My favorite new TV trend has to be the less-than-10-episodes, 20-minute-episode comedy series (preferably available on streaming). Why, you might say. Is it because you hate comedy so much that you can only stand to see 120 to 200 minutes of it per season? Is it because you don’t have time for real TV? Do you even own a TV? Why don’t you just watch a web series if you can’t sit still for at least 30 mins you unfocused millennial.
As I wrote in a previous article about “Stranger Things,” the TV landscape is too big and the pressure to be able to watch the entire canon of what has been labeled worth your time by critics and fans is enormous. It’s also impossible. No one person, unless it’s literally their job, could watch every great TV show. So now we have to go not only for quality, but we also have to learn to pick and choose based on our very personal and specific preferences. And for me, something that consistently ticks that box are short, subversive comedies.
Via Amazon.com
It’s not that I can only stand under 10 episodes of comedy at a time, it’s that I love comedy so much that I only want the writers to have to produce 6 to 10 episodes at a time. I want those episodes to be good episodes, I want them to count. The short episode format forces the writing to be tight and focused in a way that’s impossible when a season order is 18 to 22 episodes, such as you would find on network comedies. The short series and time limit also seems to allow these comedies to explore very real issues in a way that even high stakes dramas struggle with.
My three favorite examples of this (and my three favorite comedies right now in general) are “Catastrophe,” “You’re The Worst,” and “Take My Wife.” “Catastrophe” is about almost strangers who get pregnant from a one night stand and decide to have the child together. And while at only 6 episodes a season it’s short, the creators Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney managed to make a moving rom-com that also managed to make me laugh till I cried. Seriously, it’s rated at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, go watch. “You’re the Worst,” which features reluctant couple and horrible people Jimmy and Gretchen, had one of the best and most realistic depictions of chronic depression ever shown on television.
Via Comingsoon.net
The newest of the three, which only premiered a few weeks ago, is “Take My Wife,” a show from comedians (and real life couple) Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. It’s on the new network Seeso, but don’t let that deter you because you can just subscribe on Amazon. The show is a fictionalized account of their own lives and relationship, and is low-key, but really fantastically enjoyable. Two lesbians and a writing staff of women made a show entirely about a lesbian relationship before TV dramas even figured out how make TV without killing them off. It also brilliantly addresses sexual assault and rape jokes, how weird and unrealistic gay sex is on TV, and two people who are in love competing in their field and not having balanced success. All in 6 episodes!
Via AV Club
So to answer the rest of the questions:
Do I not have time for real TV? Most people I know don’t really, but we watch a lot anyway! What appeals to me is that watching is neither a marathon nor a sprint. I’m not dealing with a 22 episode season where I just want to get to the end, but I’m also not racing to finish it the second Amazon or Netflix drops the whole season for fear of spoilers. If all it takes is 3 hours to finish the whole thing, I can choose to savor it and watch one at a time or watch it all in one go that isn’t completely exhausting.
I think I own a TV? Or someone I live with does? Somewhere in my vicinity there is a TV, but I’m probably going to watch on my laptop anyway.
And finally, if you want to get technical, many of these comedies are web series, as in they aired on streaming platforms. But also a lot of content you can watch online are TV shows that have also aired on TV. We have thrown the TV rulebook out the window folks, it’s anarchy! You can watch shows on the computer, but you can also watch YouTube on TV, so it doesn’t really matter! There is no straight definition of TV anymore, it’s the best.
Because there are no longer TV rules, you should be watching exactly what you want to, there’s no room for unenjoyable entertainment. Try the comedies, 3 to 5 hours is all you have to lose.
