TV.com's Best of 2014: The Best New Cable (and Streaming!) Comedies
Comedy has been slower to catch up to this Golden Age of television than its more serious cousin, drama, but the grisly parade of bloody murder, adultery, and backstabbing that's dominated our TV screens as of late is slowly giving way to laughter, slapstick, and dick jokes. This year's new class of cable comedies is one of the best we've seen in ages, thanks largely to its willingness to redefine comedy structure. Did you notice how prevalent serialized and absurd comedy was this year? Did you notice how much better the world is as a result? These are the best new cable (and streaming!) comedies of 2014.
BoJack Horseman | NETFLIX
If 2014 was the year of comedy that purposefully evolved during its season to tell a surprising story that wasn't in the original logline (see also: Review, You're the Worst), then BoJack Horseman is Exhibit A. Ostensibly an animated farce about a horse who's also a former Hollywood sitcom actor trying to renew his fame, BoJack Horseman evolved into one of the darkest and most surprising shows of the year as the title character circled the drain of love and fame in an empty Los Angeles. If you didn't think an alcoholic, heartbroken cartoon equine could make you weep, think again. Also: The show is riddled with awesome animal cameos, thanks to a world that's half-full of anthropomorphic creatures.
TV.COM REVIEW: Why Netflix's BoJack Horseman Is Funnier Than Any of This Fall's New Comedies
Broad City | COMEDY CENTRAL
Yo, if you're one of those neanderthals who still thinks ladies can't be funny, then go bury your head in a hole. Or you can prove yourself wrong by watching the hilarious and fresh Broad City. Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson are the best new television comedy duo of the year, playing off each other like a stoned and ladyparted version of Abbott and Costello just trying to make a dime in New York. Broad City started out as a web series, and its "F it, we'll do it ourselves" feel is still present in the Comedy Central version; throw in Hannibal Buress as a dentist (yes, a dentist), and the show offers a prescient look into the future of DIY comedy and Comedy Central's rise.
TV.COM REVIEW: Hey TV.com, Should I Watch Comedy Central's Broad City?
Looking | HBO
Technically more of a 30-minute dramedy than a flat-out comedy, Looking quickly transcended its early and overly simplistic reptuation for being "the gay version of Girls." The overall narrative—which follows a group of gay men who are living, working, and searching for love and the meaning of life in San Francisco—offers a real, honest depiction not just of gay life, but of life in general. The series is filled to the brim with incredible and instantly relatable performances from Jonathan Groff, Murray Bartlett, Russell Tovey, and Raul Castillo, among others, and the on-location shooting makes San Francisco shine. Almost anyone can relate to the show's timely humor and its characters' insecurities and experiences. Plus, Doris (Lauren Weedman) f*cking rocks.
TV.COM REVIEW: Looking Series Premiere Review: Hey There, Good Lookin'
Playing House | USA
For whatever reason, television often struggles to depict realistic female friendships that aren't hampered by secret jealousy or derailed by man lust. But USA's Playing House, starring real-life childhood besties Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Claire, effortlessly observes two women buddies in their natural habitat. Sure, they're raising a baby together, because the show had to give them something to do—but Playing House shines because of its stars and the way their off-camera friendship seeps onto the screen, not because of the show's silly set-up. It's such a gem that we're seriously shocked USA hasn't yet renewed it for Season 2. C'mon, USA! We're counting on you!
TV.COM REVIEW: Hey TV.com, Should I Watch USA's New Buddy Comedy Playing House?
Review | COMEDY CENTRAL
Character comedian and master of the podcast Andy Daly was born to make television, and he finally got to try it in 2014 with the long-incubating Review. Daly's sense of ridiculous, always-escalating humor aligned perfectly with the show's a dark, experimental premise, which doubled as bizarre performance art; as the season progressed, we witnessed the emotional downfall of a TV host who couldn't stop doing his silly job of reviewing such varied "life experiences" as stealing, making a sex tape, and getting a divorce. Review's whole is better than the sum of its parts, so if you haven't checked it out yet, scarf it down in one sitting like a pile of pancakes.
TV.COM REVIEW: Hey TV.com, Should I Watch Comedy Central's Review?
Rick & Morty | CARTOON NETWORK
A rule-breaking, risk-taking sitcom about community college wasn't enough to contain Community's Dan Harmon's endless creative output, so his next project, Rick & Morty, entered the infinite world of bizarre animation. And even that container was barely big enough to hold the yield of Harmon's (and co-creator Justin Roiland) wacky imagination. A multi-dimensional adventure about a dumb kid and his boozy scientist grandpa, Rick & Morty continues to push further and further into absurdity, and the result is the best new animated series of the year that's appealing to kids, adults, and stoners alike.
TV.COM REVIEW: Hey TV.com, Should I Watch Dan Harmon's New 'Toon Rick & Morty?
Silicon Valley | HBO
The most perfectly cast new comedy of 2014 is, without a doubt, Silicon Valley, thanks to its outstanding troupe of nerdish and awkward comedians. Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, and Martin Starr, wonderfully epitomize the bizarre workforce of the tech industry, which is deservedly skewered by series creator Mike Judge. Part satire about the douchiness of the tech industry and part scary truth about the douchiness of the tech industry, Silicon Valley is smart and sophomoric at the same time.
TV.COM REVIEW: Silicon Valley Series Premiere Review: The Next Big Thing
You're the Worst | FX
Usually two wrongs don't make a right, but the central duo of FX's You're the Worst—egotistical novelist Jimmy and self-destructive publicist Gretchen—proves that awfulness multiplied can produce one of the best and funniest love stories of the year. The way both characters go from hateable to dateable over the course of Season 1 is a masterful feat of character development, and by the time the fun-filled season finale came along, we were amazed that we'd ever disliked these people.
TV.COM REVIEW: FX's You're the Worst and Married: First Comes Lust, Then Comes Marriage
What are your favorite new cable and streaming comedies of 2014?
