Hands down, Season 1. Easy peasy, no question
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That said, there are episodes in other seasons I quite enjoyed, but as a body of work, I'd say S1, or at least my memory of it. If I went back and watched it again, who knows how well the show would travel. S1 got me into the show, a second spin-off, third in a franchise, and that in itself is a rarity for what I'm likely to check out on teevee, then or now, let alone stay with for so long :lol:.
I wasn't a huge fan of some of S2's mandated overhaul, but whaddaya do. I think S3 had some good stuff, and that's often a pattern that seems noticeable for shows for me, that they've largely beaten the audience over the head with whatever the premise is, the networks are giving it a shot, and the stories can expand a tad. Yada.
I hafta say that I think the time of the writer's strike for me was a bit of a turning point, for a variety of reasons. Only to say that when the show returned to air, some things were just not quite the same. Mebbe I was just looking at a lotta things a lil differently thereafter, or call it a learning curve or what have you, dunno.
S4 I only caught up with well after the fact, and can't say I can even recall it as a body of work. S4/S5/S6/S7 etc., well, again, some good eps therein, but none as a whole season would be where I'd say to someone, "if you check out this show, start
here." And as much as I like Sid, Adam, Jo, and some of the guests, what the show has done collectively on the road since hasn't really kept me hooked so much as I've been stubbornly returning to a favored old haunt to see what's going on
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Perhaps unfortunately, NY also became something of an adopted lab experiment I felt increasingly compelled to poke and mull over to try and figure out what was working, and what wasn't, at least IMO. Mebbe not entirely fair for a show that simply sets out to entertain folk for an hour :lol:. But eh, ya put it out there, and see what happens.
S1. Great cast chemistry shaking itself out, great tone, dark humor, fun style, looked, and more importantly, felt, different from it's siblings far more significantly than it feels now, was quirky, gritty, and had me looking forward to a new ep like a chpt. in a really good, entertaining paperback book.
So there it is :lol:.