I checked, sure this show was already mentioned but no. Dead Like Me is great. Only one season despite a campaign to get it back, so it’s a quick binge.
Living With Yourself on Netflix. I started a thread about it awhile ago. Funny and pretty well done, but only one season.
Two animated series for you: Archer is a great spy spoof, and Rick and Morty is a great science fiction spoof. Both are raunchy and violent and, at their best, breathtakingly clever and entertaining.
I’ll note that Pushing Daisies was originally developed by Bryan Fuller as a spin-off to Dead Like Me (which was also created by Fuller). However, by the time Pushing Daisies made it to air, there was no direct connection between the two series (other than both being quirky comedies about death).
Also, Dead Like Me actually had two seasons, plus a direct-to-DVD movie made a few years later.
Thanks for the info. I think I’ve seen all the the episodes but for sure didn’t see the movie.
I really enjoyed “Patriot” on Amazon. It’s certainly quirky and a comedy, although the humor is often quite dry and dark and it can be pretty seriously dramatic at times. But there are scenes that are just sublime and running gags that really pay off over time. I loved this show so much.
It has two seasons and starts out pretty strong. I think you’d know within an episode of two if it was your cup of tea.
Episodes
I don’t know that I have the same definition of quirky- because none of the OP seem quirky to me. Not that they’re bad shows, I just wouldn’t label any of them quirky.
But, the same people behind Parks & Rec are also behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine & The Good Place. So there’s a similarity between the shows that you might like.
Cougar Town (hangout comedy with people in their 40s) is not unlike these… the first season is kind of a mess, but it figures itself out after a while.
If you like Psych, then Monk, Royal Pains, In Plain Sight, White Collar, (all dramas - but so, technically, was Psych) are all in the same line. I’d also put Chuck in a similar bucket. Green Wing (also closer to a drama) is truly quirky if not downright odd. (it was available on hulu in the early days of hulu. Not sure if it’s still here)
Peep Show (where you learn how much range Olivia Coleman has) and Always Sunny are funny as anything - but I’m not sure I’d call them “quirky.” I also don’t think they’re similar to the things that you do like. They have a streak that might be similar to what turned you off of Arrested Development.
Recent Sitcoms that are closer to what I’d call quirky, that you might enjoy:
People of Earth - extremely silly, very little pathos, got weird. Got cancelled - but enough of an ending to feel ok.
Miracle Workers - low pathos.
I’m rarely one to say this sort of thing, but…don’t watch the movie unless you are an obsessive completionist. IMHO it just really, really isn’t good. One might even say bad ;). No Mandy Patinkin and for some insane reason they recast Laura Harris as Daisy Adair instead of just replacing her character. The storyline isn’t that exciting either.
Can’t believe no-one has suggested Father Ted.
Good to know. If only someone had gave me this same advice before I saw Aliens 3: FU Aliens Fans.
Really?!?!?! I guess we have quite different definitions of “quirky.” I mean, if It’s Always Sunny is not “quirky,” I don’t know what is.
For what it’s worth, I liked Pushing Daises a lot more. I’ve watched the series a few times, but with Dead Like Me, I only got through a few episodes and kinda forgot about it.
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Another good one would be Firefly.
Someone upthread mentioned Six Feet Under. In that same vein of darker, but quirky, shows. I’ll recommend Twin Peaks.
And, while I’m here, and because I’m in the middle of watching it again, I’ll re-recommend Better Off Ted.
And, I know you didn’t want sitcoms, but I’m still going to mention How I Met Your Mother and second Brooklyn 99.
It only ran 13 episodes, but try Selfie (on Hulu), starring Karen (Avengers) Gillan and John (Star Trek reboot) Cho. It was really hitting its stride when it was yanked off the network; bad time slot, IIRC.
I agree with you. I saw a few episodes of Dead Like Me, and I liked it, but never really got into it. Pushing Daisies, OTOH, is still one of my all-time favorite TV series.
I recommend Nurse Jackie starring Edie Falco as a nurse with an addiction problem on the side. Also, the United States of Tara starring Toni Colette and John Corbett about a woman with multiple personalities and the family that loves her. And Rescue Me starring Denis Leary is about the quirkiest damn dramedy about firefighters in New York following 9/11 ever made. And there’s seven seasons. Most recently I’ve discovered Atypical with Keir Gilchrist about a boy with autism and his family. Three seasons, available on Netflix.
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And, while it’s more or less moot at this point. The difference between watching it on an SD TV with DVDs to an HD tv with Blu-Rays was huge. The show is so heavily visual that I’d tell people that didn’t have a blu-ray player to wait until they got one. Not that not having the ability to see all the visual details didn’t take anything away, but being able to see them added so much. Scenes like this and this just make a world of difference when you can appreciate the detail in all it’s high-def glory. Even ignoring that someone dreamed up these sets, they clearly spent a lot of time building them as well.
Fun fact: Anna Friel (Chuck) is one of those actors that if you didn’t know she was English, you’d never guess it. I can’t recall her ever even slipping with her American accent. It seems a lot of actors, even if they do a good job, you can still hear their accent sneak through during scenes where they’re emotional or yelling. Here’s a clip of her normal speaking voice. I hesitate to put anyone on the same level as Hugh Laurie, but she does a bloody good job.
Another show to check out is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I know I didn’t watch the entire series, but the first 2 or 3 seasons are really, really good.
And speaking of Jane Krakowski, lets not forget Ally McBeal. It’s still a very good show, but when I started to rewatch it a few months ago, it’s feels pretty dated, or rather, it feels very ‘90’s’, for lack of a better way to describe it.
To me, quirky has lightness and whimsy. Again - Always Sunny is funny. But it’s way too dark to be hit “quirky” for me, and it doesn’t feel like it’s on the same wavelength as the OP’s shows. (It is very tonally different than Parks & Rec.)
I left out “Jane the Virgin” & “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” - which you might like. Both of them have a genre and a structure and they’re faithful to that (telenovela and musical respectively) and if you deeply hate those genres, you probably won’t like them. But if you like (or are at least open to trying) those, you might like them. The characters are real, but quirky, and they’re consistently well written and acted.
Just remembered the best funniest and weirdest show I ever saw: The League of Gentlemen was like a sci fi comedy mash up. Genius stuff from some troupe in the UK.
It seems to me ‘quirky’ is very hit or miss. There don’t seem to be a lot of quirky shows, maybe they are something that can’t be written as such. Maybe they reveal themselves to be quirky upon watching. Like ‘cult movies’ - I don’t think you can set out to make a ‘cult movie’, it just catches the imagination of viewers and interest spreads by word of mouth .