Long Story Short is a Netflix adult animated comedy-drama created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, his first new animated series since the acclaimed BoJack Horseman. Trading Hollywood satire for something more intimate, the show is a warm, melancholy, and very funny portrait of a single family told across the sweep of its members' entire lives.
The series follows the Schwooper family, jumping freely and non-chronologically through the decades, from childhood and adolescence to marriage, parenthood, and old age, so that a character might be a squabbling kid in one scene and a weary adult in the next. This restless time-hopping structure lets the show explore how families carry their history with them, how old wounds and inside jokes echo across generations, and how small moments accumulate into a life. Its voice cast includes Abbi Jacobson, Ben Feldman, Lisa Edelstein, Paul Reiser, and Nicole Byer.
Rooted in Bob-Waksberg's own Jewish American upbringing, Long Story Short earned strong reviews for balancing sharp comedy with genuine emotional depth, the same alchemy that made his previous work resonate. It is streaming on Netflix.
For all the right reasons, "Community" has become one of the mainstays in NBC's comedy line-up. During its first season, "Community" focused on attorney Jeff Winger, disbarred after the accreditation committee discovered his undergraduate degree was from Colombia the country, not the university. Determined to win reinstatement in his old profession, Winger enrolls in community college, forming a Spanish-class study group which includes, among others, a cynical divorcee and a mid-life millionaire who made his money in moist towelettes. "Community" bravely exploits the ethnic and economic diversity in the study group, showing its gifts as an equal opportunity satirizer. The writers also have courage to wring big laughs from realistic representation of life and attitudes in "junior college." During the second season, "Community" had large and loyal enough following to encourage writers' development of plots centered on characters other than Winger, and they developed some of their best material by focusing on the dynamics of the group itself. Every member of "Community's" all-star ensemble cast has impeccable comedy or small-screen credentials: Chevy Chase's resume, of course, reads simply "legend." Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, and the rest of the cast bring a combined gazillion years of small-screen experience into the mix, and they have imprinted their distinctive styles on their roles. Similarly, all the partners in the production team boast high-powered Hollywood pedigrees and trophy cases full of Emmys. If "Community" had gone dark after the first thirteen episodes, television sets all over North America would have gone straight to test-patterns, because NBC writers and producers would have abandoned all hope for traditional sit-coms' futures.
By some miracle, everybody in America knows all about "30 Rock," and everybody loves Tina Fey, the show's creator and star, but relatively few viewers tune-in every week. During its first season, "30 Rock" toted-up a record twenty-two Emmy nominations, but its ratings ranked 102nd of 142 primetime shows. NBC stayed with the project on the assumption that Fey's popularity and the intense critical buzz eventually would translate to ratings; and the gamble paid off as viewership steadily rose over the comedy's first six seasons. Based on Fey's experiences as head writer for "Saturday Night Live," the show satirizes life behind the scenes of a network comedy, trapping co-star Alec Baldwin in corporate intrigues as the writers and actors endure the trials and tribulations of producing a live weekly broadcast. Strong characters and brilliant badinage distinguish "30 Rock" from the standard sitcom fare, and the thirteen-member ensemble cast puts the plausibility in improbably characters.
"Castle" is the crime drama series premiered in the U.S. March 9, 2009 on ABC channel. "Castle" TV show follows the process of murder investigation conducted by Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). Unexpectedly she notes the similarity of the crime scene with the same one described by the famous detective writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion). Castle becomes a suspect, but upon the investigation completion he proved to be innocent. Using his friendships with some powerful people in the city, he gets the opportunity to attend all investigations conducted by Detective Beckett until he gets enough material for his next book. Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) got the reputation of detective who prefers an unusual cases. She joined the police after her mother was murdered, whose case was never solved. She spent a semester studying in Kiev, where she learned the Russian language. Their sometimes uneasy relationships with the Castle are often ridiculed by other TV show's character: Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas), the Detective and the another member of Beckett's team. He and detective Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) constantly mock Beckett, but in fact they are protecting her and treat Beckett as a very crucial part of the team . Next TV show's character is Lani Parish (Tamala Jones), medical examiner, a friend of Beckett, with whom she can talk heart to heart; advises Beckett to develop her relationship with the Castle. "Castle" TV show also features Roy Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), Beckett's Boss. He likes Beckett's manner of investigation and her attention to details, but he always keeps his eye close on Beckett activity. He amuses with Beckett and Castle relationship, but he understands that they work well together. Another character is Alexis Rogers (Molly Quinn), teenage daughter of Castle, which much easier communicates with adults than with her peers and often behaves more conscious than her father and March Rogers (Susan Sullivan), Castle's mother, and the former Broadway actress, who dying to find a wealthy unmarried man.
