Archer is a hell of a show, but I already heaped all sorts of praise on it back in my post about Season 1 a year ago, and Season 2 was really no different from Season 1 - which isn't a bad thing. Anyway, in the interest of not just making a super-brief or half-assed or repetitive post, let me try to pinpoint just why I think Archer is a fantastically funny animated program. Beyond the clean and beautiful animation and the snappy and witty dialogue, I think Archer's biggest asset is Archer himself. That's no surprise; plenty of shows, and probably the majority, bank on their main character being their selling point. But Sterling Archer isn't like most leading TV characters; he's an arrogant, stupid, self-centered, womanizing elitist. Yet somehow he's got more charisma than anyone else on the show. He's like a cross between James Bond and that stereotypical lacrosse-playing rich idiot you went to high school with, possessing amazing secret agent skills and all sorts of charm while maintaining the easily amused and enthused air of a giddy thrill-seeking playboy. In a way, Archer makes for better lifestyle porn than shit like Entourage, because while I'd never want to be friends with the crew from Entourage, I'd absolutely love to be the world's best secret agent, surrounded by beautiful women and with a surplus of awesome weaponry at my disposal. The rest of the characters have fleshed out nicely in two-plus seasons so far, but the real appeal behind Archer remains, you know, Archer. I'm glad this show is back on the air, and given that it's an animated show (low cost!) I'm hoping that it can last for several more years in spite of middling ratings - the series draws about a million viewers weekly, which for comparison's sake is roughly comparable to the audience watching PTI every day and various repeats of Friends, Seinfeld, and Family Guy. Oh well. That's late night basic cable for you.
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