Archer - Season 1

Archer comes from some of the same people who worked on Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo (the latter more apparent through the character designs). Archer has the typical style of humor that Dingo established and its concept actually reminds me of The Venture Bros in that it's that kind of show where most of the stories revolve around the bureaucracy of adventurers as opposed to the actual adventures. The difference is that Archer trades out the Johnny Quest-like world for a James Bond-like one. Sterling Archer is a James Bond-ish spy, but mostly he's a jerk, a liar, and a sociopath with extreme mommy issues. The recurring cast of characters includes his mother, who runs the spy agency (played wonderfully by Jessica Walters), and his ex-girlfriend, the sexy black-ops agent Lana Kane, along with other members of the agency.

Archer manages to be a pretty good character-driven comedy that's able to mesh well with some genuinely interesting plotlines. The quality of the writing jumps about from time to time. Sometimes there's the string of intelligent dialogue and show effortlessly combines tight story-writing with the improvisational rhythm that most of the voice cast (Jon Benjamin in particular) are known for. But other times the writing can drop to "worst episodes of Family Guy" levels of crassness for crassness' sake. They manage to get things back on track often enough though and there was enough clever material and a few moments where I really have to give these guys some credit. The show could be better, but I'll be waiting to see where the show goes next season.