'Us & Them' Is The Best TV Comedy You Probably Can't See

If you're a television critic, you find yourself second-guessing the networks on a regular basis. Why did they air this show in this timeslot? Why did they cast this actor in this role? How did someone not see that this show is just terrible before they ordered 13 episodes?

But as a critic, we're also forming opinions in a partial vacuum. We often don't know all the reasons why a decision was made and that leaves us with a flawed conclusion. We might not know that a particular actor was cast because his manager brought the show to the studio and that tied him to the project whether he was right for the role or not. We might not know that the scripts for that terrible show were wonderfully written. But that it wasn't until the scenes were put on tape that it all went horribly wrong.

In other words, I can't really know why Fox opted not to air "Us & Them," the Alexis Bledel/Jason Ritter comedy that was scheduled to debut during the 2013-2104 midseason. But what I can tell you is that based on what I've seen so far, it's easily my favorite comedy of the last year.

Fox shut down production on the show after producing 7 of 13 planned episodes and while they opted to not air them in the U.S., they are airing in a few places internationally. One of the places it's currently on the air is in New Zealand and some friends at Channel Four sent me a few episodes to review. And now I'm hooked on a show that didn't even make it to the air in the United States.

"Us & Them" is based on the hit British comedy "Gavin and Stacey" and the American version manages to retain the chaotic charm of the original while skillfully toning down the sometimes clunky and crude British humor. It's one of the best transfers of a British show I've seen in recent years. Which is ironic, given its fate here in the States.

The pilot centers around the first meeting of Gavin and Stacey. Gavin is played by Jason Ritter and he and Stacey (Alexis Bledel) have been talking online for months, but have never met in person. Now Stacey and her best friend Tessa (played by Ashlie Atkinson) are headed by bus from their hometown in Pennsylvania to New York City to meet Gavin and his best friend Archie (Dustin Ybarra).

It's a premise that could quickly lead the episode into hack-filled waters. The writers could overplay the rural/big city differences, the online origins of the relationship could come off needy or even creepy. But the episode balances everything just perfectly and the result is a charming and wildly funny episode.

I'm often critical of single-camera comedies because their humor can often be too smart for the room. If a writer doesn't have to worry about laughlines, the temptation is to write jokes that are funny on paper but don't sound natural when you hear them out loud. "Us & Them" has a lot of really funny punchlines and cultural references, but they come off organic and in character. The show comes off like "New Girl," without all the showing off by the writing staff.

One example of this are the two sets of parents, who are just odd enough to be funny without crossing that line into bad "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Gavin and Archie live in the basement apartment of a brownstone owned by Gavin's parents Pam (Jane Kaczmarek) and Michael (Kurt Fuller). Michael puts honey on everything because he claims that he's lost the ability to taste anything but sweets. Yes, they're a bit too quirky at times, but the scene in which they express their concern over their son's new date is funny and believable. Fuller and Kaczmarek are comedy veterans and they are experts at delivering just the right tone to every scene they're in.

Stacey's mom is played by Kerri Kenney-Silver and she is a bit of a small-town mom. Not in a predictable sitcom way, but her innocence plays nicely opposite the unsettling hovering of Stacey's Uncle Brian (Michael Ian Black). The scene in which he convinces her to take along a "rape alarm" is just odd enough to have really happened to someone in the real world. Black does borderline creepy very well and the show takes nice advantage of it.

I don't want to give away too much about how the date progresses, but there are some odd twists and turns along the way. But for all the odd moments, the romance between Gavin and Stacey is gentle and sweet and awkward in that way that romances progress in real life. The final scene of the premiere ended the episode just perfectly, with a callback joke and one last sweet moment between the two. If you loved Bledel in "Gilmore Girls," you'll love her in this role, which hints at the tone of that show without really copying anything.

If I have one complaint about the show it's that while setting it in New York City seems to be the default decision for broadcast network comedies, the show might have been better served by picking for something in the Midwest. Having Gavin living in Chicago while Stacey lives in nearby Wisconsin still serves the big city/small town dynamic while adding a bit more color to the respective locations.

One last thing about "Us & Them" that I do want to compliment. Each episode begins with about sixty seconds of brief snippets from the upcoming episode. It's part tease and part a way to set up the full scenes. It's a clever way to open the show and those scenes are often not shown again later in the episode. They set up scenes you do see, which is a nice way to move the story forward without diving too deep into boring exposition. It's another indication of just how clever the show can be when given the chance.

Did I mention how much I love "Us & Them?" So much so that I'm going to be writing reviews of the remaining episodes, to help fill in the gaps for my American readers. While it's great that Hulu has picked up unaired episodes of "Selfie" and "Manhattan Love Story," I'd love to see the streaming service pick up this show. It deserves a much wider audience.

Here are the best lines from the premiere episode of the comedy 'Us & Them.'

"You had nothing to do with me losing my virginity. Unless you invented hard lemonade and the bouncy castle."

--Gavin doesn't buy into Archie's claims about how much he's helped Gavin's sex life

"It says 'I teach at Top Gun and each year I deflower the most promising pilot."

--Nessa grades Stacey's attempt to find the perfect dress to wear when she meets Gavin for the first time

"You are going into New York City to meet some boy you barely know. I am going to show you how to use this. So if God forbid you comes back all raped, I will rest easy in my bed knowing that I did everything I could to prevent it."

--Uncle Brian insists on showing Stacey how to use a "rape alarm"

"I think I like this guy. So if we do fool around, I want to remember it."

--Stacey reminds Tessa to stop her from drinking too much on her first date with Gavin

"Did you see her tattoos? I'm pretty sure that the one behind her neck is the Chinese symbol for Taco Bell."

--Archie is a bit scared after meeting Stacey's best friend Tessa

"A lot of celebrities supposedly hang out here. I thought I saw Lindsey Lohan. But it turned out to be one of those big melting candles."

--Gavin tries to talk up the magic of the trendy nightclub where he's taken Stacey

"Oh my stars? You sound like my Grandmother swearing at 'Wheel of Fortune.'"

--Gavin is charmed by Stacey's inability to swear