“Brockmire” – The Top 25 Programs of 2017, No. 8

Hank Azaria has been turning in dynamite performances on many different TV series and in movies for decades – though he is probably best known for his vocal talents on The Simpsons, where he has given voice to such characters as Kwik-E-Mart manager Apu, bartender Moe Szyslak and police chief Wiggum, among many others.  In IFC’s unashamedly adult comedy Brockmire his marvelous voice is once again the star (or, at least, the co-star).  He plays the title character -- a hard-drinking veteran superstar sportscaster who fell from grace after learning that his wife had been unfaithful to him and suffered a very public breakdown (complete with profanities that would make Susie Essman blush) and is now finding tentative redemption (or at least a second shot at a career) as the announcer of a hardscrabble minor league baseball team in a small, economically depressed Pennsylvania town.