88% of critics give the show a positive rating.
Intrigue (and plenty of ineptitude) at an international intelligence agency. The animated comedy was created by ‘Adult Swim’ veteran Adam Reed.
Creator: Adam Reed
Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler
In Dreamland, the entertainment is as high as it’s ever been.
A show this funny could be content to rest on its humor, but “Archer” has upped its game, showing that Adam Reed and his team’s ambition isn’t just limited to comedy.
What started out as a goofy spy series has almost backdoored — phrasing — its way into becoming a limited series, with a new adventure and setting every season, like some sort of Ryan Murphy show. That’s pretty cool.
There’s no expansion or even mutation of the noir style beyond an increase in humor and a moderate amount of self-awareness, neither of which is strong enough to override how plodding and unadventurous this all feels.
What seems, at first, like a complete clearing of the board, quickly reveals itself as a brilliantly surgical excision, cutting away the show’s accumulated baggage and leaving behind only those things that work.
Archer has always had a nostalgic appreciation for the antic paces of screwball comedy, and going back in time gives the show permission to alter its tone somewhat so as to follow that muse.