Comedies & Light Dramas: All-Time Favorite TV Series
A list of my favorite comedies and light dramas. These shows all fall under the feel good banner.
All active, ongoing series listed on top - otherwise in no particular order.
All active, ongoing series listed on top - otherwise in no particular order.
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- CreatorJemaine ClementStarsKayvan NovakMatt BerryNatasia DemetriouA look into the nightly lives of four vampires who have lived together on Staten Island for over a century.5 seasons / 50 episodes: Season 6 will be finale
I love this series. Love the characters, the situations, the conversations, the relaxed delivery - everything about this series.
A quirky, deliciously awkward comedy that I could watch all day long.
I've seen 5 seasons, 50 episodes and each episode has been as great as the episode that preceded it. - CreatorDan HarmonJustin RoilandStarsChris ParnellSpencer GrammerSarah ChalkeThe fractured domestic lives of a nihilistic mad scientist and his anxious grandson are further complicated by their inter-dimensional misadventures.7 seasons / 71 episodes: Ongoing Series
This show is crazy... crazy good!
The adventures, the gadgets, the great scripts, the alien lifeforms, the multiverse, Rick, Morty... so much more. All like candy for the brain.
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Related: The Vindicators (2022) - CreatorDavid X. CohenMatt GroeningStarsBilly WestJohn DiMaggioKatey SagalPhilip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy, is accidentally frozen in 1999 and thawed out on New Year's Eve 2999.11 seasons / 150 episodes: Ongoing Series
Season 12 expected 2024. - CreatorGreg DanielsStarsRobbie AmellAndy AlloAllegra EdwardsAfter his premature death, a man's consciousness is uploaded into a virtual world. As he gets comfortable with his surroundings, questions about his death arise.3 seasons / 25 episodes: Season 4 will be finale
Update, 08jan2024: Finished watching season 3.
I love this show. I love the way it handles questions about a digital afterlife that we - the viewers - have not even begun to think about.
Questions about ownership of digital memories, the rights of those in the "afterlife", the rights of the poor gaining access to this form of Virtual Reality, lots more...
I also love seeing all the little NextGen Sci-fi tweaks and gadgets. The script is smart, light and funny! I am hoping that Amazon renews this for several more seasons. - CreatorHarley PeytonStarsJacob BatalonMandela Van PeeblesEm HaineIn a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires, Reginald tumbles into it as an unlikely hero who will navigate every kind of obstacle and discovers he has a few unrecognized powers of his own.1 season / 10 episodes: Ongoing Series
Great cast, good story, fun to watch, good (open-ended) closure. My actual rating is a 7.5. - CreatorGregory Thomas GarciaStarsGarret DillahuntShakira BarreraPhillip GarciaHaving been previously incarcerated, Jack moves in with his former cellmate, Rooster, and is determined to turn his life around, just at the start of a global pandemic.1 season / 9 episodes: Series (likely) Complete
Season 1 finished with strong closure for all characters. I do not think there was any intention of a season 2 but I have not read anything that indicates this was a one and done deal.
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Sprung excels within the easy going, fun, light drama genre.
The magnificent work on the layered storytelling makes each episode feel so much longer in a good way, while covering lots of story. You have actively participating multiple characters within overlapping multiple storylines. Few shows are as densely packed.
The great scripts give each character enough depth that you wind up connecting with each for different reasons.
It's from Gregory Thomas Garcia (Greg Garcia) who brought us one of the great series of all-time: My Name Is Earl (2005). If you liked 'Earl', you are going to enjoy this series too. - CreatorAwkwafinaTeresa HsiaoStarsAwkwafinaLori Tan ChinnBD WongWith help from her dad and grandmother, Nora Lum navigates young adulthood in Flushing, New York with her cousin.3 seasons / 27 episodes: Series likely Complete
Update (23jun2023): Saw the final episode of season 3 a few days ago. Everything about that episode said finale... No official word yet but I strongly feel the series is over.
If so...I already miss this show and its cast so much. I hope we get a season 4.
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I first saw Awkwafina in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and fell in love with her comedic style and scene-stealing screen presence.
She has a quality that's equal parts charismatic, down-to-earth, funny and humble. An appeal that feels very approachable and real-world.
I started looking for anything else she may have done that might fall within my field of interest. So happy to have found this series. I watched the first 2 seasons as soon as I found them.
Loved it! Fun, relaxing, great characters and entertaining stories. Mostly... it's Awkwafina who is, in fact, Nora.
