If you’ve been following Archer for the past nine seasons then you would have noticed that the show has gone through somewhat of an evolution since its early days. While we can’t deny its absolute hilarity – thanks to its talented writers and brilliant voice cast – some might say that the comedy series has seen better days. Now in its ninth season, the uniquely entertaining banter of the FXX animated original is still very much present but the plot lines are practically incomparable to the premise that made the show so popular in the first place.

The FXX animated original series from creator Adam Reed originally centered around a private secret agent syndicate who often teamed with the government as well as diplomats from around the world on highly classified missions. With Sterling Archer (voiced by the one-of-a-kind H. Jon Benjamin) at the helm, drinking and gallivanting along the way, the most impossible tasks only become that much more impossible, but somehow the gang always seems to get out (somewhat) unscathed.

The spy format seemed to work so well, with clearly defined missions that the most hilarious of situations could stem from. It gave rise to Slater (Christian Slater) who became the CIA’s liaison to Sterling and Mallory’s (Jessica Walter) ISIS agency as well as the character Barry, who was a competing spy turned cyborg. The best part of all, however, was Kreiger’s (Lucky Yates) role as the agency’s research scientist, performing a plethora of oddball experiments in the company lab.

By the end of the fourth season, however, Reed was tasked with the objective to contemplate a new direction for Archer, partly inspired by the associations of ISIS with the fundamentalist jihadist group with the same acronym. Newer seasons since then have gone in the direction of an anthology series format, each with their own season-specific arc, landscape, alternative personae for each character, and even a whole new angle for the humor that is responsible for the show’s longevity.

The new season, titled Archer: Danger Island, has thus far seemed to further stray from the show’s original path. Some of the characters are entirely different, from Kreiger who is now a parrot to Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell) who is now being referred to as Mr. Fuchs, a German agent. There have not been many individual missions, but one larger mission is developing and that is to locate and acquire a gold idol that is hidden on the island. The team is far from working together on this, however.

Although there are both pros and cons to the show’s new format, it seems clear that viewers still appreciate the sarcastic narrative and are tuning in each week. After all, the creators are doing something right if the show has lasted for nine seasons. While Reed plans to conclude the show after its tenth overall season, plans have not been finalized and only time (and ratings, as always) can tell what the future will hold for Archer. Until then, we’ll mind our #phrasing and enjoy it for what it is.

This week, Archer keeps an eye out for a past nemesis, Wednesday at 10 PM on FXX.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

STREAM ARCHER ON FXNOW