Are There Too Many Great Sitcoms on Thursday Right Now?

Thank you, TV, for bringing us great comedy during our time of need. Next time, though, can we maybe not dump everything all on the exact same day?

Today—Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021—is overwhelmingly full of good new sitcoms. Here’s what the schedule looks like:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Two new episodes air on NBC between 8 and 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The Other Two: The second season continues with two new episodes streaming today on HBO Max.

What We Do in the Shadows: Maybe the funniest show on TV today, its third season starts tonight on FX with two episodes airing between 10 and 11 p.m. ET/PT.

A.P. Bio: The underrated sitcom’s fourth season is available in full on Peacock, starting today. That’s eight episodes. That’s a lot.

So if you’re the kind of person who can’t wait to watch the latest episodes of their favorite shows, and you’re also the kind of person who has good taste in comedy and thus knows to watch all four of these sitcoms, you’ve got 14 half-hours of new comedy to watch today. That’s like a full day at work. Watching sitcoms would be a good job—I mean, hell, it’s kind of what my job is, and I can confirm: it’s good!—but still, it’ll take me a few days to make it through all of this.

This is not an actual problem, obviously. This whole piece is largely a tongue-in-cheek way to remind y’all that all of these great sitcoms have new episodes today and are all worth watching. But, were I responsible for crafting the schedule for a network or a streaming service, I would probably go out of my way to make sure there wasn’t a lot of other shows in the same general wheelhouse, that appeal to the same general audience, coming out the same day I had earmarked for my show.

Given the larger popularity of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and What We Do in the Shadows, it’s pretty clear that today’s sitcoms most likely to get overlooked are The Other Two and A.P. Bio—two great shows with a history of being overlooked. Bummer! If you’re reading this, and have access to Peacock or HBO Max, don’t skip past these two shows—they’re two of the best comedies on TV over the last few years. And yes, What We Do in the Shadows and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are also two of the best comedies on TV over the last few years. That’s why tonight is such a double-edged sword: I’m thankful so much great comedy exists right now (at a time when we really need it), but geez, TV, learn how to space things out, will ya? There are only so many half-hours in a day.

Fortunately today will be the worst of it. Like I said, A.P. Bio’s new season is one and done, with all eight episodes out right now. And What We Do in the Shadows will only air one new episode a night starting next week, so next Thursday you’ll only have five half-hours to contend with: another twofer of both Brooklyn and The Other Two, and one single What We Do in the Shadows. That’s far more manageable.

No matter how you plan on organizing it, just know that you’re currently living through one of the most bountiful days for sitcoms in the history of the medium. There’s not a lot going right in the world today, but at least here’s one small, minor, insignificant flower blooming through the overreaching garbage dump that is modern life.