Writer and producer Dan Harmon became an icon to sitcom aficionados with his NBC series Community, which will soon return with its long-promised movie to cap off the story. Harmon has also elevated the serialized format and helped fans think about it more critically — first through his early short-form content with Channel 101 and later through his podcast Harmontown and its accompanying documentary. However, Harmon’s biggest contribution to the sitcom world is the one that breaks the formula the most: Rick and Morty. After 13 years and nine seasons, the show is still evolving and pushing the limits of genre and medium. Despite its controversies, older episodes are also aging gracefully.
Some might hesitate to even categorize Rick and Morty as a sitcom, but its impossible to deny that the Smith family and their foibles are the real heart and soul of this story. Beneath the heavy outer layer of science fiction, action, and existential dread, the show is fundamentally driven by the relationships between Rick Sanchez (Ian Cardoni,) Morty Smith (Harry Belden), Beth Smith (Sarah Chalke,) Summer Smith (Spencer Grammer,) and Jerry Smith (Chris Parnell.) That’s the reason this series has weathered all of its storms and held up for over a decade, and it’s the reason that it’s the ultimate sitcom of our era.
‘Rick and Morty’ Has Always Stayed Ahead of Its Audience
Rick and Morty on an alien world on Rick and Morty.Image via Adult Swim
The whole point of Rick and Morty is fitting grandiose sci-fi concepts into a 22-minute sitcom format. No idea is too complex, nothing is off limits, and in the end the finer details are only window dressing for a story about the Smith family. In retrospect, Harmon and the other writers and producers clearly knew this from the beginning. The first season made a splash by boldly cramming thought-provoking ideas into each episode. The humor wasn’t just irreverent for good manners and language — it seemed at first like the writers didn’t even care about the sustainability of the story. They gleefully introduced huge paradigm shifts and contradicted their own worldbuilding at every turn.
What remained consistent was characterization. The overarching joke has always been that a sitcom completely resets at the end of episode, leaving things relatively stable for next week. This has been true for more conventional shows for decades, it’s only exaggerated and parodied here. Rick and Morty even introduced the ultimate narrative device for this in Episode 6, “Rick Potion #9,” where Rick reveals that he can and has switched realities for his own convenience. His ultimate superpower IS the sitcom reset, but the story begins when Rick takes his grandson along with him, giving the show some long-term stakes.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Holding back the reveal of this reset ability for the middle of the season was a brilliant move, creating a sense that Harmon and his team had predicted audiences’ biggest question about the show and answered it before it could be asked. Since then, the impression that the writers and producers are thinking ahead and staying in conversation with the viewers has been a core part of its humor. This is the secret behind Rick’s fourth-wall-breaking jokes as well as meta-commentary on what’s going on behind the scenes — from the long waits between seasons to the personal controversies plaguing Harmon and series co-creator Justin Roiland, and even the re-casting in Season 7.
Ultimately, Harmon was ahead of fans in terms of what Rick and Morty is all about as a show. While fans crafted elaborate theories and begged for more serialized stories about the Citadel of Ricks and Evil Morty, Harmon actively resisted this pivot and insisted on sticking with the standard family sitcom format. The show has certainly evolved over the years, but the long-lasting changes are more like those that would happen on a family sitcom than on a high-concept sci-fi adventure. Adding Space Beth to the ensemble is akin to adding Frankie Dart (Paget Brewster) to the main cast of Community, or making Rebecca (Lori Loughlin) part of the main cast of Full House as the show went on. Meanwhile, ongoing storylines like the Citadel have hardly impacted the lives of the Smith family outside the confines of a 22-minute episode except to develop their relationships and characterization.
‘Rick and Morty’ is ‘The Simpsons’ of Its Era
The longevity and continued growth of the Rick and Morty franchise is proof enough that its unique approach to sitcom storytelling is working. This year, the show concluded its ninth season with generally positive reviews, leading right into the premiere of its first full-length spinoff, President Curtis. This show takes a similar approach to the sci-fi sitcom mashup, but in this case it’s a workplace comedy rather than a family one.
Rick and Morty has extended its reach into other media over the last 13 years, from spinoffs in various mediums to games, merchandising, and even live events. The franchise’s broad success shows that audiences understand and embrace what it really is — not a sci-fi epic, but an episodic sitcom exploring what it means to be a family, for better and worse. The characters might get wrapped up in any kind of adventure from week to week, but there’s a comfort in knowing that they’ll almost certainly end up safe and sound at home in the end, right where we’ll need them to kick off next week’s installment. The difference is that while past sitcom heroes might develop a crush or deal with a bully, Rick, Morty, and the rest of the Smiths might topple an intergalactic empire between the title screen and the credits.
In many ways, Rick and Morty does the same thing for sitcoms that The Simpsons did when it first premiered. At the time, The Simpsons used animation to parody the sitcom formula and exaggerate all the absurd features of modern American life. In the process, the show told some truly heartwarming stories and fleshed out this archetypal family into characters we could really care about for decades to come. Rick and Morty is on a similar track, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Rick and Morty is streaming now on HBO Max and Hulu in the U.S. President Curtis has three more episodes to go, airing on Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. ET on Adult Swim. New episodes are added to HBO Max as soon as they air.
Release Date
December 2, 2013
Network
Adult Swim
Showrunner
Dan Harmon
Directors
Bryan Newton, Dominic Polcino, Anthony Chun, John Rice, Stephen Sandoval, Jeff Myers
Writers
Tom Kauffman, Wade Randolph, Eric Acosta, David Phillips, Erica Rosbe, Sarah Carbiener, Matt Roller, Michael Waldron, Caitie Delaney
