Living with potentially six months of winter does make one search out a few laughs now and then. Though television's definition of funny is still largely situation comedy, this batch looks like it has the greatest potential for laughs:
Schitt’s Creek on CBC, starts Winter 2015:
SCTV alums Eugene Levy and Catherine O-Hara! That alone should be enough to be hilarious. Levy and O’Hara play a riches-to-rags couple forced to live in a tiny town they once bought as a lark. (Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger should be called for cameos, but their agents may say they’re busy.) Hopefully the long wait to see this one is worth it.
Selfie, Tuesdays on ABC, starts September 30:
A social media-obsessed young woman decides she needs to renovate her shallow life and hires an image consultant to help her do it. Based on My Fair Lady. Might be a good one for watching with your teen . . . or beside your teen while your teen watches a phone.
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, "Coming Soon" on NBC:
If Ellie Kemper (of The Office) can sell us on more than 22 minutes of a wide-eyed innocent experiencing New York, they might have something here. Demerit points for the ripped-from-the-headlines plot: the titular Kimmy is rescued from a cult, which explains her naiveté—it’s a bit uncomfortably close to the real-life case of three women held prisoner for years in Cleveland. Points back for this being written and Executive Produced by the one and only Tina Fey—she can do wrong, but we'll never speak of that here.
A to Z, Thursdays on NBC, starts October 2:
The description for this opposites attract comedy reads a lot like How I Met Your Mother light, including a strict timeline for the length of the couple's relationship and the very likeable Cristin Miloti as the leading lady, fresh from the final season of HIMYM. Let’s hope this show has a more satisfying ending. That’s right, I said it.
Mulaney Sundays on FOX, starts October 5:
A behind-the-scenes style comedy set around the (fictional) life of John Mulaney, who was on his way up the stand-up ladder only to be seduced by a corporate writing job for a legendary and very bizarre boss (Martin Short). I think I liked this when it starred Tina Fey and was called 30 Rock, but I will give it a go, even if it's just to see if it was worth co-star Nasim Pedrad jumping off the SNL ship.
Utopia Tuesdays & Fridays on FOX (streaming live feed any time), starts Sunday, September 7:
Like Survivor, if you take away dimpled Probst and add a decidedly more post-apocalyptic bent to a village full of strangers trying to form a society in an isolated, desolate place. For a YEAR. With no prize money at the end. Plus constant live streaming on the internet (who has TIME?). This concept owes much to the 2009 Discovery channel show The Colony. Could be disturbingly addictive. Or frighteningly disturbing.
Which new shows will you try? Let us know in the Comments!
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