Better Things

A look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of four vampires who have "lived" together for hundreds of years in Staten Island.

Lucky was the weekly comedy drama series for which star John Corbett turned down the opportunity to recreate his role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding for the CBS spin-off sitcom My Big Fat Greek Life. The title was a bit ironic; to be sure, high-stakes gambler Michael Linkletter fully deserved his nickname "Lucky," but he nearly always ran out of luck by the end of each episode. Determined to give up his compulsive gambling, "Lucky" did not do himself a favor by continuing to reside in the heart of Las Vegas. A typical episode was the series premiere, in which Linkletter garnered one million dollars at during a championship poker tournament, only to lose it all within a matter of hours. Even when he managed to build up a bankroll, Lucky was beholden to number of creditors: his so-called pals, a few assorted shady types with broken noses and cities for nicknames, and the parents of his deceased wife, from whom he borrowed 8,000 dollars to pay for her funeral. As reckless as Lucky was with his cash, he was even more so with his emotions, falling hard for another recovering gambler named Theresa McWatt (Ever Carradine) -- who happened to already have a husband. Adroitly wringing laughs from otherwise pathetic people and situations, Lucky first aired April 8, 2003, on the FX cable network.

In keeping with its policy of serving up TV fare unlike anything else ever seen on any other network, cable or otherwise, the FX network unveiled Starved, the world's first sitcom about eating disorders, on August 4, 2005. The series was created by Eric Schaeffer, a seasoned TV writer and real-life anorexic. Schaeffer cast himself as Sam, a commodities broker suffering not only from anorexia but also compulsive-eating syndrome (his addiction to chocolate had reached ridiculously monumental dimensions), who regularly attended meetings of an eating-disorder support group, the Belttighteners. The remaining cast members likewise carried over their genuine eating problems to the characters they portrayed: Laura Benanti was Billie, an anorexic-bulimic, bisexual aspiring singer, whom Sam alternately despised and adored; Sterling K. Brown was Adam, a NYPD cop whose chronic bulimia had led him to commit minor crimes to feed his ailment; and Del Pentecost was Dan, a writer and overeater who always managed to find an excuse to put off his much-needed gastric bypass surgery. In the tradition of Seinfeld, the four main characters were not terribly likeable or admirable, but all were eminently watchable. Although Starved was positively reviewed in most trade papers, it did not meet with the approval of the National Eating Disorders Association, who disdained the show as "no laughing matter." Ironically sponsored by several prominent fast-food chains, Starved first aired in tandem with another cutting-edge FX sitcom, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Home improvement is played for laughs as people receive decorating help from two brothers who turn trash into decor.

Comedian W. Kamau Bell offers his take on politics, pop culture, race, religion and the media.

Paul and Ally juggle full-time careers, aging parents, a mortgage, upheavals in their relationship and the unenviable curveballs of raising their young children, Luke and Ava.