She's that really cool girl from Queens. - CreatorPaul FeigStarsTrace BeaulieuNeil CaseyEugene CorderoA young and inexperienced crew venture into space to face mysterious clouds, folds in time and the occasional alien attack, as well as more household challenges.1 season / 8 episodes: Series Complete
From 2015 and on what was called Yahoo! Screen. Lasted only a season because Yahoo closed their streaming service by January 4, 2016.
'Other Space' is one of the best Sci-fi Space Shows ever produced - comedy or otherwise. I love this show!
I find that I connect with this series, its characters and its humor in a way that keeps me coming back for more. I've seen it twice and I'd be lying if I said that was enough.
Light, enjoyable, funny, great characters. Truly a (low budget) hidden gem. - CreatorMichael SchurStarsKristen BellWilliam Jackson HarperJameela JamilFour people and their otherworldly frienemy struggle in the afterlife to define what it means to be good.4 seasons / 53 episodes: Series Complete
Heaven, hell, superpowers, malleable worlds (ie, perceived realities). A creative, light and funny drama with very likeable characters. - CreatorTara ButtersMichele FazekasStarsBret HarrisonTyler LabineRick GonzalezOn his 21st birthday, Sam discovers his parents sold his soul to the devil before birth and he must now be a bounty hunter for the devil until he dies.2 seasons / 31 episodes: Series Complete
There are always a few shows you feel a special fondness for. They make you feel great or that special kind of relaxed or simply put you in a good place.
This show really delivers on that front and has exceptional rewatch value for me.
Also... Ray Wise. Hands down the best portrayal of the devil in anything I've ever seen. - CreatorChris FedakJosh SchwartzStarsZachary LeviYvonne StrahovskiJoshua GomezWhen a computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, both the CIA and the NSA assign an agent to protect him and exploit his newfound skills.5 seasons / 91 episodes: Series Complete
There are a few other shows that used the same (or similar) concept (John Doe, Intelligence and to a lesser degree... Jake 2.0). Chuck's large cast, sharp writing and connection to the characters made this series the best of the bunch. - CreatorBen EdlundStarsPatrick WarburtonDavid BurkeLiz VasseyThe story of superhero The Tick, based on the popular comic book.1 season / 9 episodes: Series Complete
Patrick Warburton is 'The Tick'. I can't imagine anyone else playing this role (certainly not the corpse actor used in the 2016 series; so much miscast). Warburton was perfect. - CreatorDavid JenkinsStarsWyatt CenacLuka JonesAlice WetterlundJournalist Ozzie Graham is skeptical when he investigates a support group for oddballs who think they have been abducted by aliens -- yet the more he learns, the more confused, intrigued, and seduced he becomes.2 seasons /20 episodes: Series Complete
Fun, light, UFO/Sci-fi themed drama with light comedy. Likable characters, lots of character development and depth. - CreatorDavid GuarascioMoses PortStarsDan ByrdAdhir KalyanAmy PietzA young Muslim student from Pakistan is sent to live with a Christian family in Wisconsin as part of a foreign exchange program.1 season / 18 episodes: Series Complete
One of the great castings of all-time in Adhir Kalyan and Dan Byrd. - CreatorVictor FrescoStarsJay HarringtonPortia de RossiAndrea AndersIn an amoral science-based company, a manager tries to keep control of his scientists while being pressured by his shrewd boss.2 seasons / 26 episodes: Series Complete
Lem Hewitt (Malcolm Barrett) and Phil Myman (Jonathan Slavin) were two of the best nerds ever produced for TV. Two of my all-time favorite characters.
Separately they were great characters. When they worked together as a team, they were an unstoppable force for the best kind of TV entertainment. - StarsChris O'DowdRichard AyoadeKatherine ParkinsonThe comedic misadventures of Roy, Moss and their grifting supervisor Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers at a large corporation headed by a hotheaded yuppie.4 seasons / 25 episodes: Series Complete
- CreatorGregory Thomas GarciaStarsJason LeeEthan SupleeJaime PresslyA ne'er do well wins $100,000 in the lottery and decides to right all the wrongs from his past with his newfound realization!4 seasons / 96 episodes: Series Complete
- CreatorLarry LevinStarsRon EldardGiancarlo EspositoChris MulkeyPaul Gigante leaves FBI to be a detective for rural Bakersfield, California PD But sophisticated Gigante.1 season / 17 episodes: Series Complete
I remember when this first came out. I saw the first few episodes and immediately feel in love with this series. It turns out that it was only the first few episodes I was ever going to watch in '93.
