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Archer is an American adult animated sitcom created by Adam Reed for FX that aired from September 17, 2009, to December 17, 2023. The show follows the exploits of bumbling secret agent Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and his dysfunctional colleagues. The show is set in an anachronistic Cold War–esque universe and caricatures espionage, Western culture and society, and the human condition. Archer is distinguished by artistic reinvention in contemporary episodes, foregoing the standard setup of a workplace sitcom for self-contained anthologies. It returned to its spy parody roots after the tenth season. Reed conceived Archer shortly after the cancellation of his Adult Swim comedy Frisky Dingo. His experience vacationing in Spain and interest in adventure-oriented comedies shaped his vision of the show. Its hallmarks include reference-heavy jokes, rapid-fire dialogue, and meta-comedy. Archer is produced in a limited animation style that draws visually from mid-twentieth-century comic art. Actors record their lines individually, and the show regularly employs a recurring cast for supporting roles. Archer moved to FX's sibling network FXX in 2017, and 145 episodes were broadcast. The fourteenth and final season premiered on August 30, 2023. Following the series' cancellation, a three-part series finale, Archer: Into the Cold, aired on December 17, 2023. Archer has received positive reviews from critics and won awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards and four Critics Choice Awards. It has also received 15 Annie Award nominations, among others, for outstanding achievement in animation, writing, direction, and voice acting. Various forms of licensed media have been spawned or proposed as a result of the show's sustained success. Characters and settings Archer follows the exploits of eight dysfunctional secret agents and support staff of the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a fictional New York–based intelligence agency. They are Sterling Archer, the show's narcissistic, philandering protagonist; Malory Archer, retired agent-turned-ISIS director and Sterling's abusive mother; Lana Kane, Sterling's on-and-off lover and mother of his daughter Abbiejean, and by far the most qualified ISIS field agent; Ray Gillette, the agency's openly gay bomb specialist; Pam Poovey, the foolish but exceptionally skilled human resources supervisor-turned-agent; Cyril Figgis, the mild-mannered, often ridiculed accountant-turned-agent; Cheryl Tunt, Malory's neurotic personal assistant; and Dr. Algernop Krieger, the agency's bizarre, morally bankrupt scientist with little regard for the well-being of his test subjects. The show features an array of supporting characters, several of whom gained expanded roles in subsequent episodes. Major supporting roles in Archer include Len Trexler, the head of rival spy agency ODIN (Organization of Democratic Intelligence Networks), Slater, an arms dealer and undercover agent for the CIA; Katya Kazanova, head of the KGB and Sterling's former love interest; Fabian Kingsworth, the powerful CEO of spy conglomerate IIA (International Intelligence Agency); Zara Khan, an Interpol agent who joins the agency as Sterling's new partner; and Barry Dylan, Sterling's nemesis who, after seeking redemption, forges an alliance. Events in Archer's early seasons transpire in an anachronistic, Cold War–esque universe. The real-time history is therefore frequently referenced despite the comedy's ambiguous timeline. This method of plot structure allowed producers the discretion to source elements they felt best fit the in-canon universe. In the show's middle seasons, Archer eschews its spy premise to advance Sterling's character arc. Each season has a unique mythology of events highlighting the group's incompetence during their exploits. The main storyline climaxes when Sterling falls into a coma. From seasons eight to ten, Archer is reimagined in three self-contained universes, coinciding with a deeper exploration of Sterling's psyche. Seasons Syndication and streaming The cable television network Comedy Central previously owned exclusive US broadcast syndication rights for Archer. Comedy Central began airing the series on their network on March 2, 2015, in one-hour program time slots. In Canada, the show is syndicated nationally on Adult Swim (previously Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block from 2010 to 2019), and new episodes are aired in tandem with the American broadcast. Endemol Shine International distributes Archer internationally. In 2014, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu purchased online streaming rights to Archer as part of multiyear licensing agreements with 20th Television. Beginning in 2018, Hulu retains exclusive streaming rights to the show in the US via a new licensing agreement with 20th Century Fox. Production Development Before the creation of Archer, Adam Reed worked on animated comedies with executive producer and longtime collaborator Matt Thompson. The pair later became renowned for their work on several Adult Swim television projects, chiefly Sealab 2021 and their follow-up Frisky Dingo, which aired for several years. After the cancellation of Frisky Dingo in 2008, Reed took a vacation to Spain to brainstorm ideas for a new project. His experience traversing the Vía de la Plata, and people-watching in Plaza Mayor in nearby Salamanca, enabled him to conceptualize his vision of Archer. Reed recalled in an interview, "So I sat on the Plaza Mayor for three days—drinking either coffee or beer or gin, depending on the time of day—surrounded by these Spanish women who seemed both unaware and completely aware of their beauty. Occasionally they would glance over—and catch me gaping at them—and just smile at me like, 'I know, right?' And for three days, I couldn't even splutter 'Buenos dias' to any of them—not once. And thus was Sterling Archer born—he would've absolutely sauntered over to a table full of those women and sat down and ordered an entire case of cava or whatever." Nevertheless, he believed developing a sitcom with the theme of global espionage was inevitable given his proclivity for adventure-driven comedy. The James Bond franchise, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006), and The Pink Panther franchise were Reed's inspiration as the series, then under the working title Duchess, began taking definite form. By August 18, 2009, following Reed's pitch to FX, the network commissioned six episodes for Archer. FX initially commissioned the project as a companion series for their situational comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but the network ultimately delayed Archer's premiere to the following January because of the demanding production schedule, and The League became Philadelphia's companion show instead. Despite this, the pilot, "Mole Hunt", aired as a test screening on September 17, 2009, following the season five premiere of Philadelphia. The pilot was not featured in program listings or otherwise promoted by FX;.... Discover the Kathleen Olmstead popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Kathleen Olmstead books.