Horses to Virgins to Minnesota: 2014’s Best New TV Shows

Raina Deerwater ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
This year has been a vast one for new and exciting television. Some of that television didn’t even air on television, for that matter. There have been many laugh-out-loud comedies, gasp-out-loud dramas and make-some-other-noise-out-loud dramadies. 2014 also brought shows with much needed female leads, diversity and new talent. Without further ado, here are this writer’s top ten picks for new shows this year.

10. Playing House (USA)

Upright Citizens’ Brigade Alumna Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Claire have been popping up in small comedic roles in movies and TV, and even wrote and starred in a short-lived NBC sitcom Best Friends Forever. Now, the two are finally getting the recognition they deserve in Playing House. With a unique, improv-driven writing style, Parham and St. Claire play off each other in the writers’ room and on screen. Besides just being funny, Playing House is heartwarming as well. It goes in depth to all aspects of a female friendship while also making great pregnancy jokes. The two women have really come into their own in this show, making it a simply delightful half hour of television each week.

9. You’re The Worst (FX)

This has been the season of romantic comedy sitcoms. Some good, some bad, and some ugly. You’re the Worst falls into the ugly category, but in the best kind of way. One way to avoid the cringe-worthy cheese of rom-coms is to make the two leads the worst kind of people. Jimmy (Chris Geere) and Gretchen (Aya Cash) are the kind of people no one would ever want to date, but they have found each other. Over the series, a sweetness emerges between the two of them, and it is beautifully countered by their crude senses of humor. Additionally, there is an excellent supporting cast to call Jimmy and Gretchen out on the terribleness of the week, while still having fun adventures like manipulating the neighbor’s child and also, brunch!

8. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

“Wow this show about a horse really addresses all the problems with celebrity culture” was not a sentence anyone expected to hear before Netflix released all of BoJack Horseman this summer. This animated series, starring Will Arnett as the titular Horse, is a comedy that makes you laugh but also feel a little twinge of sadness at times. BoJack is a has-been sitcom actor who just drinks and feels lonely in his Hollywood mansion while surrounded by a cast of both humans and animals. It is surprisingly nuanced for that premise, balancing melancholy and humor and also horse jokes.

7. How To Get Away With Murder (ABC)

Murder is all the rage on television these days, as is pure drama. The ultimate combination of the two appears in Shonda Rimes’s How To Get Away With Murder. However, this show also adds a diversity factor that is missing in most other crime dramas on the air. Headed by Viola Davis, the cast includes more people of color than not, as well as LBGTQ characters who go above stereotypes. This is majorly important for primetime dramas to have in 2014, especially given how spectacular of a performance Davis gives. There is also a good deal of sex, murder, betrayal and other campy fun stuff that will leave you on the edge of your seat. No one will be disappointed with this massively popular hit.

6. Marry Me (NBC)

A hangout sitcom centered around a tumultuous engaged couple doesn’t exactly sound like it would be the funniest network comedy of the year, yet Marry Me does not disappoint. Ken Marino and Casey Wilson (who is conveniently married to show-runner David Caspe) star as Jake and Annie, who are newly engaged and desperately screwing up, in the most endearing way possible. What makes Marry Me stand out from similar shows is just how witty and fast paced the dialogue is. Marino, Wilson and the supporting cast fling out insults, pop culture references and inside jokes on a rate the exceeds anything else out there. Also, Annie has too gay dads both named Kevin so that’s reason enough to give the show a try.

5. Faking It (MTV)

When the premise to the MTV’s newest teen drama was revealed, people were rightfully angry. Two girls pretending to be lesbians to be popular sounded a little offensive and a lot stupid. However, Faking It itself proved that wrong by making a sweet, funny and progressive show about very real teenage issues. When Amy (Rita Volk) turns out to actually be in love with the girl she is “faking it” with, Karma (Katie Stevens), everything gets complicated and crazy, which makes for great television. Having a lead who bisexual is the precise direction television for teenagers needs to be going. Moreover, an intersex character is in the mix, making this silly teen drama more progressive than most things cable is churning out.  The show is also really committed to comedy by naming a character Karma simply so they could use the line “Karma’s a bitch.” Hats off to you, MTV.

4. Fargo (FX)

It didn’t seem like anything could even come close to the genius of the Cohen Brother’s 1996 film Fargo, but Noah Hawley’s adaption did just that. With concepts taken from the original film, this adaptation of Fargo captures the wit and darkness of the movie, but still creates something original. A spree of crime in Minnesota makes for the most intense and capturing drama this year. The twists and turns have everyone waiting with bated breath at the end of every episode. Perhaps the biggest plot twist though, is how exceptionally talented Billy Bob Thornton is in this show. It is acting as it’s finest. Other notable cast members include a meek Midwestern Martin Freeman, and newcomer Allison Tolman shining at proving herself up to the caliber as every other actor on the show. Aesthetically as well, Fargo’s snowy beauty shines to the level of cinema.

3. Jane the Virgin (The CW)

Based on a Venezuelan telenovela, Jane the Virgin is the show that American TV has been waiting for. Gina Rodriguez stars as Jane, who has her whole life planned out until one day she gets accidentally artificially inseminated, then gets pregnant. And, yes, if you hadn’t guessed from the title she’s never had sex. Shockingly, a pregnant virgin is one of the lesser of the twists that Jane the Virgin throws at its’ audience. It stays true to its roots as a telenovela, with a cheesy narrator, dozens of cliffhangers, and a good share of murders. It does it all without ever losing the center of the show, which is how Jane is just a beautiful, good loving person. In the age of anti-heroes and grit, it is truly refreshing to watch a (female and Latin American) protagonist with a lot of heart in a show that makes fun of itself and has a good time doing it.

2. Broad City (Comedy Central)

Every so often there comes a show that defines a generation. That might seem like too broad of a stroke to paint, but nothing has pinpointed millennial the way Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer have. The duo writes and stars in the show, from their web series of the same name. They have chemistry and comedic timing that is unparalleled. We feel pulled into their world filled with bucket drumming, accidental homelessness, dead-end jobs and full unadulterated friendship. Jacobson and Glazer give a voice to the underemployed while making New York City their personal playground. In only ten episodes, the two have defined themselves as having the loudest voices in comedy and not being afraid to admit it.

1. Transparent (Amazon)

There are some things that are simply transformative. One of them is good television. One of the best things about streaming services is that they allow someone to sit down for five hours and watch good television all in one dose. That’s how Transparent is best consumed. It sucks you into the life of the Pfeffermans and you would be an idiot to leave. In both a comedic and heartbreaking fashion, Transparent shows the ups and downs of a dysfunctional family in the best way any show has in years. At the center of it is Jeffery Tambor giving his best performance as Maura, having recently come out as trans. Creator/Writer/Director Jill Soloway brings her personal experience into the story, making it one of the most emotional and realistic shows out there. Having a trans lead is also something worth celebrating. Transparent is the show that established Amazon as a force to be reckoned with. It is hard not to watch it all in one sitting, then to do so over and over again, making it the best show of the year.