In May 2020, my colleague Sophie Gilbert compiled a list of half-hour shows for a “deeply strange and very exhausting era.” The pandemic had just gotten under way, with no semblance of an end in sight, so she sought shows that offered some measure of comfort for a viewership whose “emotional bandwidth ran out during the eighth Zoom call of the day, and whose current side hustles as math teachers, peacekeepers, and Bob Ross might leave them with little left at the end of the day.” The titles she chose then were affecting and nuanced, but few were comedies. For this update to Sophie’s list, I’ve opened up the criteria to highlight what’s turned out to be a flourishing genre, anchored by the revival of traditional sitcoms such as Abbott Elementary. The shows I’ve listed are easy to binge, with most episodes hovering around half an hour or less, and they indulge in humor, whether outright or otherwise. Maybe they’ll make you laugh. Maybe they’ll inspire you to reflect. Whatever happens, they won’t ask too much of your attention span.
Shows That Will Remind You of the Joy of Community
This series, with its relentlessly optimistic protagonist and a mockumentary format, will remind viewers of Parks and Recreation. Yet Abbott Elementary, about a group of teachers working at an underfunded Philadelphia elementary school, feels utterly fresh, given its sharp writing about the public education system’s shortcomings and its cast’s lived-in chemistry. In other words, it passes with flying colors.
Derry Girls (Netflix) | Two seasons; 12 episodes total; renewed for Season 3
Set at the end of the Troubles, Derry Girls juxtaposes the era of political unrest with a group of teenagers’ antics in the titular Northern Ireland town. Despite that serious backdrop, the series provides charm in spades, making the case that the gang’s adolescent…