List #49: A Few of the Best First Seasons of TV I Watched in 2014

Blandings

Representative IMDb episode synopsis:
"Freddie comes to Blandings with Paquita, a Portuguese night club dancer who speaks no English but whom he has married. Wrongly believing her to be a princess, the snobbish Connie is impressed. She is less enamored of the fact that her niece Gertrude wants to marry Beefy Bingham, a clumsy, penniless vicar."

Representative quote: "Clarence, that doesn't even qualify as a lie. That's just noise leaking out of your face."

Family Tree

Representative IMDb episode synopsis:
"Tom sees a photo of his great grandfather Harry in costume for 'The Mikado' and travels with Pete to the Regents Theatre, whose archivist reveals that not only did Harry have a - very tiny - part in a play starring Laurence Olivier, but he was also one half of a celebrated pantomime horse."

Representative dialogue:
"My bravery, my kind of innate courage ..."
"What courage and innate bravery?"
"I was the first out of our group to wear skinny jeans."

London Irish

Representative IMDb episode synopsis:
"Following a drunken wedding party, Bronagh wakes up in the bride's dress, which she stole, next to toddler Frankie, for whom Niamh is acting as nanny. Hearing that Dermot, a man they all hated, has just died, they head off for the wake anyway."

Representative dialogue:
"Now Niamh, don't get your hopes up --- this party might be shite. We don't want a repeat of the U2 concert, do we?"
"I didn't throw that rocket."
"You did throw that rocket, we all know you did. Though why you had a rocket and how you sneaked it into Wembley remains a mystery."