I had completely forgotten about this series until I stumbled onto it just now (24aug2023). I'm so happy I did. This time around, I'll be able to watch the entire series.
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update, first week/Dec 2023: Got around to watching the entire series for the first time ever. It was as wonderful as those first few episodes I saw about 30 years ago.
I also found it odd that this show didn't feel like it aged at all. Maybe it was the small town feel or that it was so brilliantly written. Perhaps it was the impressive acting from the entire cast.
Whatever the reasons, I would put this series up against the very best light/fun series produced today. - CreatorAlec BergBill HaderStarsBill HaderStephen RootSarah GoldbergA hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.4 seasons / 32 episodes: Series Complete
I loved the premise. The trailer, however, just didn't convince me this was a good series and so I decided to skip it. I would watch the trailer again and the occasional little snippets online from time to time and... nope... nothing.
Then one day, I decided to just start watching the series. The high ratings, great reviews were a factor. It was the interesting premise that really was the deciding factor - it kept calling to me.
I did not know what I was missing. So much better than the trailer and snippets indicated. Bingeable good, great story matched by equally great characters.
Bill Hader makes a good lead for this series. Anthony Carrigan and lots of the actors in his criminal sphere - give this series that extra something... making it a great series. - CreatorNeil GaimanStarsDavid TennantMichael SheenMiranda RichardsonThe End of the World is coming, which means a fussy Angel and a loose-living Demon who've become overly fond of life on Earth are forced to form an unlikely alliance to stop Armageddon.2 seasons / 12 episodes: season 3, finale
This was originally a 'one and done' miniseries. People liked it, they got another season as a result.
Maybe this isn't a bad way to go with most series... I don't like season-ending cliffhangers. If it's a good series, I'll come back for sure. If it's badly written, I will not come back... cliffhanger or not.
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In fact, a cliffhanger makes me less likely to come back. It is a cheap ploy used by money-grubbers to fight for their third vacation home.
I am beginning to strongly dislike dangling story arcs, cliff hangers and all the other cheap hooks used to manipulate the audience in such overtly shady ways. - CreatorChris FedakStarsJack Cutmore-ScottIlfenesh HaderaLenora CrichlowA famed magician uses his skills of deception to assist the FBI in solving high-profile cases.1 season / 13 episodes: Series Complete
- CreatorSteve CarellGreg DanielsStarsSteve CarellJohn MalkovichBen SchwartzThe people tasked with creating a sixth branch of the armed services: The Space Force.2 season / 17 episodes: Series Complete
That one episode in season one about a chimpanzee in space was probably one of the worst things I have ever seen in my life. It was horrific and painful to watch.
It's like they didn't care what they were producing or worse... openly admitting that they were mostly talentless hacks in it for the money grab. Mocking both their investors and the people watching the show.
The feeling that nobody cared about the quality of the production peaked with this episode.
Lots of the episodes bordered close to this line but I hung in there for some reason. The series seemed to get better (?) or it grew on me (?). In any case... giving it a second season (which I'll watch at some point - on the back burner for now).
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Season Two, update (02jan2023): Finished binge-ing the entire 2nd season during the day. It was that good! Not many TV series can take a bad first season and come back to produce an exceptional second season.
It was a funny, comfortable, comedy that was also an emotionally engrossing light drama at times.
I just don't understand this world. It gets renewed after a bad season 1. It gets cancelled after a great season 2. - CreatorAndy BreckmanStarsTony ShalhoubJason Gray-StanfordTed LevineThe series follows Adrian Monk, a brilliant former San Francisco detective, who now consults the police as a private consultant whilst battling with an obsessive-compulsive disorder.8 seasons / 125 episodes: Series Complete
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related Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (2023)
Premiered December 8, 2023. Monk is back again and he's as good here as the Monk we all remember.
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related Little Monk (2009)
Adventures of a young Adrian Monk and his brother, Ambrose, as they solve mysteries at school. - CreatorBrendan HuntJoe KellyBill LawrenceStarsJason SudeikisHannah WaddinghamJeremy SwiftAmerican college football coach Ted Lasso heads to London to manage AFC Richmond, a struggling English Premier League soccer team.3 seasons / 34 episodes: Series Complete
I finally decided to watch this series and it was a great experience. Great storyline, great characters and a nice optimism... - CreatorEmily KapnekStarsJeremy SistoJane LevyCarly ChaikinTessa Altman is used to the big city, but when her dad moves her away, she has to adapt to her new suburban life in Chatswin.3 seasons / 57 episodes: Series Complete
A superb cast that really deliver on their characters. A great script that keeps you engaged throughout its entire run.