Sitcom Surplus: Ghosts, Abbott Elementary, American Auto, How I Met Your Father

Now that we're done with the Oscars and you've crammed your way through a series of prestige films, is your mind craving the nourishing comfort of simple TV sitcoms? Well you're in luck, because I have been watching a slew of comedies.

Ghosts: Over a few weeks, I binged all three seasons that are currently available on HBO Max, but which originally aired on the BBC. An American adaptation of this show just started airing this year on CBS, and I have heard very good things, so I will probably start watching it shortly, but for now, I'm here to tell you that you can do no wrong if you check out the British version. The premise is as follows: Alison (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) are a young couple who move into a crumbling mansion that Alison inherited upon the death of a very distant relative. Unbeknownst to them, the mansion is teeming with the ghosts of people who died in that house or on its land and who have yet to pass on. When Alison has an accident, she gets the power to see the ghosts, which means that she is now having to interact both with the living and the dead on a daily basis while Mike has to deal with his wife randomly talking in empty rooms and going crazy when all the ghosts just won't stop pestering her about their many woes.

The show is so clever - the writing is impeccable and the cast is superb, each actor bringing myriad layers to their performance. Each ghost has a backstory that we will get in dribs and drabs over the course of the three seasons, and while they all start out as heightened caricatures, they get rounded out with more nuance and pathos with each episode. It is lovely to watch how Alison and Mike's relationships with these spirits evolves over the course of the show, and how they all weirdly become a little family. But most importantly, this is a show that is jam-packed with jokes, and you will be giggling non-stop as you binge your way through.

Abbott Elementary: Out of all the sitcoms released on American networks this year, this is the jewel in the crown. It follows a group of teachers at a Philadelphia public school and every single episode is brimming with humor and heart. There's Janine (Quinta Brunson, the genius who also created this show), an idealistic teacher who is relatively new to the profession and is determined to make a difference and do anything she can for her students. Jacob (Chris Perfetti) is similarly new and idealistic, while Melissa and Barbara (Lisa Ann Walter and Sheryl Lee Ralph) are the older and wiser teachers who have been at this school for a while. Unlike most shows where the older teachers may be wizened and jaded, these two ladies are incredible role models who are still dedicated to their students, but they do get very tired at having to explain the system to the younger folk and having to rein in their boundless enthusiasm once in a while.

To round out the cast, we have Ava, played by Janelle James, who is delivering one of the weirdest and wildest performances as the thoroughly incompetent principal of this school who struts about the place insulting her employees, making fun of the kids, and generally causing a ruckus. She does not deserve to have this job, a fact that is noted by Gregory (played by Tyler James Williams, all grown up from Everybody Hates Chris!), who aspired to be the the principal, but is currently only able to get a substitute teaching gig. This show is a sweet, hilarious workplace comedy, and it both makes you guffaw and gives you the warm fuzzies. It is comfort food for your soul every week, so give it a go and get some nourishment.

American Auto: Created by Justin Spitzer, who created Superstore, and worked on The Office, this show has great pedigree and hits all those familiar beats. There's the boss who's in over their head, the will they-won't they couple, and a range of kooky cast members who are all agents of chaos in their own special way. It's a simple workplace comedy set at an American car company, Payne Motors, and the action picks up when they get a new CEO, Katherine (the incomparable Ana Gasteyer). She formerly worked for Big Pharma and knows nothing about cars - she can't even drive. So naturally, there's a steep learning curve, and she is surrounded by a bunch of employees who are alternately going to try to help her succeed or secretly root for her failure.

Some criticisms I have heard of this show are that it feels like things we have seen before and/or that it traffics in too much cynicism. As someone who adores British sitcoms, however, this tone is right up my alley. Yes, this is a show that often makes it hard to root for any character. But oh man, the writing is sharp and clever, each episode densely packed with jokes, and some of the plots they come up with are genius. The pilot episode that featured a racist car stole my heart from the very beginning, and by the end of the first season, the show did reveal how far these people had come after dealing with numerous crises. This show has great bones, and I hope it gets many more seasons to fully delve into all these characters, give us all the permutations of them working together on crazy adventures, and make me laugh hysterically as yet another car falls apart for utterly bewildering reasons. 

How I Met Your Father: The title should tell you everything you need to know here. Brought to you by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas who gave us nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother, this is the gender-swapped spin-off where it's now a woman's turn to tell her kid about how she met his father. Kim Cattrall plays the older Sophie who is narrating this story in 2050, but most of the action involves young Sophie in 2022, played by the charming Hilary Duff. You will meet her friends, and in the first episode, we will meet several men who have the potential to be love interests for Sophie, one of whom, we are promised, will eventually be the Father.

This is peak comfort food right? If you loved the original show and watched it to the bitter end, you will be charmed by this update. It's a very traditional multi-camera sitcom, unlike the ones I've reviewed above that are all single-camera and laser-focused on tight scripts. On this show, the focus is more on creating a vibe of the perils of dating in New York City and the eternal quest to find your person, accompanied by a laugh track. The actors are great, including Chris Lowell, one of my fave actors from Veronica Mars, who plays Jesse. The cast is also much more diverse, featuring Asian and Hispanic actors in Sophie's friend group, so that's a welcome change from the original show, even if the main leads are still conventionally pretty white people. This is a good show with some good twists and turns in its first season, and some fun cameos from the HIMYM world, so give it a try. It's not high art, but it's soothing and fun and is a cozy way to while away an afternoon.