It is often said that pop culture is indicative of the times. If this is true, then this spring’s television lineup represents a society with a strong need for humor and escapism. From the shows renewed for a second season to those with the highest ratings, these shows offer everything from pure escapism to absurd realism, giving their audiences a break from the current economically turbulent climate as well as the opportunity to explore the roles held in today’s society.
The following are some of the best shows in this season’s lineup.
ABC has clearly been hard at work creating a new lineup of comedies that hinge on the daily realities of “regular” people. “Cougar Town,” a new comedy featuring Courteney Cox (Friends, Dirt), delves into the life of a woman who never seemed to experience her youth due to the birth of her son in her 20s, and who then resolves to re-do her young, hard-partying days as a career woman in her 40s.
Though the premise may at first seem a cheap way to snatch up audiences who are aware of nouveau slang, the show is very much able to stand on its own. Each character is well-rounded and chock full of witty quips and quirks, and it is very difficult not to love the earnest Cox as she struggles to regain her youth through mini dresses and men, falling on her face oftentimes but pulling herself up by her Manolos nonetheless.
“Modern Family,” the lead-in for “Cougar Town,” follows the lives of three families all related to the family’s patriarch, Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill, “Married with Children”). This is no stereotypical family, however; Jay has married a much younger woman, his son Mitchell and his partner have adopted a Vietnamese baby and his daughter Claire has a traditional family, though it, of course, has its own misgivings.
This is a show about what it means to be a family in today’s day and age, filmed as a mockumentary and showcasing each family’s own weird tendencies. This show wisely does not exploit these tendencies though; it merely holds them as facts of their lives and shows how they it through together as a family, albeit in a messy, hilarious fashion.
NBC has a long history of creating quality comedies, and this season is no exception. Continuing for its fourth season, “30 Rock” has been on quite a journey, moving from a low-rated show to a high-rated, multiple Emmy award-winning show. The show follows head staff writer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) as she deals with the demanding actors, writers and executives behind “TGS” (a show similar to NBC’s sketch comedy show “SNL”).
Absurd situations often arise on and off the set (think Tracy Morgan as a lower-IQed actor who stars in films like “Black Cop/White Cop” (“One does the duty; the other gets the booty!”) and does things like run naked down the street while shouting “I am a Jedi!”). The absurd comedy of 30 Rock is an excellent escape from the tedium of regular life; if only we could get away with lines like prima donna Jenna Maroney’s “I’m not going to be ignored, like that time at my sister’s funeral!”
“Community,” an NBC newcomer, is a comedy about lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale, “The Soup”) whose education is deemed unacceptable by the bar (he went to law school in the country Colombia, not Columbia, the Ivy League school) and must attend community college to avoid being disbarred. The show follows the eclectic group of friends that he makes in his study group, stereotyping the people that attend community college.
There’s everyone from the recently divorced woman going back to school to the ex-high school quarterback who received an injury preventing him from being chosen by a major university, to even the older man returning to school “for fun.” For some reason, this group of people become extremely close to one another and must together navigate the absurdity of the school that constantly tries to be more than it is.
MTV, a network known for its less than intellectual programming, is clearly having an image makeover. After the great fame of “Jersey Shore,” an influx of shows with more serious plots have taken over the station. From “Teen Mom,” a spinoff of “16 and Pregnant,” which follows the girls as they navigate the world as young mothers, to “My Life as Liz,” which explores a girl’s life as she tries to find herself, MTV has turned from ecstasy to existential questioning.
The favorite among many of these new shows, though, is “The Buried Life,” a show that follows four young men as they travel the country, checking things off of their “100 things to do before you die” list. They often range from the silly, like to ask out the girl of their dreams (Megan Fox, of course), to the serious, like to help a man find the son absent from his life for 19 years.
Either way, the four friends treat each mission with great determination and good humor, and it is a joy to watch them achieve the impossible with absurd abandon (dress up like an Oompa Loompa to attend a party at the Playboy Mansion). Whether they inspire us to complete our own lists or just live vicariously through their own, “The Buried Life” is an inspiration for many.
There are, of course, many other new shows this season, including “Life Unexpected,” which airs on the CW Mondays at 9 p.m., “Human Target,” which airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8 p.m., “Parenthood,” which airs on NBC on March 2 at 10 p.m., and “The Deep End,” which starts on Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. on ABC. “LOST” also began its last season Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m.
