Britcom Update: The New Wave Arrives

If you're still in mourning over missing the perfectly awkward teenage friendships that made The Inbetweeners so heartbreakingly relatable; or wish you were still spending Sunday nights with the mercurial coupling of Gavin & Stacey, don't despair just yet. A new crop of British sitcoms have risen to take their place, giving us a way to laugh at our own uncomfortable encounters, embarrassing relationships, and painful lessons learned.

I'd start the journey through Britain's comedic exports with Outnumbered, a domestic sitcom that, on paper, plays like a pared-down version of Modern Family, but is actually more like a British second cousin to great observational sitcoms like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Just as Curb's Larry refuses to conform to social niceties and revels in confronting strangers over their annoying habits (such as taking up two entire parking spaces), the strange, shrewd, and sarcastic children of Outnumbered go about their lives with an adolescent strain of Larry's straightforward and baffling logic. Nine-year-old know-it-all Karen thinks many of Rembrandt's classic paintings could have benefited from a few extra cats (I totally agree); curious 11-year-old Ben notes it'd be hard to lose the baby of a mixed-race couple, since it could come out spotted; and sullen teenager Jake works overtime to disguise his excitement over a historical tour of London with his father. Semi-improvised moments like these are both plausible and cringe-inducing, making the show a closely modeled version of our own off-kilter families.

Peep Show has run for seven seasons; typically, British shows only run one or two series of half a dozen episodes each, which, when compared to several American sitcoms I can think of that continue to air far past their expiration date (cough, Two and a Half Men, cough) seems perversely kind. What keeps the show fresh is its unique, POV conceit and voiceover commentary that allows for an uncomfortably intimate relationship with sad-sack roommates Mark and Jeremy. Jeremy is the kind of guy who thinks it's fun to shop for food in the afternoon while slamming beers, while Mark is the buzzkill who does his grocery shopping on Friday night since there's no lines (mainly because everyone else is out drinking, planning to drink, or already drunk).

If you're still craving cultural references that fly over your head, there's also Miranda, a more traditional sitcom centered on the eternally disappointing-and single-halfhearted owner of a joke shop; Friday Night Dinner, which revolves around one Jewish family's weekly Shabbat dinner; and Twenty Twelve, an Office-style mockumentary series that pokes fun at the upcoming London Olympic Games even as it promotes it.