Ben and Kate
Tuesdays at 8:30 on Fox

Based on the pilot, this is my favorite new comedy of the season. No, seriously. I love this show. If future episodes are half as charming as the pilot, it could end up being my favorite sitcom on TV (sorry, "Happy Endings").

Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) plays Kate, a single mom with an adorable little moppet of a kid, played by Maggie Elizabeth Jones from "We Bought a Zoo." Nat Faxon (co-screenwriter of "The Descendants") is Ben, the unpredictable, screw-up older brother who constantly breezes in and out of their lives.

At last month's Academy Awards, Angelina Jolie walked out like she owned the joint, put a hand on her left hip and stuck her right leg out the slit of her Atelier Versace gown -- a very rock-and-roll moment. Moments later, Jim Rash one-upped her by striking the same pose. No doubt, Rash owned the night, and not just because he had a statue to take home.

That capped quite quite a stretch for the Charlotte native and UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus, who was up for all the big awards after co-writing "The Descendants." Rash also won a Writers Guild award but lost out in the Golden Globes, leaving the Academy Awards a too-close-to-call tossup going in.

"You never really know," Rash said. "The way these awards work is it's very much rollercoaster. 'It's all about this movie!' Then suddenly it's all about some other movie, and you just sort of roll with it. So by Oscar night, I was able to attain a Zen state of maybe, maybe not and I'm o.k. either way."

For more from Rash, who returns to TV screens on Thursday night with the third-season premiere of NBC's "Community," see the interview in Sunday's paper.