The Ultimate TV Comedies Bracket -- Round Two, Day Three

There's always money in the banana stand.

Who else is ready for the weekend before Thanksgiving? I know I am, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have votes to get to in the second round of the Ultimate TV Comedies bracket. And remember — in case you have somehow forgotten — that the bracket will take a pause for a few days after we wrap this round up for the Thanksgiving holiday.

For now, though, it’s time to vote!

(2) Arrested Development vs. (31) South Park: If you want to feel old, a good way is to a) have children, and b) explain to them that South Park premiered when you were in middle school. Good God. Anyway, longevity is remarkable and all, but Arrested Development is far superior (if only because — even though it was dogged by controversy in its final season, which was not great — it hit more than it missed).

How do you vote?

Arrested Development

South Park

(15) The Golden Girls vs. (18) The Office (US): Two very different shows that serve as comfort food these days, and boy, I tell you, it baffles me so much that The Office — which was truly brilliant in its first few seasons, if different from its UK predecessor tonally — is such a heavily rewatched show. The Golden Girls, I get; it’s about people kicking back in retirement and having fun about it. The Office is a show about…well, working in an office. Weird!

Anyway. I am giving this one to Bea Arthur and her friends. How about you?

The Golden Girls

The Office (US)

(7) 30 Rock vs. (26) Spaced: I know 30 Rock is going to win this one, but I am voting for Spaced, which captured a certain late-Gen-X sensibility in its characters struggling to grow up. (You could even argue that Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost beat American comedians like Seth Rogen to the punch in mining the “should we grow up or should we stay man-children” comic vein.) Again. I know Liz Lemon’s winning this one. But I hope I’m wrong.

30 Rock

Spaced

(10) Curb Your Enthusiasm vs. (23) Ted Lasso: Yeah, I mean, I have to imagine that Larry David is feeling prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay…good about this one. Curb ought to trounce Ted Lasso here.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Ted Lasso