"TV comedy doesn't get quite the same respect as high-end TV drama. Maybe that's because the definition of "good comedy" is slipperier and more subjective and ultimately immune to adjectives. Calling a comedy sophisticated or vulgar, well-crafted or chaotic, innovative or traditional doesn't mean much if the damned thing didn't make you laugh, or at least smile and think. The episodes on this list made me laugh, smile or think — sometimes all three. They also had a little something extra: an audaciousness, a delight in saying, "What the hell, let's try it." I sensed this heedlessness in all sorts of shows, from the shticky Archer and Futurama to the postmodern bubblegum echo chambers of Community and Bob's Burgers to the melancholy arthouse stylings of Louie and Girls.
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Is that a valid criteria for listmaking? I really don't know, but it's my list, so why not?"
- Matt Zoller Seitz
