PSA: The Best Comedy on Television Returns Tonight

It’s been a very, very, very long two years and, I don’t know about you, but I really could use a good laugh. Granted there’s a lot of shows out there right now that can give me such joys (there’s arguably never been a better time for the TV comedy than right now), but one of my absolute favorites has not been one of them…until now, that is.

Review, the brilliant dark comedy from the creative mind of Andy Daly, has been off the airwaves for nearly two years at this point, with its last episode airing back in October of 2015 (which in many ways feels like an entirely different world from a thousand eons ago…but I digress.) Since the show’s absence, a ton of new and returning comedy favorites have been firing on all cylinders, creating some really fantastic and wonderful TV. But even with Veep being amazing or Bojack Horseman nailing the dramedy subgenre completely, my eagerness to see Review return was never quelled.

There was a dark time last year (I know, a shocker for 2016) in which there was nothing announced about the return of show, and I started to worry if we’d ever see the continued misadventures of Forrest MacNeil on his quest to review life and all of its wonders. Thankfully Comedy Central came out last month and confirmed the show’s final season is still coming, and even gave it the return date of March 16. Here’s the best part of that news, though: today is March 16. Which means that Review will air TONIGHT at 10 PM EST on Comedy Central.

Now I’ve already expressed my love for Review, and truly do find it to be the best comedy series running. But pretty soon that will no longer be the case, as tonight’s season premiere will be the show’s last. It has yet to be said how many episodes are left for this season (although the whole thing was already shot last year, so Comedy Central certainly knows), but I am definitely going to cherish every single one, and I hope you will too.

I don’t know if “Pancakes, Divorce, Pancakes” is really THE best episode of TV comedy in the last decade…but it’s certainly up there.

After all, Review is far from a ratings success, which is one of the reasons the show is ending so soon — it’s INCREDIBLY underrated, and despite people like myself championing the brilliance of the show, it still doesn’t draw much of an audience. My only hope is that with this third season coming, more and more comedy fans will dive into the series, and see it for the brilliance that it is.

Way long ago when the second season concluded, I wrote a review for Review (yes, I know.) At the time, I said the following about what made the show such a revelation:

Review Season 2 explores subject areas like blackmail, Catfishing, Curing a Gay, and yes, even murder with the kind of effortless, joyful aplomb that just brims with the self-confidence of a show at the top of its game. The best thing I can say about Review Season 2 is the fact that every single episode is a winner. Hell, every single segment made me laugh in some way, with not a single bad egg in the entire bunch. There’s so few shows that I can say every episode works with, but I have no qualms whatsoever about throwing that compliment on to Review Season 2. Every episode really is a winner for me, and the way in which they bounce off each other through the deep and complicated continuity is as glorious as ever. I don’t know how else to say it — Review Season 2 remains the show you fell in love with in its first season, but somehow ever better.

Having revisited the series in the past month, I stand by what I said completely: the first two seasons of Review are TV comedy at its very best. And I have no doubt that this third season will follow suit. Only way to know for sure is by watching the show which, once again, airs TONIGHT ON COMEDY CENTRAL AT 10 PM EST.