Past TV Recommendations

            Last week, we offered some suggestions for television shows that are currently on the air. So for this week, we thought it would be a good idea to offer some suggestions for shows that have completed their runs.

COMEDY

Parks and Recreation: While Parks and Rec never found much commercial success, it managed to run seven seasons on NBC in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Amy Poehler starred as the well-intentioned Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Pawnee, Indiana parks department. The writers depicted Pawnee as a small-town packed with bizarre traditions and idiosyncratic weirdos like  Leslie’s boss, Ron (Nick Offerman) best known for his love of all meat-based products and his hidden supply of gold. The rest of the impressive supporting cast included Rashida Jones as Leslie’s best friend Ann; Adam Scott as Ben, her future husband; and Chris Pratt as lovable goofball Andy Dwyer. Despite its absurdity, Parks and Rec remained grounded, offering a view of small-town government run by well-intentioned people.

Available on Neflix and Hulu

Cheers: This classic late 1980s and early 1990s sitcom helped pioneer the genre of hangout shows. Almost every episode revolved around the goings on at Cheers, a Boston bar run by Sam “Mayday” Malone, a former Red Sox relief pitcher. In the early seasons, Sam had an on-again, off-again relationship with the insufferable intellectual waitress, Diane (Shelly Long). The gang at Cheers also included dimwitted Woody (Woody Harrelson), obnoxious psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), know-it-all mailman Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), and everyone’s favorite “Norm!” (George Wendt). The Thanksgiving episode featuring a giant foodfight between the entire cast remains one TV’s most famous and funniest half hours.

Available on Netfix

30 Rock: Former SNL head writer Tina Fey channeled her experiences into this NBC sitcom that ran for seven seasons. A show that began as a satire of the culture of late night comedy soon evolved into a highly tuned joke machine. Standout episodes included a parody of the Dark Knight where Fey’s Liz Lemon uses her illness and an old lady costume to get whole subway cars and movie theaters to herself. Alec Baldwin’s NBC executive Jack Donaghy was a send-up of corporate America, made brilliant by Baldwin’s stellar line deliveries. 30 Rock developed the rapid-fire joke delivery system that Fey has employed so skillfully on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Available on Netflix

DRAMA

Justified: FX’s Justified featured one the greatest protagonist-antagonist relationships in the history of television. In the pilot episode, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) returns home to Harlan County, Kentucky and confronts his old coal digging partner turned nemesis, Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins). During a confrontation involving Boyd’s sister-in-law Ava (Joelle Carter), Raylan shoots Boyd. Even as other memorable villains, like Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale), make their way through Harlan, Boyd and Raylan remained the center of the show. Raylan’s quick trigger finger and penchant for mouthing off gave Justified much needed humor. Over its six seasons, Justified was often brilliant in its examination of Appalachia and American masculinity. Plus Raylan shot a lot of bad guys.

Available on Amazon Prime

Friday Night Lights: A high school family drama about football or high school football show that’s also about family? It doesn’t matter. Friday Night Lights was just great television. Set in fictional Dillion, Texas, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) is the head coach of the Dillon Panthers, one of the top high school teams in Texas. FNL had the most realistic depiction of marriage of any show on TV. Eric and his wife Tammy loved each other and they foughtt, but it never devolved into cliché. When another teacher kissed Tammy, Eric laughed it off as the non-event that it was. Meanwhile, the high school students including paralyzed quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter), replacement QB Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), and Eric and Tammy’s daughter Julie (Amie Teegarden) also avoided the pitfalls of most other shows about high school students. The show presented their problems with sympathy and a recognition of their universal nature. 

Available on Netflix

Hannibal: When Hannibal came on the air, no one seemed to want another telling of the Hannibal Lector story. After all, there had already been multiple movies including Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon. Yet showrunner Bryan Fuller and director David Slade managed to capture the artistic horror of Thomas Harris’ original novel. Played by Mads Mikkelsen, Hannibal Lector was a bored serial killer looking for his intellectual and emotional soulmate in FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). The story often veered into the surreal, especially in its depictions of Hannibal’s murders. Fuller reveled in showing off Lector’s cooking acumen and penchant for psychological manipulation. In its three seasons, there was nothing else like it on TV. 

Available on Amazon Prime