Fuzzi Wahwah

My Favourite light hearted comedies

With a recession in Europe and violence in the Middle East, light hearted comedy is a perfect prescription to get through these dark days. Below are some of my favourites

Call Me Fitz

Jason Priestly, Brooke Nevin and Peter MacNeill star in this raucous comedy about a morally bankrupt  used car salesman who somehow obtains conscience only for it to be in the form of another salesman called Larry.

Jack of all Trades

Historical fantasy, with Bruce Campbell at the helm, Jack of all trades succeeds in creating light hearted comedy. Set in the 19^th century, Bruce Campbell’s character Jack Stiles is an American spy sent by President Jefferson to the East Indies to work with Emila Rothschild, a British spy in order to thwart Napolean’s schemes.  One liners, and slapstick run amok here, make it everything you would want from a Bruce Campbell show.

Workaholics

Now in its third season this Comedy Central sitcom, features three characters who all recent college graduates, roommates and work in a telemarketing company. Despite its title it’s a slacker comedy, with the show set mostly in the house the main characters live in or the cubicle they share.

About a Girl

Canadian comedy centering around a girl named Amy moving into a house off campus, where her four roommates are all stereotypical guys. Most of the show involves Amy fighting to change her roommates habits whether it be their study patterns to the way they treat women in general. Think New Girl but aimed at a teenage audience.

Better off Ted

Short lived workplace comedy involving a group of employees working for the merciless Veridian Dynamics.  This madcap show at times could feature three separate show all wrapped into. You had the romance between Ted and Linda, geeky comedy with Phil and Lem, with Veronica (Portia de Rossi) rounding it off by being very similar to the evil queen in the snow white story.  

Go Girls: Hidden Gem all the way from New Zealand

With the new HBO show ‘Girls’ creating a lot of hype as the voice of its generation and the ‘spiritual successor’ to the critically acclaimed Sex and the City, it would be a travesty if this good show never get a mention.

This New Zealand comedy centres around friends who all at the start of each season make a vow concerning their lives from which they all go about during the season trying to fulfil their respective goals.  The episodes unlike a lot of British, Canadian and American shows is done in months, which can take some time getting used to.

At the start of the series it featured one guy- Kevin, and three girls- Amy, Britta and Cody. All of them are in their mid 20’s, and have been best friends with each other since childhood.

Kevin and the tomboy Cody own a car garage  together which actually seems to do well earlier on in the series. There’s Amy who’s had perfect life only for it to fall apart due to her parent’s divorce, leaving her to try and recover her old life back. Britta’s the nympho constantly attracted to guys who are out of luck. This leaves Cody- a single mother of a ten year old daughter named Possum- whose love life remains the most interesting even after four years.

In the latest episode to air, it pitted Amy up against a fellow colleague (Rupert the Perv) who had roofied her drink only for Amy to give the bar owner, Brad, who collapsed in front of his family and friends.  Now obviously this is a sensitive issue but it still doesn’t weigh down the episode and helps to exhibit what the show does best, crazy humour all across the board.

The show’s theme like Friends, How I met your mother uses the theme that friends are the family you choose. In this episode it was most evident as all of Amy friends united together with their own families to wreak havoc and misery on the insidious Rupert ranging from periodic prank calls to getting his car towed whilst he’s at work.

For making the villain of the story a lawyer the writers deserve credit. Seeing as how they’re taught in the workplace not to be afraid of making ethically dubious decisions for the sake of victory. It makes sense that such a character would have no problem crossing the line every now and again.

It really shouldn’t matter if this show is set inNew Zealandbecause its storylines are universal and once you start watching it you wont stop. It should be considered as the sex and the city for this generation just like Girls is but its origin means it stands the chance of never getting noticed outsidenew ZealandandAustralia. On a good note, this shows provides a good look at the influence sex and city had on the television worldwide.

Go Girls at times misses Kevin’s ( Jay Ryan) eternally grumpiness, and whilst he’s away, we’re treated to Brad’s sibling rivalry with his just as perfect brother Will. The return of Kevin is all dependant on the success of Jay Ryan’s new show, CW’s Beauty & the Beast of which he’s the co-star.

Go Girls success has been that it mixes so many different elements together to make it universal. It has complex soap opera-esque relationships between the characters, comedy, tragedy, heartbreak, family, friendships. From what I can tell its not on the top rated channel inNew Zealandbut that shouldn’t detract from what a gem this show is. Fans of shows likes Sex and the  City, Friends, and soap operas would do well to watch this show.