I can’t really tell you how much I love this show, a playful send up / take down of tired noir / hard boiled detective cliches mixed with a celebration / attack on the writer’s role in contemporary society, specifically, and the role of Brooklyn as cultural epicentre, more broadly.

I get that it’s a little too clever for its own good for a lot of people, and, yes, it’s sometimes pretty snobbish with its higher end gags. But I love the mix of high brow jokes – my favourite is “That’s not how I remember Rashomon!” – and low, slapstick comedy  -George has a line in one of the final episodes about how he misses their capers but he uses a different word that I cannot remember, but that word sums up what they get up to perfectly – all put together in a package that is right up my alley, because I eat up everything noir.

It’s a show that was always kind of slight – they weren’t reinventing anything – but which, I believe, improved with age, with every season getting richer and funnier.

Highly recommended.

8/10

• Genre: Comedy, Detective dramedy, Crime, Mystery,Neo-noir
• Created by Jonathan Ames
• Starring
• Jason Schwartzman as Jonathan Ames, struggling novelist, Edition journalist, and private investigator
• Zach Galifianakis as Ray Hueston, comic book artist and Jonathan’s best friend
• Ted Danson as George Christopher, editor of fictitious New York magazine Edition, friend and father figure to Jonathan
• Heather Burns as Leah, Ray’s on-and-off girlfriend
• Recurring:
  • Olivia Thirlby as Suzanne, Jonathan’s ex-girlfriend (Season 1)
  • Oliver Platt as Richard Antrem, fictional editor of GQ and rival of George Christopher
  • Laila Robins as Priscilla, George’s ex-wife and Richard’s current wife (Seasons 1–2)
  • John Hodgman as Louis Green, a rival of Jonathan
  • Jenny Slate as Stella, an organic food co-op member and pot smoker (Seasons 1–2)
  • Zoe Kazan as Nina, Jonathan’s student (Season 2)
  • Bebe Neuwirth as Caroline, Jonathan’s literary editor
  • Patton Oswalt as Howard Baker, the owner of a spy shop that Jonathan, Ray, and George occasionally visit
  • Kristen Wiig as Jennifer “Trouble” Gladwell, a barfly and one of Jonathan’s first clients (Seasons 1–2)
  • Richard Masur as Ira Ames, Jonathan’s father (Seasons 2–3)
  • Allyce Beasley as Florence Ames, Jonathan’s mother (Seasons 2–3)
  • Mary Kay Place as Kathryn Joiner
  • Halley Feiffer as Emily, George’s daughter (Season 3)
  • Olympia Dukakis as Belinda (Seasons 2–3)
  • Mary Steenburgen as Josephine, George’s singing teacher (Season 3)
  • Isla Fisher as Rose, Jonathan’s girlfriend (Season 3)
  • Stacy Keach as Jonathan’s biological father (Season 3)
  • Michael Chernus as Francis Hamm (Season 1)
• Opening theme: “Bored to Death” by Coconut Records
• Country of origin: United States
• No. of seasons: 3
• No. of episodes: 24
• Executive producers: Jonathan Ames, Sarah Condon, Stephanie Davis, Dave Becky, Troy Miller, Tracey Baird
• Running time: approx. 26 minutes
• Production companies: Dakota Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment, Fair Harbor Productions, HBO Entertainment
• Original network: HBO
• Original release: September 20, 2009 – November 28, 2011