If you’ve been thinking about becoming interested a fan of a new TV program, you have several choices. Some of the most popular at this point in time are PBS’s “Downton Abbey” (which swept the Golden Globes last week), the new Kutcher-fied version of “Two-and-a-Half Men” on CBS… Or, if you are like many who have stumbled upon FX in the past few years, you will make a choice to watch FX’s just-premiered third season of “Archer”. Let me give you some information and three excellent reasons why you should tune in on Thursday nights at 10:30.

Without spilling to much, yet bringing you to the right side, let’s talk about “Archer”. It is an animated spy thriller/comedy which features a fictional, dysfunctional, and ridiculously low-budget spy agency (ISIS- short for “International Secret Intelligence Service”). The employees of this spy agency are unprofessional, dysfunctional, and stand alone in their ridiculous personalities. The show, just beginning in it’s third season has created a large fan base for the following reasons:

Reason 1: The Voice Talent
In the very first episode, you can easily recognize some voices. Several actors have done work with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. H. Jon Benjamin (who plays the main character and the show’s namesake), and several appearances of a character voiced by Dave Willis (who plays a reoccurring character from a rival agency). Actress Jessica Walter, which was previously on the show “Arrested Development”, is a main character in the show- Mallory Archer- the woman which runs ISIS. Several episodes feature the voice of Jeffrey Tambor, another former alum of “Arrested Development”, often playing more than one character in every episode. Chris Parnell, former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, also does a regular character on the show; as well as Judy Greer and Aisha Tyler, who are famous for doing various comedies in the past. Apart from the regular cast and several reoccurring characters, there are often guest voice actors who have very large names in the acting industry.

Reason 2: The Writing
The writing for the show is very smart and has quite a few reoccurring jokes that transcend a single episode. It is a treat to catch the jokes in every episode, especially if you were there for their origins. It’s like a “Where’s Waldo” of humor over every episode of the series.

Reason 3: The Extremities
“Archer” often deals with a little bit of stereotypes- some of which are insulting, and some of which are true. The fact that these stereotypes are present in the face of humor is a great addition to the writing and substance of the show. We see several stereotypes addressed in this show- “the womanizer”, “the serious secret agent”, and “the mad scientist”. The characters are seen, and the creators have done some excellent work with twisting the characters around.

That’s it. There a billion reasons why you should watch the show- despite the fact that animation seems to be becoming a more prevalent genre- but I recommend that you take these first three as a guideline for why you should get into the show. Season 1 is on Netflix On-Demand, and you can find all the other episodes on several “file sharing” websites (I’m not even going to address SOPA or PIPA at this time). Please watch it. It’s on every Thursday at 10:30 on FX, and the third season has just begun. Enjoy the ‘danger zone’.

Last 5 posts by shetrick