What finals?

Five TV comedies to help you fail your finals.

By Tenzin Butsang

Gone are the good old days of television when a show had over 20-million viewers an episode and reality television was actually reality. There are numerous conspiracy theories about the legitimacy of Jersey Shore – who can blame them really?

Although I may be skeptical about reality television, I always give comedies a chance, no matter how stupid they look. For example, I watched the first episode of Reba McEntire’s new show Malibu Country. I may have been the shows only viewer and skipped through the majority of its cheesy dialogue, but I still gave it the dignity of my semi-viewership. This is the glory of watching shows online. No commercials, easy to fast-forward, and you always have the option of lying in bed with your laptop on your stomach gobbling down a bag of chips. Many a night have I spent like this.

However, the following comedy shows have not only restored my faith in television, they are also the only shows I would actually watch at the original broadcasting time. This an honor I only consider second to “liking” the shows official Facebook page.

Let me preface this by saying that I have watched every episode of all the seasons of all of the following shows. Time well spent, a life well lived.

Happy Endings

Are you still looking for the void that Friends has left in your heart? Look no further, your happy ending is here (ha). Six best friends living in Chicago that are funny and have funny things happen to them. There’s the gay slob, the foreversingle girl, the effeminate Black guy, his competitive Serbian wife, her ditzy little sister, and her ex-fiancé Dave. Brad (Damon Wayans Junior) makes this show extra spicy. Although it’s easy to make comparisons to Friends, people should also watch this show because it is funny and original like a delicate snowflake.

Parks and Recreation

Amy Poehler. Aziz Ansari. Chris Pratt. Aubrey Plaza. I don’t really have much else to say.

NTSF:SD:SUV

Short for National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle. An eleven-minute comedy on Adult Swim that has more awesome guest stars than it has airtime (J.K. Simmons, Ed Helms, Alison Brie, Bill Hader…). This show is founded on the sole premise of making fun of America’s favorite crime shows. It takes place in an alternate reality where supermodels are hideous and Wilmer Valderrama (That ‘70s Show’s Fez) is the epitome of intelligence. Some of the plot lines are just as confusing as the show’s title but that is what makes it great.

Community

The little engine that could. Since it’s premiere in 2009 it has been threatened with cancellation countless times and is currently on hiatus again. Hopefully NBC will get its head out of its ass soon and put this show back on the air. Community is a comedy about a group of students at a rural community college who meet by forming a Spanish study group. Add an overly enthused dean and psychopathic head of security and hilarity ensues. What more is there to say? The writing is great and the episodes get really creative. There was an entire episode in 8-bit video game format for heavens sake. Genius.

Workaholics

IF YOU LIKE PUNS, CUTE BOYS, AND OR WATCHING PEOPLE FUCK SHIT UP WATCH THIS SHOW. Workaholics is about three awesome best friends named, Adam, Blake, and Anders (“AHN-ders with a hard AHN!”) who use their job at a telemarketing company as a playground for doing stupid shit. They go on strike with the demand of a vacation day for Half-Christmas. What is Half- Christmas you ask? No one really knows, but that episode was funny.