[Television Thursday] Five MORE Great Shows You’ve Probably Never Heard Of (But Should Definitely Check Out!)
If you saw my last list of five great television shows you’ve probably never heard of, but should check out, you’ve probably realized that I tend to watch shows that aren’t exactly popular or well-known. But they’re still worth watching, and today’s list will give you five more that are definitely worth checking out if you’re tired of the normal dreck on network television and cable.
Canada has some great shows, eh?
Puppets Who Kill is a Canadian show about a halfway house for troubled puppets. One is a comfort doll named Cuddles who is highly suggestible and fairly neurotic. Another is a ventriloquist doll named Bill who is a sociopath and a serial killer. Rocko is a talking dog with a tattoo, a love of cigars, and a complete disregard for others. And Buttons is a former corporate mascot whom the ladies find irresistible… and who isn’t above committing crimes to add to the thrill of the chase. While this might sound like a fairly odd idea for a comedy, it’s extremely well-written, and the puppets are operated by some people who really know what they’re doing. And, since the puppets are cursing, drinking, committing crimes and serving as the worst role models possible, even the few ho-hum episodes have some great moments. I’d recommend this to anyone who doesn’t have small children who might mistake these puppets for, I don’t know, Muppets or something.
(Get Puppets Who Kill Season 1 here on Amazon.com)
If you haven't seen this show, get your hands on it IMMEDIATELY.
Police Squad! is the subject of one of the most tragic stories in television history. The show aired on ABC in 1982, and it’s clear that the network didn’t realize what they had, because it was cancelled after only six episodes. And yet this show, written by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (the writers behind the film Airplane!) and staring Leslie Nielsen, was absolutely one of the best comedies every produced in the 1980s, and way ahead of its time. The people involved went on to develop the idea for the silver screen and released The Naked Gun down the road, but Police Squad! is where it all begins.
It’s hard to describe this show’s rapid-fire jokes and do it any justice. From the moment the credits begin to roll, the jokes pour out of the screen. Every episode has two titles – one announced by the narrator and another shown by the title card. They generally have nothing to do with each other, or with the content of the episode itself. Every introduction also noted a “special guest star” who was immediately killed off in some horrifc way.
Nielsen plays Detective Frank Drebin, a straight man in a world of lunatics. There are all sorts of running gags, such as a scientist in the lab who always seems to be instructing children on how they can do dangerous science experiments (a la Mr. Wizard), or how one character will use a doorway while Drebin will walk around the set. There’s also a shoeshine boy named Johnny who seems to know everything, and who is visited by other well-known people looking for advice (such as Joyce Brothers or Tommy Lasorda) once Frank departs.
I cannot recommend this show highly enough. It’s one of the best comedies ever made, and it’s well worth watching over and over since there are so many jokes that you’re bound to miss a few.
(Get Police Squad! on Amazon.com)
What a great name for a cop, huh?
Sledge Hammer! follows in the spirit of Police Squad! by featuring a cop named Inspector Sledge Hammer who embodies the spirit of all those police dramas from the ’70s and ’80s. He looks down on women, has a strange, almost sexual love for his .44 magnum, and is thrilled by gratuitous violence of any variety. He never stands down from a gunfight, and he isn’t afraid to use excessive force or to create massive collateral damage to win. Hammer also isn’t exceptionally bright, which makes his catchphrase, “Trust me. I know what I’m doing,” all the more hilarious. This show aired on the USA network and got two seasons. Most of the episodes are send-ups of cop movies, shows and stereotypes (parodying popular works was quite common in the ’80s), but the show eventually evolves into something not so different from the classic spy show, Get Smart.
I found myself enjoying Hammer’s antics once I got into the spirit of the show, and some of the comedy bits were absolutely priceless. One of my favorites was in an episode where Hammer finds out he’s been poisoned and only has a few hours to live. He goes on a rampage, wrecking an entire office by breaking things, throwing books on the floor, knocking over bookcases, and so forth. Then, he turns to the doctor, smiles as if nothing happened, and says, “Are you sure?” That mix of gratuitous violence and destruction aside a nonchalant attitude towards it all really makes Hammer a fun character to watch. And the supporting cast is very good as well. I’d say this is a great show for fans of Police Squad! to check out.
(Get Sledge Hammer Season 1 on Amazon.com)
Man, this show is out there. In a good way.
Manhattan AZ is a single camera comedy that aired on the USA network several years ago. It’s about a cop from Los Angeles who gets tired of the daily routine and who takes a job as a sherriff in a little town in Arizona that’s named after its founder, mayor, and resident movie star, Jake Manhattan. The town is just outside a secret government base, and it’s populated with some really strange people. Sherriff Henderson also has a son named Atticus, named after the character Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird to instill some values in him. But Atticus is actually a surly jerk who absolutely hates the town and who frequently tries to run away to return back to Los Angeles. Most of the episodes revolve around Sherriff Henderson trying to clean up a mess made by the bizarre antics of the mayor or trying to repair the damage caused by his son. There are also some pretty good running gags involving a local tribe of American Indians who look suspiciously Anglo-Saxon and the sherriff’s aversion to tuna, due to a tragic accident involving his deceased wife, a Greenpeace mission gone wrong, and an accident at the canning plant.
This is one of those comedies that’s in the spirit of Police Squad! and Sledge Hammer!, but with a little bit of the film Raising Arizona and the series Northern Exposure thrown in for good measure. Best of all, it’s available to watch on Hulu.com for free, so go check it out!
This show was a gem. Fox should have never cancelled it.
Titus is the only show on this list that has a laugh track. And I’m sort of glad it does, because this show is one of the darkest sitcoms I’ve ever seen. The show is loosely based on the life story of Christopher Titus (also the star), a comedian who grew up with a disinterested, alcoholic father and a flighty schizophrenic mother. Somehow, Titus managed to turn his comedy routine, “Norman Rockwell is Bleeding” into a sitcom that isn’t banal or predictable. That alone is an achievement. But what’s even better is that the show is brilliant, using its misfit cast of characters in inventive ways and really torturing them with awkward situations. Titus’s father, played by the marvelous Stacey Keach, is one of the greatest villains ever crafted for a comedy.
Fox cancelled this show in its third season for daring to make fun of airline hijackers months after 9/11/01. It was probably in poor taste, but the show couldn’t help itself. Here was a show that was willing to take the sacred cows of society – the nuclear family, the joy of a relationship, the bonds between friends and siblings – and absolutely shred them apart. I’ve never seen a comedy manage to be so raw and real, and yet so funny at the same time.
(Get Titus here on Amazon.com)
January 29, 2009 12:59 am 
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