12 Favorite Comedies of 2012: ‘United States of Tara’ and ‘Wilfred’
Coincidentally, the last two comedies on my list alphabetically each have a premise heavily reliant on psychological elements.
United States of Tara
Three seasons of this Diablo Cody half hour was probably just right. I’m not a fan of series existing in perpetuity, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sad to say farewell to the Gregson family after three seasons. That’s part of why I have been hoarding the last episodes, waiting for a time when I can fully enjoy them. But over the years, this perfectly cast family drama took a more honest, unflinching look at suburban family life than we’ve seen on TV anytime in recent memory, and certainly in a comedy. (Modern Family is enjoyable, but tends toward idyllic).
Matriarch Tara’s dissociative identity disorder could easily serve as a metaphor for whatever is messed up about your family. Max goes out of his way to be the good guy, sometimes to the point of desperation. Kate is a smart, scrappy young adult flailing in search of a place in the world. Marshall is the most no-nonsense, believable gay teen to ever appear on TV, I think, which is a much more meaningful representation than Flaunting It or the Very Special Episode approach.
Everyone has problems, and everyone has probably called their mom crazy. But this is a family that truly seems to love one another at the end of the day, no matter what other insanity has gone on in or around their household. Maybe it’s the modern corollary to Ozzie and Harriet?
Is Elijah Wood seeing things? (Ray Mickshaw/FX)
Wilfred
Elijah Wood and Jason Gann are channeling Calvin and Hobbes in this FX comedy based on an Australian series. Wood is the unemployed Ryan, who bonds with his neighbor’s dog when she asks him to watch Wilfred for her. But Ryan sees Wilfred as a life-size pot-smoking, boozing, philandering man in a dog costume, with whom he can interact and who is often getting his human companion into trouble.
Each episode’s title is taken from a philosophical quotation and boiled down to a fundamental concept that is then illustrated by Wilfred’s generally devious behavior. His schemes are usually executed under the guise of improving Ryan’s life, and they predictably backfire, causing Ryan to look even worse in the eyes of his peers.
The show doesn’t seem to take a firm position on the nature of Ryan’s relationship with Wilfred. Is he crazy? Is it real? There are hints and red herrings strewn about, but the truth remains elusive, even to the extremely curious Ryan, whose murky past may hold some clues to the show’s mythology. What can I say? I like my comedies dark.
