Okay, I am slow bingeing some great smart comedies from the past- WKRP, Night Court and Barney Miller, all from epi 1.
Great, smart humor.
What else ya got?
Rule one- no stupid people (okay, WKRP has Herb, but). That means no Kramer.
Rule 2- People act like normal humans who have quick wits, etc.
Very little or no episodes where the whole plot is a misunderstanding that could be cleared up in seconds. E.G> Woman is talking about her pet goldfish- Ralph- who passed away. Dude walks by and hears about the death, but not the goldfish, assumes it is another human in the cast called Ralph. Stupid misunderstandings occur.
Very little “cringe-worthy” humor.
The longer the better. There are quite a few that would fit, but canceled after a season or something.
An old British series called As Time Goes By with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Believable, likeable characters, no stupid people (at least, none of the regulars are – quite the opposite, they’re all almost too intelligent for their own good), and plots that are realistic.
Its from the early 90’s but for the most part has aged well.
It’s available in DVD in the U.S. but I’m not sure which streaming services have it.
It’ll be hard to find, but there was an Australian series called The Games that was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. It’s a mockumentary set among the organizing committee of the Sydney Olympics. It’s similar in style and wit to some British comedies, but rather snarkier.
Mother and Son - set around a divorced man who moves back in with his mother who is getting flashes of dementia. Yes, that is a vehicle for comedy. Very clever writing, but also several of Australia’s best actors at work.
Utopia - interpersonal relations and managing the politics of a government department that builds infrastructure. Released in some places as Dreamland.
Well, you set the bar pretty high with Barney Miller.
My best offering is The Dick Van Dyke Show. If you can abide the (few) annoying appearances of Ritchie and the cringey Sally-needs-a-husband moments, it’s comedy gold.
Yes Minister. Lots of youtube scenes to check out.
Woolley : In the [civil] service, CMG stands for “Call Me God”. And KCMG for “Kindly Call Me God”. Hacker : What does GCMG stand for? Woolley (deadpan): “God Calls Me God”.
Maybe The Andy Griffith show, if you can roll with “down-home” characters. Barney might come across as something of a buffoon at times, but there’s always a . . . ah, let’s say a “humanness” that a character like Herb doesn’t have much of. In fact, there’s really no need to stick with it after Don Knotts has left the show. And if you try a couple of episodes and don’t like them, at least check out “The Loaded Goat” ep before you bail.
Kramer stupid? I’d say he was an eccentric, but far from stupid.
I just rewatched Arrested Development, and had forgotten just how good it is, especially the first 3 or 4 seasons. The wordplay, callbacks, running gags and meta-jokes weave a complex tapestry of humor. But, even though it’s what I’d call a smart comedy, it does have a few stupid characters.
Community is another great one, though I personally didn’t think it got really good until the paintball episode at the end of season one. It ironically sends up just about every TV and movie genre of fiction there ever was.
Both Arrested Development and Community are on Netflix, BTW.
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is a near forgotten gem from the 80’s - but it’s more of a dramedy. I put it out here just in case it fits the description.
It helps that the Russo Brothers were involved in (some of?) the paintball episodes.
Santa Clarita Diet is great, it’s gory, but it’s very much a comedy. I’m not sure how ‘smart’ it is, but for a comedy, it’s very different than anything else you’ve seen.
I’m not sure if fits the extended criteria, but IMO, one of the smartest (semi-recent) comedies is The Good Place.
While animated, I think Rick and Morty might be a good fit.
Psych would, IMO, also fit in with other ‘smart’ comedies, but that’s at least in part to it being sorta kinda a police procedural.
How about Angie Tribeca? It’s essentially a modern remake of Police Squad. While that doesn’t make it seem like a ‘smart’ comedy. You have to consider not just the subject, but the material. How they writers came up with so many jokes for each episode, I don’t know.
I understand what the OP is asking but I don’t know if I would call these shows smart comedies. I feel they’re more like comfortable comedies. They’re shows based around characters the viewers will like.
What I would call a smart comedy would be something like Arrested Development or The Good Place or Community.
I submit what is still one of my favorite comedies: Pushing Daisies. None of the characters are stupid, though they all have serious quirks (if not outright personality disorders), and the writing is extremely witty. A bonus is that the main cast (as well as some of the supporting cast) are all very strong actors, including a couple of Tony Award winners (Kristin Chenoweth and Swoosie Kurtz).
The only downside is that there are only 22 episodes; its first season was cut short by a writers’ strike, and as its ratings were lower when it finally returned to the air, a year later, it was cancelled during its second season.
What makes that show even better than it being smart is that it’s so easy to watch. It’s one of those shows that I can watch the entire series and then immediately start it over. Over the years they’ve been praised for doing a decent job of teaching some basic philosophy and ethics in a way that isn’t overwhelming but they also aren’t dumbing it down either.
I remember when the only downside was that when recommending it to someone, you had to tell them not to watch it unless they had a blu-ray DVD player and could get the blu-ray dvds from Netflix. The visuals are so good, it was worth holding off until you could watch it in HD.
For those that haven’t seen it, every scene on every set was as visually stunning as this:
And the plot and dialogue and story lines and character arcs were all very, very well done as well.
That’s another one I really should watch again (and it’s better than Dead Like Me, IMO)
No stupid characters, not even Mel. Really good and clever writing, although they didn’t exclude slapstick. Handled some surprisingly adult topics, too.
