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.

Comedy seems to be the winning factor on late night television and among the best to be found since Carson is the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon program. The program even originates from the same NBC studio that The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was broadcast since 1982 until that show moved to California. Fallon offers a broad sense of humor that connects with his large audience including shows and skits like Pros and Cons, Wheel of Carpet Samples, Let Us Play with Your Look, Cell Phone Shootout, Hot Dog in a Hole, or Remix and Clips. In between the hilarious sketches guests come and go, often becoming part of the action or the brunt of some rather low brow activities. All is played for fun and audiences eat it up and often even get to join in on the fun. Among the celebrity guests have been Van Morrison, Robert De Niro, and Justin Timberlake. The previous host of Late Night, Conan O'Brien has appeared on Fallon's reincarnation of the show that keeps on giving to late night fans.

Remember Tim "the tool man" Taylor from Home Improvement? Well he's back, sort of. The character Allen plays in Last Man Standing is named Mike Baxter and is practically identical to Tim Taylor in many ways. To make him entirely different would most likely be impossible due to Tim Allen's strong personality and likeability. And while the Taylor character had a wife named Jill (Patricia Richardson) and three sons, Baxter has daughters and a wife (Nancy Travis). Family matters most as it should, especially in the sit-com environment. Mike Baxter also has a "manly" job. He works at an outdoorsy sporting goods store where men buy tents, guns, and fishing gear. Mike used to handle the store's catalog but they seem to be extinct ever since internet sales became so popular. Now his duty is in making promo videos that go up on their web site. Just as with Home Improvement the quality and appeal of Last Man Standing is in the sharp writing and the high quality of the actors involved. Mike Baxter knows far well he's outnumbered with females in his household so turns to his boss (Héctor Elizondo) and friends for some comic relief.

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.

Follow along with the lives of several aspiring soon to be medical professionals who must endure the fast paced, physically demanding world of medical training. Medical interns have always been expected to complete this "trial by fire" method of learning and though the "burn out" rate is low many find it the most difficult time of their lives. Scrubs deals with the trying times of interns through much humor and a fast paced script each week. The actors are encouraged to improvise with their character's dialog in each episode, making the show interesting and always including something unexpected. Among the cast are Sarah Chalke (Rosanne, How I Met Your Mother) as Dr. Elliot Reed, Zach Braff (Manhattan Murder Mystery, Twelfth Night) as Dr. John Dorian, Donald Faison (Clueless, Remember the Titans) as Dr. Chris Turk, and Neil Flynn (The Middle, Re-animated) portrays the janitor who torments Dr. Dorian in what was supposed to be a one episode appearance but grew into a permanent character role. Scrubs shows the humor inside the manic determination that is part of becoming a doctor and this fast paced show always offers something different and fun to watch.

As Larry David developed "Seinfeld," he openly and unabashedly acknowledged it was "a show about nothing." Now, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David's show about Larry David similarly is a show dedicated to complete dramatization of practically nothing. Somehow, it manages to be funny anyway. Larry David stars as Larry David, who is a fictionalized version of Larry David. No narcissism in that set-up. The coincidences persist through the rest of the cast: Cheryl Himes plays Cheryl, Jeff Garlin plays Jeff, and Susie Eastman plays Susie, making it much easier to play along on the home version. A semi-retired television writer, David has trouble adapting to the social conventions in Los Angeles, and he devotes a great deal of time and energy to correcting or making-up for his mistakes"¦except when he correcting other people's rude or outrageous behaviour. In its way, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" testifies to David's and the cast's comic genius, because he outlines the plot for each episode, but the actors improvise all of the dialogue, keeping their own enthusiasm well under control.