Danger Zone

Best animated comedy on TV: Archer combines spy thrills with Arrested Development flair

Thursday night on FX will see the premiere of the fourth season of what is perhaps the best animated comedy series to air on either network or cable television.

While most American viewers find their comedic pleasure with Fox’s Sunday animated lineup of Seth MacFarlane franchises and a dilapidated Simpsons, fans hoping for something more out of their animated comedies need only turn to Fox’s sister channel (unless Bob’s Burgers is on, but more on that later).

For the unfortunately uninitiated, Archer details the inner workings of the spy agency ISIS and its "devastatingly handsome" top agent Sterling Archer in an anachronistic time setting where the Cold War never ended. While the series offers up its fair share of globetrotting espionage thrills and action sequences, the true allure stems from its spotlight on the personal conflicts experienced between Archer and his coworkers at the spy agency.

And these are conflicts that basically write themselves, thanks to well-developed characters that are a must when someone wants to write award-winning comedy. Like “The Gang” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia, you fall in love with them despite their epic flaws and mental hang-ups, whether it’s glue-eating masochistic secretary Cheryl or the always quotable Dr. Krieger (who may happen to be one of the Boys from Brazil).

A focus on personal dynamics is what prompted show creator Adam Reed to draw the parallel with the widely acclaimed series Arrested Development. Central characters act as one big dysfunctional family that tries to get along to complete the mission at hand, while also trying to avoid each other’s attempts at backstabbing and childish name calling.

Arrested Development parallels

Of course the series can also draw parallels with Arrested Development as it is home to former AD alums Jessica Walter and Judy Greer and features guest appearances by Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross. One could even see Archer as a halfway house for the actors before they make their triumphant return to new episodes of Arrested Development, so it’s not hard to notice a bit of a crossover in the series’ fandom.

Credit should still be given to creator Adam Reed for improving the series with each season, solidifying it as a certifiable hit. Reed has built a following of fans since his work on Sealab 2021, one of the early iconic series from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block. He further crafted Archer’s future comedy style of references, callbacks and witty dialogue with his sadly short-lived series, Frisky Dingo.

Luckily for fans, the wait wasn’t too unbearably long before Reed landed back on his feet and on a new network. Though Archer didn’t start out at its current level of quality (and had less than decent ratings), FX believed in the show and allowed Reed and his team to find the best recipe for success.

Comedy and storytelling have always been done well by the show’s writers, but they have also excelled when employing unbelievable guest voices.

Comedy and storytelling have always been done well by the show’s writers, but they have also excelled when employing unbelievable guest voices, whether it’s Bryan Cranston as a eugenics-minded space station commander or Burt Reynolds in a special badass appearance as Burt Reynolds.

Season four will have even more stars to offer. Justified's Timothy Olyphant lending his voice as a fellow secret agent in an upcoming episode; Ron Lieberman, the real-life husband of Jessica Walter, will also make a surprise appearance; the culinary world will have a representative when Anthony Bourdain (and his love of casual vulgarity) graces the show.

The most interesting thing to come out of this new season could be the growing connections between Archer and Bob’s Burgers, two animated comedies that have improved in quality since their premieres and are now at the top of the game.

H. Jon Benjamin provides the lead voices in both shows, so expect a special nod to his network series when Archer premieres this Thursday. Benjamin’s Bob’s Burgers costars, Eugene Mirman and Kristen Schaal, will also be there to further solidify the link between the two awesome animated series.

And for fans of Reed’s past work, expect an overt nod when the ISIS team makes a visit to a sea lab in a future episode, although this may prove to be a spoiler that the lab won’t survive before the end of the episode.

Tune into Archer, 9 p.m. Central time Thursday on FX, for some of the best insults to grace our television screens.

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Movie Review

Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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