Verry sorry.
I made the above post by mistake. It was an essay that I was considering and I never meant to post it.
I failed to realize it had been posted until it was too late to edit.
I would ask you all to please either ignore it or understand that it was a mistake and should never have been posted.
Darn!
Just a minor point of clarity - I’m not necessarily complaining about the “dark” shows. I’ve watched and enjoyed (or at least appreciated) several of them. I’d just like a little variety, you know? Not everything has to be grim and gritty and dark and brutal.
I thought of a good counterexample: The West Wing. All of the characters are, at heart, good people trying to do the right thing and make the country a better place. And yet, despite that trite-seeming premise, it’s absolutely gripping drama (at least at its best, it is). There’s nothing like that out now, as far as I can tell.
Yes, that’s a good example. I thought of that and wondered whether Aaron Sorkin’s current show (The Newsroom) would also qualify as the kind of thing you’re looking for, but I haven’t seen it and don’t know much about it.
A)You want a comedy, not a drama (I think)
B)I’m going to second or third or whatever Psych. It was the first thing I thought of when I read the OP. It’s funny, well written and while it may be a notch below Arrested Development, it’s still kinda ‘smart’. And the episodes are usually pretty quick moving, so you don’t tend to get bored by them. Lot’s of talking, witty comebacks, back and forth etc.
Frankie, which is a BBC one-season, six-episode program, sadly. I don’t know why it wasn’t picked up for a second season, as the characters were sincere and mostly likable and it had a nice mix of drama and comedy.
DCI Banks is another BBC effort that is presently airing on PBS. Again, a drama, but very well done.
Doc Martin, yet another BBC show that has had several seasons at this point. The main character is not lovable, but it’s an amusing story set in a small English fishing village. He grows on you.
DCI Banks and Doc Martin are both ITV, not BBC.
I’ve heard it both ways.
I like Call The Midwife, when I can catch an episode, I usually feel…pretty good!
I don’t really watch much TV that fits the OP question, but I do like to unwind at night watching TV Land re-runs (Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens) and Hot in Cleveland . Kirstie and Soul Man are stupid, crass, and alarmngly unfunny, but I suppose they have their fans.
Finished its run. But the first 7 seasons are available on Netflix.
Love me some Bob’s Burgers. Very feel-good and fun to watch while uhm, mentally-altered.
Always Sunny is about assholes being assholes, but it’s funny and bad things happen to the assholes and it makes me feel good. Might not be to your taste, I don’t know.
South Park is great.
Have you considered The Blacklist? It’s entertainingly over-the-top. I mean I guess it could be considered “heavy” what with all the contract killers and the like, but it’s hard to feel too down when James Spader is chewing up the scenery like he does.
If you are a Netflix subscriber, or otherwise have access to back episodes of British TV, try “Foyle’s War”. It’s a murder mystery, but not too grim. And it’s just awesome. The main character is believably upright and decent as well as always getting the bad guy. Lots of decent and dignified characters trying to do the right thing. Good acting, good dialogue, good production values. I was sad when my wife and I binge-watched it to the end and had no more episodes left to enjoy.
On Netflix, a show called Maron is good. I’m kinda surprised that this show doesn’t get more fan fare. The main character is probably somebody your describing though. I would watch one 22 minute episode to just give it a chance.
I’m currently enjoying Leverage and just finished Burn Notice on Netflix. Yeah, I came late to the shows, but that allows me to watch several in a row, which is always nice. They’re actually similar in many ways. Both are kind of like A-Team meets The Rifleman meets Mission Impossible. Not always “smart,” but I’ve enjoyed every ep.
The Newsroom is good. The first season can be bought on Amazon but the second isn’t out - and there will be a third, but not a forth. Like the West Wing, it can be a little preachy and idealistic (I read an interview with Sorkin where he said “I write romances, not reality.”)
Leverage is feel good stuff - not always smart but you leave the episodes feeling good.
And you can rewatch The West Wing over and over again…you wouldn’t be the first.
For old series - Veronica Mars has snappy dialog and isn’t nearly as dark as something like Dexter or Breaking Bad - the good guys win in the end (although sometimes it takes a few episodes for the story line to wrap up that way). Well written and pretty well acted. Its another on my rewatch list.
On the BBC list - Downton Abbey? Ripper Street? (which has moments of dark, but not in the assholish way Mad Men is) And, of course, Sherlock.
I was going to come here to suggest Pushing Daisies and realized it has been off the air for 5 years… and that made me sad… 
Anyways, it may not be the best TV, but Sleepy Hollow is damned (no pun intended) entertaining even though its main premise involves dealing with the apocalypse and all that entails. I always had a smile on my face at the end of an episode at least :D.
It’s not quite not “assholes treating each other like assholes,” but Archer is totally awesome. ETA: and hilarious!
I recommend TURN. It is a somewhat factual account of the Revolutionary War Culpepper spy ring. Absolutely riveting.
Fargo - clearly the show wants you to cheer for good human beings doing what’s right, too early to tell if that’s going to work out for them yet though.
The Americans. Unless you are an actual American that is.
Endeavour. Prequel to the Morse series.
Brooklyn 99.
Silk BBC show about Barristers
Doctor Who
37 Days. See Emperor Palpatine as an Edwardian era Foreign Secretary.