Schitt's Creek is leading TV's "nice" comedy trend

BuzzFeed News

TV comedy used to be ruled by sarcastic and cynical shows like Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and the departing Veep. Nowadays, Schitt's Creek embodies TV comedy's niceness trend. "Over the show’s four seasons (and a holiday special that aired in December), this Canadian import has found the humor in the sunnier side of things, alongside newer shows — The Good Place, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, One Day at a Time, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to name but a few — that are earnest without being cloying or toothless," says Manuel Betancourt. "In a TV landscape once littered with brooding antiheroes, it’s a welcome change." Amid the political turmoil of the Trump era, he adds, "there is a sense that comedies are also finding humor not in apathy but in sincerity...Schitt’s Creek may have punchlines aplenty (and (Catherine) O’Hara remains unparalleled when it comes to doling out hilarious non sequitur lines), but it’s bingeworthy precisely because it feels like such a calming balm. Its wholesomeness is most welcome at a time when it would be (and is) all too easy to sink into apathetic despair. There’s a joy that runs through it that’s infectious, and which is symptomatic of a growing trend in recent comedies."

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