Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

A people’s view of America, as seen on TV

From "Atlanta" to "This Fool," these 13 comedies highlight the real America in all its glory

Published July 1, 2026 9:00AM (EDT)

A version of this story first appeared in The Swell, Salon's culture newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this, for more culture that's made to last.

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” – George Washington, 1788

“We’re Americans, with a capital A! You know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts!” – Bill Murray as John Winger in “Stripes,” 1981

When I picture the Fourth of July, old white guys in curly powdered wigs and buttoned breeches don’t come to mind. No way. I think of Midwest summer nights where the humidity lies on my skin like a veil. Bomb pops and rainbow sherbet. Fireflies at dusk, flitting around outdoor gatherings as cousins trade jokes with a friendly, rough-and-tumble edge.

There’s a show, in fact, that precisely encapsulates that experience: “South Side,” a departed Comedy Central treat that encapsulates life in Chicago in all its sweaty glory. Whenever anyone tries to argue that America is a homogeneous white Christian nation, I think of that old favorite.

In that, we’re lucky. Today, we have many shows that remind us we’ve always been a nation of immigrants and many cultures cohabiting and often blending harmoniously, where most of us simply want to work hard and figure out how to laugh our way to better times.

So with America’s semiquincentennial celebration bearing down on us, here are 13 comedies that convey the diversity and splendor of what our multicultural democracy actually looks like and occasionally (mis)behaves. Feel free to binge them — or, if you prefer, your can check out my recommended episode........

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