Once upon a time, sitcoms ruled television comedy. Comedians didn’t have to be good actors, the scripts didn’t need to be great, and the first few seasons could be average so long as the jokes were funny.
Today, a laugh track and a Jerry Seinfeld clone does not a comedy make. Comedies need to have depth. In addition to being funny, they need to say something greater about the human condition—as slight as their contribution may be—in order for our modern audience to be hooked. And to engage our fickle minds, they need to come out swinging in Season 1.
That said, here are our top five first seasons in recent comedy TV history:
5. Louie (2010)
Louis C.K.’s brilliant first season may yet get better with time, but Louie is a refreshing new take on comedy television. So raw and so funny, Louie hits the same dark notes Louis C.K.’s stand up hits, only with exceptionally well-done visual work and great acting.
4. Californication (2007)*
David Duchovny stars as Hank Moody—a famous novelist struggling to write his second book—in this Showtime hit. The first season is so perfectly woven that you wonder if the creators thought there’d be a second season, at all. Indeed, the second season struggles at times (I don’t think Becca’s blinked since Season 1), but Californication has certainly regained form in Seasons 3 and 4. It’s a show that believes in the unexpected laugh, and does a great job at making a very unlikeable character rather likeable.
3. Arrested Development (2003)*
Speaking of unlikeable, coming in at number 3 is the best comedy to ever get cancelled, period. Calling Arrested Development’s first season great is actually rather dubious, considering the lengths to which the show went to appease FOX personnel and keep “viewers” up to date on the plot. That first season showed the depths to which a comedy can go without ever taking itself too seriously.
2. Chappelle’s Show (2003)*
The massively successful Chappelle’s Show changed comedy television, Comedy Central, and Chappelle, himself. Skits included: “Clayton Bixby: the blind white supremacist who didn’t know he was black,” “Popcopy,” and “The Mad Real World” (a satiric jab at the prejudices of MTV’s Real World). Chappelle’s Show took off and had a still better second season, which is a testament to the series’ overall quality.
1. Freaks and Geeks (1999) 
It’s amazing how the one and only season of Freaks and Geeks can bring people of all ages back to their childhood. With excellent writing and yet-to-blossom stars like James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, and Linda Cardellini, the show truly was ahead of its time. It had heart, humor, a great cast, and great writing—not much more than that you could ask for.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch.
