File under: TV shows you’ve probably already seen but that I want to gush about like I’m the first to watch them, ever

• Spaced is a whopping eleven years old but is still so wonderful because it stars Simon Pegg (if he and I bred, our children would have, basically, the piggiest noses ever) and Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson), both of whom I just want to HUG UNTIL WE PASS OUT. The show’s about two Brits who are having trouble finding a flat to rent, so they pose as a couple to get a sweet deal and, naturally, hijinks ensue. Pegg’s character is a comic-book artist/skateboard nerd and Hynes’ character is a chatty writer type with no real direction. Permit me an aside to mention — because it’s so rare to see on American television — that she is a woman of physical substance with an ass and a little bit of a belly, but she’s not presented as this grotesque asexual entity. Okay, I better bite my tongue. I’m only a few episodes in. I really don’t know what the series holds in that or any other regard. But I’m excited to see the show’s story arcs unfold, in its fast talkin’, smokin’ and drinkin’ and cussin’ way.

Here’s a clip of some typical fast-clip comedy from the second episode where the “couple” decides to throw a housewarming party:

• And now for some good old-fashioned American vulgarity!

Jen tweeted a week or two ago about Archer, Adam Reed’s new animated spy spoof on FX, and it reminded me that it was a show I’d seen a preview of while at my parents’ house that I really had wanted to check out. Which I promptly did. And promptly loved. The wordplay is pretty fine, the comedy is robust, the animation is quite nice to look at, and the voice acting is so good it made me pee a little. I mean, seriously: H. Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Judy Greer, Chris Parnell, and Aisha Tyler every episode, plus awesome guest stars such as Thomas Lennon and Jeffrey Tambor. I watched all five current episodes twice in two days, that’s how hard this show ruled.

Here’s a clip from the fourth episode, “Diversity Hire”:

All the episodes of both these shows are free on Hulu right now. (Spaced and Archer.) I cannot stress how awesome this is. Please join me in sincere appreciation of good television, rare as it is, and GO FORTH AND WATCH VERILY.