Just good, simple fun.
There is a simple pleasure in a well-crafted, easy-to-watch comedy television show. We’re talking about those 30-minute, bite-sized shows that go down a treat, are easy to watch in the background while you’re cooking dinner, or are something to settle in with on an evening when you need to unwind.
Previously, we’ve rounded up a selection of feel-good TV shows to help boost your mood, and now we've curated a list of some of our favourite comedic television series that are sure to offer plenty of giggles.
From Schitt's Creek to Only Murders in the Building, there are no gritty dramas or realistic true crimes here, just good, simple fun.
1. Only Murders In The Building
Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short all headline this hilarious and cosy comedy. Yes, we know we told you that no television show on this list would have anything to do with grisly murders and this show does have a murder (or two!) at its centre. But Mare of Easttown this ain’t – instead, it’s a well-written and charming half-hour comedy about a trio of neighbours who band together to solve a murder in their building because of their love of true crime podcasts. There’s not much more you need to know other than that. This series is a rollicking, easy-to-love ride and you’ll be swept along from episode one, we promise. The first two episodes of the second season are now available to watch!
Where can I watch it? Hulu
2. Ted Lasso
We love Ted Lasso, you love Ted Lasso, we all love Ted Lasso. The runaway hit of AppleTV+’s streaming offering, this feel-good show about a football coach (Jason Sudeikis) transplanted from his native America to Richmond, London to head up a flailing soccer team, has been one of the highlights of the past few years of television. Two heartwarming seasons, co-starring Juno Temple, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein, are available to binge now, with a third in production as we speak. This show is also largely family-friendly, despite dealing with a few heavy subjects at times. It’s a big-hearted show made with love, and we adore it.
Where can I watch it? AppleTV+
3. Abbott Elementary
Another recent television hit, Abbott Elementary is a lovely, easy-to-watch comedy about a group of teachers in a school in Philadelphia, just trying to get through the day. The show is filmed mockumentary, The Office style, with lots of loaded looks to the camera and knowing glances. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, with clever writing and good jokes, but it’s also full of the hijinx and tomfoolery that come from a series populated with young children. Abbott Elementary is so sweet and it goes down a treat.
Where can I watch it? Amazon Prime
4. Minx
This zingy comedy stars Jake Johnson (New Girl) and Ophelia Lovibond as two unlikely business partners. Lovibond is Joyce Prigger, a feminist journalist desperate to start her own serious magazine while Johnson is Doug Renetti, an ever-so-slightly sleazy porn magazine publisher in ‘70s-era Los Angeles, who wears silk shirts unbuttoned to his chest and big gold necklaces. When the two join forces to launch a women’s magazine, hilarity – and drama, and feminist life lessons – ensues. The first season is available to stream on Stan now and it’s a silly, sexy and very good time.
Where can I watch it? Amazon Prime
5. Schmigadoon
Any musical theatre fans in the house? Schmigadoon is the show for you. Over just six, easy-to-binge episodes, Schmigadoon subverts popular Broadway and musical theatre tropes in a tongue-in-cheek way, as a couple whose relationship is on the brink of collapse find themselves in a mythical town called Schmigadoon whose inhabitants – including cameos from Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth and West Side Story’s Oscar-winning Ariana DeBose – seem to be enacting out some hilarious musical theatre tropes. A little bit mad, a lot fun.
Where can I watch it? AppleTV+
6. Derry Girls
The third and final season of this uproarious Netflix series about life in a Catholic school in Northern Ireland is streaming now – and we adore it. It’s easy and engrossing viewing, featuring an early starring turn from Bridgerton’s lead Nicola Coughlan, as well as scene-stealing performances from Saoirse Monica Jackson and Louise Harland. Now is your chance to binge the whole lot if you’re new to the cult of Derry Girls, or if you’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the third season, it’s finally here in all its glory. Enjoy!
Where can I watch it? Netflix
7. Schitt’s Creek
Towards the end of its many-season run, Schitt’s Creek was just about the most comforting thing on television. Those last few seasons are worth a rewatch if you’re feeling low, purely to see the ways in which the Rose family come together in their new life to support and love each other through it all. We love nothing more than laughing at the antics onscreen, a reminder of just how much fun you can have with the people you love.
Where can I watch it? Netflix
8. And Just Like That and Sex and the City
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that And Just Like That was an easy-to-watch and soothing series. The half-hour episodes were easy to digest, and you could watch a few of them in one go without feeling overwhelmed by what you were seeing. But when we were watching the series as it dropped last year, we were consumed with a desire to revisit the original Sex and the City episodes – and upon rewatch, there really is nothing like the tightly paced, quippy and quick-witted original Sex and the City. It’s perfect background viewing for us, given that we’ve watched the seasons many, many times before. But a warning – no matter how many times you’ve watched it, you’ll always get sucked in by Sex and the City.
Where can I watch it? Amazon Prime
