20 best sci-fi TV shows that aren’t Star Trek

15. Rick and Morty

While Clone High has plenty of smart-aleck humor, its snark can’t compare to that found in the wildly popular Rick and Morty, airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block. This show has plenty of hard-edged humor, weird situations, and plain gross tableaux.

The “Rick” of Rick and Morty is one Rick Sanchez, a mad scientist who has achieved some serious advancement, including portal travel and contact with alien species. Too bad Rick is a cynical jerk, though he’s often right about humanity’s foibles. At the beginning of the series, he moves in with his daughter, Beth’s, family. This includes his grandson, the anxious and sweetly stupid teenager, Morty.

Rick’s daughter, Beth, has complicated feelings after her father left his family when she was young. They have a tense relationship, but Beth is clearly yearning for a closer family relationship. That’s tough enough with Rick for a dad, but then there’s her whiny, ineffectual husband, Jerry, and surly teenage daughter, Summer. Of course, Beth herself has plenty of character flaws herself.

Most of the series follows Rick and Morty as they travel through the universe in smartly written and often self-referential adventures. The “Purge” episode is smart and very gross fun involving the duo.

Later, the rest of the family gets in on the dubious fun. At one point, Jerry and Morty are abducted by inhabitants of the former planet Pluto when Jerry loudly claims that it should still be a planet. At another point, Summer makes some important friends on an Amazonian planet, though Rick manages to mess it up.

Series creator Dan Harmon is already well known for his work on smart comedy series, like the fan-favorite Community. Justin Roiland, who also voices the title characters, is Harmon’s co-creator. Though the season premiere schedule is not exactly regular, fans should take heart in the further 70 episodes ordered by Cartoon Network in May 2018.