by GeekscapeStaff Tuesday 28th December 2010

Geekscape Reviews Archer: Season One!

The workplace sitcom has been trucking around for just about as long as television has been around. In fact I’m pretty sure the day after Philo T Farnsworth perfected the first set, he received a telegram that read, “TO INVENTOR OF TELEVISION STOP. I HAVE THIS GREAT IDEA STOP. WE SHOULD DO A SHOW ABOUT WHERE I WORK STOP! IT WILL BE GREAT STOP. IT IS CALLED QUOTE THE HABERDASHERY DIARIES ENDQUOTE WHAT DO YOU THINK STOP?”
And so from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Taxi, and even into the nether realms of Suddenly Susan (even if that show at least introduced the world to Richard Alpert), it shows no signs of stopping. So, when Adam Reed and Matt Thompson (of Space Ghost and Sealab 2021 fame) began work on their next animated opus they used this standard setup as the basis. Then they added spies – who also are all flaming assholes – and hilarity ensued. Madcap, often very dark and far too clever for its own good hilarity, actually… so of course no one’s watching the show. Sigh.
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5010/5300465319_21c3f878c1.jpg” alt=”Frisky Dingo” width=”460″ height=”312″ />
No, not Frisky Dingo, I’m talking about Archer, easily the funniest Adult Swim show you can catch, even if it’s actually on FX. Set in an incredibly spy-centric universe and primarily at the New York offices of the very lackluster espionage agency ISIS (the acronym for the International Secret Intelligence Service – naturally), we’re treated to the various misadventures of Agent Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin). He’s the world’s most dangerous spy, his code name is “Duchess” and he has serious problems; especially with his mother Mallory (Jessica Walter) who happens to run the place and his ex Lana (Aisha Tyler) who still begrudgingly works alongside him. Plus there’s all the usual petty office politics on top of that, not to mention that Archer’s biggest problem is also his greatest appeal to us at home: he’s a total douche nozzle.
Wait: Handsome dark-haired protagonist who wears finely crafted suits, is more selfish than the Malfoy clan, acts like (and often is) an idiot while living a life of danger and in the lap of luxury? Plus he interacts with a huge assortment of other characters, most of whom hate him? OK yeah, you’re forgiven for thinking this was Frisky Dingo. But this new version of Xander Crews is voiced by Coach McGuirk from Home Movies. That’s different… ish. Well, whatever works I suppose, because Archer (the character) is just damn funny.
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5163/5300465483_29bda4bf9e_z.jpg” alt=”Archer Season One” width=”512″ height=”288″ /> 
Maybe it’s because the show, or at least this first season anyway, despite having every episode include at least one insane Bond-movie plot device or parody, feels more restrained than Reed and Thompson’s previous efforts (not a hard task actually). Episodes have a longer runtime, so characters and scenes get to breath a bit more and feel more natural while allowing for bigger comedic payoffs. Yet, the lightning fast banter that’s full of so many jokes and references you’ll probably need to re-watch episodes to get everything is still retained.
Plus, the show is easily the most self-aware piece of fiction I think I’ve ever seen, at least this year. In the second episode, Archer gives Cyril a handgun that is literally a Chekov’s Gun, yet the setup is all a red herring as a completely different awful event occurs without using the pistol. When Cyril says he thought he was safe because he assumed that if something were to happen, it would be with the obviously foreshadowed firearm, Archer contends that such thinking is presumptive and calls it a “facile argument”. This is smart stuff, and the show is littered with these moments as well as plenty of broader gags to appeal to those who don’t want genre expectations subverted. I’m not sure if it’s a case where some studio meddling has actually been good or if the folks from Floyd County are getting better over time, but after watching the entire first season, it’s obvious that Archer is the best thing this team has made yet.
This is apparent in every portion of the show. The animation is better, even if it’s still obviously digitally assisted stuff, the music is catchier, and the cast has a fair amount of star power. In addition to Benjamin and Walter, Chris Parnell of SNL fame plays comptroller Cyril Figgus and Judy Greer joins Arrested Development alumni Walter as secretary Carol/Cheryl/Cristal . . . uh yeah, her name changes a lot, it’s a bit odd. Benjamin is perfectly cast as Sterling, his excellent delivery and naturally funny voice allow for some lines to work when other voice actors would have fallen flat.
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5301060734_770c98f31e.jpg” alt=”Archer Season One” width=”500″ height=”300″ /> 
You know what, I could probably go on forever about how damn amazing the show is, I think you get it. But this isn’t exactly a review of the show, no, it’s a review of the DVD release of the first season. Here, I have to say that they could have done better, in fact scratch that, this DVD kind of sucks.
Sure, you get every episode of the season. Otherwise known as the minimum requirement to not be lying to us in the audience, and it’s been met. Hooray. Ooh, you can even choose different subtitles when you want to watch the show, which will be especially useful when I want to supplement my Rosetta Stone French course.
The point is, the special features – you know, like the main advantage of buying this on DVD rather than watching it on Hulu, or Netflix instant streaming – are pretty worthless. There is an “Original Unaired Pilot”, but this isn’t really the case. It’s just another gag. Now mind you it’s a pretty funny gag (not that I’m going to spoil for anyone), but it is by no means a bunch of new content as you might be expecting. The same goes for the deleted scenes, as one of the three total is just a gag, and the other is just removed censorship from the show itself.
There are a bunch of “Making Of” vignettes as you might expect, and they’re cute, but rather short. Plus they only shed light on the animation side of the production of the show. While this is definitely interesting, absolutely nothing is shared about the cast of the show or from the writers and producers, of the show’s origins or general flow of production. I literally found more information about this stuff when I did a brief Wikipedia search! For example: Adam Reed apparently thought up the show when he couldn’t think up a good one-liner to pick up a woman while traipsing around Spain. Wow, that’s exactly the kind of neat little anecdote one would expect to discover in a DVD docu-nette don’t you think?
But maybe you’re saying that the folks on Wikipedia must have heard this factoid (which is useless knowledge but fun to know, like knowing what an aglet is) on the DVD commentary? Nooooope! That’s because there isn’t any. As in nada, zero, bupkiss, zilch, and or zip… also boosh. 
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5301060632_39c2e018fe.jpg” alt=”Archer Season One” width=”500″ height=”253″ /> 
Is there anything else? Yeah, you get to see pilot episodes of two other FX shows: The League, about – get this – a fantasy football “league”, and Louie, which is a “sitcom” in the barest sense of the idea about Louis C. K. While these both have their moments, another 45 minutes of cross promotion advertising is probably not what you came here to see. It’s actually quite sad.
So all told, you’re really not missing much if you skip the DVD here, which of course is bad for the show getting further seasons, but the folks at FX have no one to blame but themselves. Seriously, someone will put up the gag pilot on YouTube soon enough and the rest of the exclusive content is forgettable so you’re better off just turning to downloading or streaming sources. Unless you’re a completionist, in which case nothing I say could possibly stop you from buying this thing, or if you’re buying it for supportive reasons, in which case I’d ask that you send me at least half as much money as you pay for the DVD, since I’m giving you more commentary on the show writing this review than you’ll find on these discs.
Long story short, Archer is an awfully amazing, acerbic, agent assassination allocation of your time, but also a truly terrible DVD release. Like a highly expensive prostitute who turns out to be a hitman… use at your own risk.
<img src=”http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5300465587_4420d77f69.jpg” alt=”Archer Season One” width=”300″ height=”282″ /> 
Voob-voob-voob-voo-voo-woo-woo-woob-wub-wub-wub-wub-bub-boo!