BEST OF 2018 - BROCKMIRE MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME IN THE BIG EASY

6.  BROCKMIRE (IFC)

Brockmire was my favorite surprise of last year.  What seemed like a one-note premise (Hank Azaria says dirty things in a cornpone baseball announcer voice) turned out to be much deeper than expected in every way.  Comedically, the show found a surprisingly clever and wryly philosophically voice, and made the lead’s hedonism grounded enough to be believable while still absurd enough to be hysterical.  Dramatically, it grounded his various addictions in actual humanity and created a surprisingly sincere, adult love story with a near-equal of a trainwreck.  And cinematically, it developed a quietly pretty sepia look that was understated but distinct from any other comedy out there. 

The second season was a slight step down from the first, if only because Amanda Peet was missed so much as a regular presence (not that she didn’t make her limited appearances count). Focusing on the relationship between Brockmire and his young handler/business partner was the next best available thing, but it could never match the poignancy of the romance he never expected to find as a has-been drunk in a has-been town shifting its primary industry from steel to meth production.  But credit where it’s due for the show committing to such a major change in the status quo.  And for picking New Orleans as the new locale, which is an even better setting for a devotedly debauched character who affectionately refers to it as “where the Devil goes to get his dick sucked”. 

This season took Brockmire to some impressive and depressing new lows, but always remained true to the character and consistently hilarious.  In spite of some very stiff competition, this was the show that had the best “bitter eulogy for a difficult parent” scene of the year – while lacking the structural grandstanding of Bojack’s standout episode, Jim’s is more directly to the point and the lapsed Catholic in me delights at the gumption to just tell a minister to his face that “no offense, but that was some straight up, zero-calorie baby food you were spooning out up there.” And despite the existence of every episode of Big Mouth, it had the funniest masturbation scene of the year, with its very different kind of pitcher’s duel.

If I have any real reservation about the season, it’s that it seems like they actually progressed the character too far, particularly in the far-reaching finale.  It feels like a wholly appropriate ending for Brockmire, but I’m not sure there what the show looks like with Jim getting sober. It's actually one of two comedies on this list which ended with its self-destructive protagonist taking similarly positive steps that would seem to endanger the basic comedic appeal of those characters.  But creator Joel Church-Cooper professes to have a plan for the next two seasons that IFC has ordered, and I haven’t got very far doubting this show so far. 

See It For:  Brockmire’s savage, never-really-explained feud with a minor league crawfish mascot, probably my single favorite recurring gag of the year.