Sterling Archer (voiced by comedian H. Jon Benjamin) is a secret agent, but he's also a womanizer, a drunk and something of a jerk. His mother (Jessica Walter) runs the agency he works for, which may explain his continued employment there but also gives him plenty of things to argue with her about. To make matters worse, the other top secret agent at the organization is an ex (Aisha Tyler), and she's dating the office's bookish paper-pusher (Chris Parnell). Judy Greer voices the office nutcase, who wants to win Archer's heart after a one-night stand he can barely remember. Essentially, it's a workplace comedy, but we do see the agents go on missions -- it's like The Office, but with more assassination attempts and careless ricochets. Not all women will appreciate its sexist lead character or spy subject matter, but for guys it's like James Bond and The Tick had a beautiful baby.

The visuals, based on the semi-realistic style of Frisky Dingo, are also a pleasant change from the rounded, cartoony lines of Family Guy and Simpsons. The show also borrows Dingo's (and Sealab's) habit of having the characters fall into everyday conversations about relationships and semantics, although its larger budget allows it to veer into an over-the-top action sequence, rather than a surreal, frame-repeating head trip like Sealab used to do. There are some who will scream "sell-out," but I consider it a vast improvement, and an example of money being given to the right creator for once. Hopefully, five years from now, Reed will have three more shows on the air for us to watch, and they'll have all of Seth MacFarlane's old time slots.

No need to defend MacFarlane in the comments -- I know people love him. But what did you think of Archer?