate losing a parent, their relationship with each other, finding themselves, and the social pressures that come with being in high school. It’s important to note that Matilda is played by an autistic actress, allowing for progressive, and accurate representation that fuels plotlines without making Matilda’s autism feel like a spectacle. Maeve, on the other hand, serves as the moody teen who just wants to fit in and seem cool, but her portrayal never feels like a caricature or stereotype — her teen angst feels raw, honest, and very true to life. While the show is full of dry, sarcastic humor, it also has a lot of heart in a way that doesn’t feel forced. Out of the three shows on my list, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay serves as the most effective, well-executed, and seamless balance of comedy and drama. While emotions run high, so do the jokes — the show ebbs and flows between being humorous and being somber, but never in a way that feels tonally inconsistent.
Number of Seasons: 1
Where to Watch: Hulu
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