—Megan Garber

ABC

Black-ish

Black-ish, in many ways, is one of the more formulaic sitcoms on TV when it comes to conceit: It’s about a loving and well-off family, the dad is a lovable goofball, the mom rolls her eyes a lot, the kids fall into various categories of cool, smart, popular, and happy-go-lucky. But what makes it exceptional is how it tackles cultural issues in a deceptively casual way, never sacrificing humor for the sake of didacticism. In the 10 episodes of season two that have aired this year, the show’s explored guns, religion, health, class, and the n-word, but it’s done so with irreverence and honesty, making it clear that these are issues that TV comedy can and should engage with. “We are driven by what this family’s story would actually be,” its creator Kenya Barris told The New York Times in October. “[We’re] continuing to tell the stories that this family would experience, in a comedic fashion.” The characters might be recognizable as sitcom tropes, but the wit and originality of the show make it feel truly fresh.

—Sophie Gilbert

Netflix

Orange Is the New Black

Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black shifted pace in season three after an arch-villain-driven story arc to focus more intently on characters’ interpersonal relationships and dynamics. A series of shorter subplots—Crazy Eyes’s fantasy erotica, Nikki’s heroin stash, Norma’s cult, and most notably, Piper’s fetish-feeding used-panty business—allowed the show to spend more time watching how prison life sparked creativity amongst Litchfield’s inmates in a way that remained riveting despite the season’s slower pace. And the season’s gorgeous final scene, where the women walk out of the prison and into the lake, was the show’s most poignant expression of humanity yet.

—Katharine Schwab

Cartoon Network

Rick and Morty

Funny plus smart can too often equal mean. Rick and Morty, an animated sci-fi sitcom about the antics of a genius mad scientist and his grandson, isn’t immune to playing up its darker, nastier side. But its creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon round out that package with goofiness, self-awareness, and a deep capacity to understand its characters’ pain. In other words, barely buried underneath the chaos and sarcasm, is a whole lot of—as my colleague David Sims pointed out—heart. Add that to some of the most inventive plots you can think of (a remote control that lets you watch TV from an infinite number of realities, alien parasites that replicate by forcing their hosts to recall false memories, a rip in the space-time continuum that plays out on 16 split-screens), and you have one of the year’s hands-down best and bravest comedies.

—Lenika Cruz

FX

You’re the Worst

If I told you a saucy half-hour comedy had embarked on a dramatic season-long storytelling arc about clinical depression and managed to remain funny throughout, you might not believe it. But the proof is in You’re the Worst’s second season, which saddled the show’s acidic central characters with some scary human emotions to deal with, and got laughs out of the ensuing mistakes. Creator Stephen Falk’s effort to tell a funny, personal story about depression without blunting the terrible impact it can have was admirable on its own, but You’re the Worst is also just the most genuinely winning rom-com on TV in years. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel incredibly frustrated, and you’ll cheer at the last episode, which concludes with just a perfect exchange of dialogue.

—David Sims

Honorable mentions: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bojack Horseman, Inside Amy Schumer, and Key and Peele.