At the time "Rules of Engagement" premiered on CBS, the network's average viewer was fifty-three years old and more devoted to "60 Minutes" than sexy badinage. Although committed to The Eye's Monday night youth movement, a few programming executives worried that David Spade's first-episode proclamation, "I do what I want. I date who I want. And I sleep with whoever will let me," would tank the new sit-com before it found its legs and voice. Instead, "Rules of Engagement" became a Monday night mainstay, a natural complement to "Two-and-a-Half Men" and "How I Met Your Mother." According to one pundit, "Rules of Engagement" shows "the three stages of sit-com love," comparing and contrasting a scoundrelly, scamming bachelor with both a love-struck, starry-eyed newly engaged couple and a jaded, open-eyed, realistic couple married to one another approximately forever. Although plots generally center on the fiancees, Jeff and Audrey, veterans of marriage, often save the show from life-threatening boredom. Patrick Warburton, poker-faced and intoning his lines in a deliciously monotone bass, makes the perfect foil to Russell, the bachelor's manic sex machine and Adam's ingenuousness.
According to the series' creator Marc Cherry, "Desperate Housewives TV show" recreates the suburban malaise of the hit movie American Beuaty, substituting irony for melancholy. Cherry reportedly conceived the show after watching news reports about Andrea Yates. When he first pitched the show, Cherry called it a "parody" of soap operas; when ABC picked-up the show, executives told Cherry to focus on the soap opera and the parody would take care of itself. They were right. Up and down Wisteria Lane, four women wage love and sustain family life, cleverly concealing all kinds of insidious plots, illicit affairs, and the occasional felony. Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, and Eva Longoria Parker have imprinted their styles on their characters, collecting armloads of Emmys, Golden Globe Awards, and Screen Actors' Guild Awards along the way. In April, 2007, ratings experts reported "Desperate Housewives" was the most popular tv show in its global demographic, boasting more 120 million worldwide viewers. Behind the scenes, a little bit of the show's history reveals how Disney executives can overdose on their own sugary snacks. Shortly after programmers Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne gave the go-ahead for "Desperate Housewives," the suits fired them, because they simultaneously had approved an extremely "risky" TV show called "Lost."
Television snobs maintain the American version of "The Office" TV series pales by comparison with its British forerunner. Their sneers, however, have done nothing to diminish "The Office's" standing as America's premier sitcom. Audiences and critics wholeheartedly agree the Dunder Mufflin office follies restored NBC as network television's pre-eminent purveyor of great half-hour comedies. Filmed as a "mockumentary," the American "Office" TV show remains faithful to the British example of perfectly deadpan delivery, and the producers wisely add neither laugh-tracks nor musical cues. Of course, brilliant one-liners punctuate the show, but they are subtle and ironic rather than snappy. For example, in characteristically clueless style, Scranton office manager Michael Scott tells his staff, "As Abe Lincoln once said: If you are a racist, we will attack you from the North." Steve Carrell leads a well-chosen ensemble cast who portray a sales force the New York Times aptly characterized as "uniformly unattractive, wan and dull" characteristics which, of course, make them deliciously funny.
Shot in the fashionable "mockumentary" style, allegedly compiled by a foreign exchange student from Sweden, "Modern Family" shows three branches of the Pritchett family tree: Pater familia Jay Pritchett has married Gloria, a much younger, beautiful, passionate and outspoken Columbian, who brings her somewhat unconventional son, Manny, into the family with her. Jay's daughter Claire has married real estate broker Phil Dunphy, and they have three children--Haley, a boy-crazy, attitude-rich high school diva; Alex"”short for Alexis"”a gifted, insightful, but somewhat awkward tween cello player; and Luke, who is cluelessly stumbling through life and elementary school. Jay's son Mitchell, an attorney, and Cameron, his gay partner, have adopted a VietNamese daughter, Lily; and they are adjusting to partnership and parenthood all at once. Together, the family struggles through the predictable crises of everyday life. Spectacular writing distinguishes the show, and its perfectly chosen ensemble cast looks and feels like families who live just up the street. In 2010, at the middle of its first record-breaking season, "Modern Family" collected six Emmy Awards, including the much-coveted award for Outstanding Comedy Series. "Modern Family" also collected a Writer's Guild Award, a Peabody Award, a Directors' Guild Award, and a Television Critics Award.
