After what felt like a long wait for fans, The Righteous Gemstones has risen to tell one more story about the spoiled children of a mega-church dynasty. Starring Danny McBride as the eldest son Jesse Gemstone, the fourth season already looks to be another fantastic entry in one of HBO’s funniest comedies.
As all things come to an end, so too will The Righteous Gemstones with its fourth season. It’s sad to see such a great show go, but to soften the blow, we’ve compiled a list of comedies, dramedies, and dark satire to watch when craving a vulgar display of family dysfunction.
10
‘Succession’ (2018 – 2023)
Created by Jesse Armstrong
Depending on who is asked, Succession is or is not a comedy, but one thing is for certain: the HBO series takes sibling rivalry to a new level. When Logan Roy (Brian Cox) delays his plans to step down from his media empire of Waystar RoyCo, his enraged son Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who was next in line for the corporate throne, begins an effort for a hostile takeover. The conflict pulls in the other siblings, who begin to wonder how good they would look sitting in the CEO’s chair.
Different in execution but similar to the themes of business dividing family, Succession could appeal to viewers who love the drama in The Righteous Gemstones. Television loves its dysfunctional families, and the Roy family never passed on an opportunity to show the subterranean depths they would lower themselves to for personal gain. For as much as the Gemstones fight, and they do with great enthusiasm, they arguably have a tighter bond and are able to come together in times of need.
9
‘The Other Two’ (2019 – 2023)
Created by Chris Kelly & Sarah Schneider
A young teen’s rise to superstardom leads to mixed feelings for his older siblings in the underrated comedy The Other Two. When Chase Dubek (Case Walker) becomes an overnight sensation in the vein of Justin Bieber, his adult siblings Cary (Drew Tarver), an aspiring actor, and Brooke (Helene York), a woman still in search of a professional passion, feel eclipsed by his fame. Cary and Brooke do their best to be supportive of their brother and his success, but jealousy and disappointment are always lurking in their subconscious.
While there might be the assumption that because Cary and Brooke are jealous, they do things to undermine their famous little brother, that’s actually not where the comedy stems from in The Other Two. Often, they’re shielding Chase from people looking to take advantage of the teen, but at the same time, they continue to extend themselves in desperate ways to share the spotlight. Filled with witty writing and likable characters, The Other Two is a great binge, no matter the mood.
8
‘White Lotus’ (2021 – Current)
Created by Mike White
There’s no darker satire on television right now than the anthology series, The White Lotus. Now in its third season, each volume of The White Lotus spotlights a different location of the fictional White Lotus resorts as guests arrive with more baggage than what is left at the front desk. A calling card for the series is featuring a mysterious death, or deaths, in a flashforward, with viewers left to wonder who meets a terrible fate before the last episode airs.
Originally a miniseries that HBO converted into an ongoing anthology format, The White Lotus finds the uncomfortable truths in beautiful locales. The comedy is borderline bleak satire where happy endings for the guests or employees should not be expected. While the writing and performances are consistently fantastic in every episode, the murder mystery component adds tension to the most benign scenes, because until the reveal happens, everyone on screen could be either a murderer or a victim.
7
‘Arrested Development’ (2003 – 2019)
Created by Mitchell Hurwitz
A TV family that could give the Gemstones a run for their money is the eclectic Bluths in the critically loved series Arrested Development. When family patriarch and real estate developer George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is unexpectedly arrested, the only morally sound member, Michael (Jason Bateman), must guide the family through one crisis after another to save the business, and if there’s time, his family.
Much like the Gemstones, the Bluths are a family that lives in the public eye, their successes or failures broadcast to the world. That level of scrutiny can be overwhelming for people who get along, so it’s especially damaging for the fractured Bluth clan, who will put themselves first over the family when the series begins. Arrested Development’s network broadcast prohibited it from the vulgarities of The Righteous Gemstones, but the impressive number of hilarious, often quotable, concurrent storylines makes it an ideal companion piece to the HBO comedy.
6
‘Veep’ (2012 – 2019)
Created by Armando Iannucci
One of the best comedies HBO has ever produced, Veep, is a great comedy to check out for fans of The Righteous Gemstones. Veep follows Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer, a politician unhappy with her reduced role in the administration and constantly seeking a way to cement her legacy in history. With her staff creating problems as fast as they solve them, Selina does her best to smile for the cameras while everything falls apart around her.
The power players in Veep may not be a family, but since they never go home, the vicious co-workers are a surrogate group who are occasionally fired and never seen again. In the world of Veep, where one crisis leads to another, no insult can cut deep enough. That type of brutal dialogue in the halls of the White House indicates any of the Gemstone family would make an ideal candidate for the top office. If, by some off chance, a fifth season of The Righteous Gemstones ever happens, maybe this fantasy will happen.
