My Take On…the ARCHER Season 4 Premiere

401_03Thinking of all the possible “top 10s” I could write – best comedy, best show, best animated show, best voiceover, favorite show of all time – ARCHER would be on all of them, prominently displayed and written about profusely. The show about a super vain spy named Sterling Archer who works for his mother, with his ex, and among a crowd of crazies crazier than people have any right to be is fast and smart; hilarious and beautifully animated; dark and just a little bit unsettling, exactly how I like my shows!

Season 4 of the show premieres tonight with an episode that combines my love of ARCHER with my love of another show worth watching, BOB’S BURGERS (H Jon Benjamin is the voice behind Sterling and Bob Belcher). When Archer gets amnesia and finds himself attacking some Russians at a burger joint down the shore, he decides the only way to fix his situation is a spa weekend getaway, where he runs into various KGBs (notice I didn’t say “KGB agents”) while Lana tries to jog his memory. The ISIS gang, with Krieger’s not so successful brand of science, get into their usual trouble while trying to maybe save the day a little bit.

It’s hilarious – the story packs a punch when we find out why Archer’s in his fugue state, and the whole time, the jokes fly fast and furiously, to the point where I needed to pause the DVD to laugh out loud so I didn’t miss what was coming next. It sounds so cliche to say something like that about a comedy, but I seriously find myself unable to stop smiling or laughing when this show is on, even if I’m cringing at something that dirty-bird Pam said! Future episodes this season feature guest voices Timothy Olyphant (his episode is genius), Ron Leibman (real life hubby of Jessica Walter, aka Malory), and Anthony Bourdain, and based on the first four episodes alone, I cannot wait to see what happens next. If you aren’t watching this show, you are missing out!

Don’t miss the premiere of ARCHER at 10/9c on FX, after the Season 2 premiere of ANGER MANAGEMENT and before the series premiere of the very funny LEGIT.