Happy Friday Bookworms! You all know I love reading… But, we’re living in a digital world. Bloggers cannot love on books alone. Let’s talk TV! More specifically, let’s talk about FUNNY TV. With all the political ads and the world chaos and whatnot, laughing is good for us!
Stuff That Makes Me Laugh:
1. Parks and Recreation: I freaking love this show. I want to be friends with Amy Poehler. I want to have her over for a slumber party and give her ginger baby kisses. Also. Ron Effing Swanson. OMG.
Don’t lie. You want to kiss that baby too.
2. 30 Rock: Tina Fey! Liz Lemon is like the American Bridget Jones. Love love love. And Alec Baldwin? I have never laughed as hard as I did during the Generalissimo episode.
This shouldn’t be as funny as it is. And yet…
3. How I Met Your Mother: Sure, it’s taken 8 seasons to meet the mysterious mother. But who cares? Who knew that Doogie Howser, MD was going to grow up to be so friggin funny? Who among us does not have a friend who is just like Ted Mosby? Oh, you don’t? Well, you can borrow my friend. He’s fantastic. And single. Ladies? Anyone?
From Doogie Howser to Dr. Horrible to Barney Stinson. Neil Patrick Harris, will you ever cease to amaze me?
4. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo: I am everything that is wrong with America. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. This show cracks me up. FINALLY- a reality show with self-aware subjects! These people are under no delusions about where they stand. They burp, they fart, they chew tobacco. Whatever. They know who they are, they love each other, and they didn’t bat an eye when Baby Kaitlyn was born with an extra thumb. Do I think they’re great role models? Meh, probably not. But are they the worst thing ever? No way. THAT was Jersey Shore. You better “redneckognize.”
Seriously. An extra thumb. Kid’s got 11 fingers. So did Anne Boleyn. And before she lost her head, she was a queen. Don’t worry, Baby Kaitlyn, it’s not legal to decapitate wives anymore.
5. Bunheads: It’s like Gilmore Girls, but with ballerinas! It’s a truth almost universally acknowledged that bookish girls LOVED Gilmore Girls. Rory did so much to promote reading for teenage girls! There’s a lack of constant book references on Bunheads but that fast paced witty delicious dialogue is there in all its glory. I used to dance, so this has an added bonus for me. Long live Amy Sherman-Palladino!
I never looked that good in a leotard. In case you were wondering.
6. Renovation Realities: Hubs and I watch this together. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a reality show about homeowners who attempt to do their own home renovations. Only, they never know what they’re doing. We watch, we laugh, we heckle. “Oh look at that bonehead trying to take out a load bearing wall!” “He didn’t turn off the power!!!” “Just hire the plumber already, you nincompoop!”
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a novice using a jackhammer.
7. Shameless: This is on Showtime, so unless you pay way too much for cable or have some sort of subscription thingie, you can’t watch it. But OMG you need to get a subscription thingie because this is the best show ever. The Gallaghers make me feel so well-adjusted! They’re hilarious in the most offensive way possible, so if you have ANY hot button issues, just don’t watch it.
Edgy. Brilliant. Based on a British show. How can you lose?
7. New Girl: I love a good ensemble cast, and this show is fabulous. Schmidt, the recovering douchebag gets the best one liners. Jess is brilliantly awkward and sweet. Nick is a prematurely crochety old man and chronic under achiever. Winston has a set of foibles a mile long. I love seeing people act like dorks on TV. I’ve never been cool, I like seeing my own kind represented!
Who’s that girl? It’s Jess!
8. Don’t Trust The B In Apartment 23: This show is on the edgier side, but if you’re not especially sensitive it’s hysterical. (Shameless requires like ZERO boundaries to enjoy it. This is much tamer.) James Van Der Beek plays a hilariously douchey version of himself. It’s like every Hollywood cliche rolled into a single character. I adore celebrities who can make fun of themselves. Especially when they can do it outside the confines of SNL.
Dawson is the Moon!
9. Happy Endings: It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s set in Chicago. This show is beautifully random. A V-neck intervention? A man who literally hibernates? This show has so many neuroses- heaven’s to Betsy, I LOVE crazy people!
Trivia Time! Damon Wayans, Jr. was in the pilot for New Girl, presumably because he didn’t expect Happy Endings to get picked up for a second season. It did, and now I have two shows about neurotic late 20s-30 somethings to watch!!!
10. The Office: I know, I know. It’s past it’s prime, but I still love these characters. I’m invested in Jim and Pam and Oscar and Andy and Dwight and the whole gang. It’s still funny.
I hear Dwight is getting a spinoff. Let’s hope it doesn’t go the way of Joey from Friends…
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I have writer’s block so I’m totally cheating on this bad boy. Honorable mentions go out to Raising Hope, The Mindy Project, Modern Family, The Middle and everything else I laugh at that I forgot to list. You know I love you. I promise to be back on Monday with something of substance. Have a fantastic weekend, my little worms!
Shana London
I am a total TV addict also. However, I do have a particularly “addicty” way of watching(**PS, new word with addicty?**) – I have to wait until a show has a few seasons out on DVD, and then I buy the sets and watch all the seasons in one long marathon of awesomeness. Weird and time consuming? Yes. Will I always be this way? Probably.
Words for Worms
Yes! We’re working through Mad Men this way. That Don Draper is one hot tamale. Addicty. I like it. Consider it coined, my friend!
ashley
“My fanny pack is in my office in my mini fridge. I like my tampons cold.” Who wouldn’t love Liz Lemon! Favorite show by far!
Words for Worms
LOL serioulsy! Liz Lemon for president! (Only not, she’d be a terrible leader, I just happen to love her.)
ashley
I would love to know a real-life Liz Lemon! I’d vote for her!
Lyssapants
Lesbian Yellowfruit, all the way!!
Words for Worms
That would look GREAT on campaign posters…
Lyssapants
Ooh, and T shirts. I think we may have something here.
Meg
Yes Parks & Rec (and yes ginger baby), Yes Office (even though, yeah, it’s gone downhill), Yes Bunheads (though, yeah, it’s no Gilmore Girls), and YES Don’t Trust the B!
Words for Worms
Meg, if Amy Poehler and her ginger baby ever come to my slumber party, you’re TOTALLY invited. We’ll watch Gilmore Girls. I have all 7 seasons on DVD!
Marianne Crowe Loes
Liz Lemon is my hero! Also, have you watched Duck Dynasty yet? It’s golden, along the lines of Honey Boo Boo with the “characters” in on the joke about themselves. As someone who’s lived in the South their whole lives and who may or may not have relatives who act like the Robisons on Duck Dynasty, I find it hilarious.
Marianne Crowe Loes
*life, not lives (I’m not in fact a reincarnated soul, that I know of…)
Words for Worms
I think I’ve seen commercials for Duck Dynasty… ZZ Top looking dudes? I should check that out. I love when people don’t take themselves too seriously. Life is too darn short not to laugh at your own weirdness!
Quirky Chrissy
I realize now, that I rarely watch comedies with any regularity. I tend to keep my TV watching to the dramatic. Hrmmm…
Words for Worms
That’s too bad. You need more laughter in your life.