Veep
- Release Date
-
2012 – 2018
- Network
-
HBO Max
5
‘Vice Principals’ (2016 – 2017)
Created by Jody Hill & Danny McBride
Two bitter enemies call a temporary truce to destroy the person who took their coveted job in Vice Principals. The principal position at North Jackson High School unexpectedly opens up, only serving to increase the unhealthy rivalry between vice principals Neal Gamby (Danny McBride) and Lee Russell (Walton Goggins). When an outsider is hired for the job, the two vice principals will set aside their differences to make sure the position they desperately need is filled by one of them.
Goggins and McBride have the chemistry of a comedy team that’s been working together for decades, and if viewers are lucky, they will. Vice Principals’ love of R-rated humor and despicable characters could be a turn-off for audiences who prefer tamer fare, but lovers of The Righteous Gemstones who somehow have missed the comedy are in for a treat. With only two seasons, it’s likely Vice Principals will be a quick binge that’s revisited again and again.
4
‘Shameless’ (2011 – 2021)
Created by Paul Abbott & John Wells
The Gallagher family may not have the money of the Gemstones, but they have plenty of similar problems in the long-running dramedy Shameless. William H. Macy stars as Frank Gallagher, the sole parent of a large family struggling to make ends meet in their South Side neighborhood of Chicago. While Frank drinks himself into a stupor, the oldest daughter, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), works to take care of her family and keep her dad from stealing what little they have.
Shameless was a mainstay on Showtime programming for a decade, for good reason. The cast is an embarrassment of riches, with Macy disappearing into his role of Frank, Rossum giving a powerful performance as the oldest who takes on more stress than she should have to, and Jeremy Allen White as “Lip”, the brilliant family member who struggles to rise above his surroundings. Not every storyline will connect with viewers, but over 11 seasons, there was enough shock, comedy, and drama to make the Gallaghers a memorable family.
3
‘Eastbound and Down’ (2009 – 2013)
Created by Ben Best, Jody Hill & Danny McBride
A has-been major league baseball player returns in shame to his hometown as a substitute high school teacher in Eastbound and Down. Danny McBride is Kenny Powers, a rude and belligerent Major League pitcher who squandered his time and money in the big leagues and must now rebuild his life. The first season sees Kenny reconnect with his estranged brother and old associates as he begins his climb back to the top or the closest he can manage.
What McBride and longtime collaborator Jody Hill do so well is create a character, such as Kenny Powers, who is vulgar and unlikeable, and somehow find the humanity within the antihero that allows audiences to root for them. The supporting cast all deliver in a big way, from sidekick Stevie (Steve Little) to Kenny’s long-suffering love interest April (Katy Mixon), because their reactions to Kenny’s delusions inform his disconnect with how people see him.
2
‘A.P. Bio’ (2018 – 2021)
Created by Mike O’Brien
Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton) is having a bad couple of months in the sitcom A.P. Bio. Once a professor of philosophy at Harvard, Jack finds himself fired in a humiliating fashion and forced to move back to his home of Toledo, Ohio. He begrudgingly takes a job as an Advanced Placement Biology teacher at a local high school, but Jack refuses to teach the students anything, instead choosing to plot his revenge on the people he feels slighted him.
The sitcom started with a teacher behaving badly premise that carried it for the first few episodes, but then, organically, A.P. Bio began to take more chances with weirder comedy that continued to get sharper. Although the series flirted with constant cancelation, A.P. Bio continued to improve with time, but not enough viewers followed it to Peacock. The entire cast is thoroughly entertaining, but longtime Saturday Night Live writer Paula Pell, as the principal’s assistant Helen, is a comedic MVP who will say the most hilarious thing you’ve ever heard until she says the next line.
1
‘Brockmire’ (2017 – 2020)
Created by Joel Church-Cooper
One of the best comedies that not enough people have watched is Brockmire. Hank Azaria stars as Jim Brockmire, a once-famous Major League Baseball announcer who has gone into a drug and alcohol-induced self-exile in the wake of an on-air mental breakdown after learning of his wife’s infidelity. Lured back into the U.S. with the offer to announce for a minor league baseball team, Brockmire swallows his pride and many bottles of alcohol to do the job he loves so dearly.
“Azaria gives the finest performance of his career…”
While both Brockmire and The Righteous Gemstones enjoy a mean-spirited sense of humor or a hurtful jab thrown between characters, they also share a desire for growth. At the core of the two comedies is a need for redemption, even if the characters aren’t fully aware yet that they need redemption. In the genre of comedy, where characters so often need to stay the same to not disrupt the show’s formula, watching a fallen hero become a better person through hard work is so satisfying. Azaria gives the finest performance of his career, and everyone should watch this show.
Source link
