The Life & Times of Tim

"The Life & Times of Tim," created by Steve Dildarian, is another show about a twenty-something New Yorker working at a monolithic corporation and just trying to get by without totally embarrassing himself.

Except this show is totally hilarious.

"Tim" is sort of like an animated version of those "The Most Awkward Boy in the World" comedy sketches (starring Zach Woods, now of "The Office" fame)... somehow, no matter what Tim does (or doesn't do), it's gonna get pretty uncomfortable. And rip-roaringly funny. Just in the first season Tim somehow gets cornered into fighting an old man, and taking his boss's daughter to her senior prom.

Watch this show.

The animation is a little... simple, like something you might come across on Newgrounds, but don't let that dissuade you. This is a cartoon in which the characters wear different outfits (but still have a consistent wardrobe/style), and one that has many little background details never mentioned, but that are sincerely pause-worthy, such as little posters and reminders hung up on the cubicles at Tim's work, or a sign on the wall of an AA meeting - a picture of a person "losing their lunch" in a toilet, with the caption, "You Need Help." There is also continuity between episodes, recurring characters, notable guest stars (Tony Hale, Trevor Moore, Lizzy Caplan, Cheri Oteri, Jeff Garlin, Bob Saget...), references to Wes Anderson and "Felicity," and many, many hilarious jokes.

"Tim" could be criticized for its use of vulgar situations (and language), but none of it is used gratuitously, or without creativity and originality. Vulgar? Yes. Tasteless, lewd, or uncouth? Hell no. A prime example is an alcoholic priest, a recurring character, and in the age of parish sex scandals, a skewed version of a new kind of archetype. Yet "Tim" does not use this character as a chance for a cheap shot at religious institutions. No, the priest's "wild" antics instead just lead to more opportunities for Tim to have to deal with awkwardness and embarrassment - and that's what the show is about.

Watch "The Life & Times of Tim" or else live with the knowledge that you're missing out on something wonderful.

Each thirty-minute episode consists of two fifteen-minute segments.

The second season, currently airing on HBO, has a snazzy new opening-sequence, but is not lacking in any of the goodness mentioned above.

So in Australia SBS is the channel with weird-as sit on late at night, IE; A cartoon about a lady bus-driver who sucks every passengers...yeah.

Anyway I was bored, it was 11:30 at night, and this show came on, I watched from the beginning, the show looked shaky at best, less than a minute in I was chuckling, it then turned into non-stop laughs for me, by the time I had recovered from one hilarious section, another hit me, I couldn't stop laughing, it was hilarious, the combination of terrible situations combined with dry humor/sarcasm at the ridiculousness of the situation makes this a great combination. It's like when your friend crashes his car, get's out and says "Well this is good."

10/10 Very dry, very original, very funny.

Sometimes it's just curious way some things just work.

The minimalist approach here makes the whole thing breezy and digestible and also more adorable.

The scenarios are genuinely creative and the mixture of live wire characters juxtaposed against smaller than life, Tim, made each episode pretty appealing.

Tim is refreshing as a character. He can be self absorbed and unfastidious perhaps but he is just trying to get by. Life for him isn't something he takes seriously enough to get passionate about but he has to contend with everyone else's issues. If everyone were life Tim we'd probably have no wars but if only some people are life Tim, everyone else would get angry enough to start them.

A dark show, really. I'm usually very averse to shows that think they can just end an episode negatively and call that comedy but I still got a lot out of this.

I don't like the ending of the whole thing but it's the journey not the destination.

I like the show.

It's humor is dry but that kind of humor matches my own.

It took a couple of episodes for me to get warmed up to it, but after that I really like it. I think it is my new favorite show.

The problem is, nobody that I know of has heard of the show. So, HBO needs to find someway to get the word out.

I am surprised that there is not more action on IMDb about the show. That goes back to the problem of letting people know that it exists. I think I am going to have to find out what the ratings are on the show. It would be interesting to find out.

3 series & still nobody has ever heard of The Life & Times of Tim. It's not even released on DVD in the UK. If you want it you'll have to get it on import.

The humour is similar to Curb Your Enthusiasm with Tim getting into difficult situations (not always his fault) and then making them worse as each episode progresses. It's dry & understated, even when the situations become crazy. The characters are all brilliant, even minor ones such as Helen, Debbie or Stu's Dad. Tim's friends Rodney & Stu are idiots who invariably land him in trouble while keeping out of it themselves.

If you like adult cartoons, check it out.