Quick question: do you remember when I posted the twentieth best show of 2015 right on this very spot just yesterday? And you furrowed your brow because I actually dedicated a portion of my blog post to describing tentacled sex aliens? Well, guess what? Now it’s time for #19.
Gird your loins, ladies and gents, as volume 2 of #top20in20 heads directly your way.
#19: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Leave it to Tina Fey and Robert Carlock to devise a comedy series around a downright grim conceit: a plucky young woman, recently rescued from a doomsday cult, starts her life over in New York City. As they did in 30 Rock, the jokes — fired at such lightning speed — range from quippy one-liners to sophomoric scatological humor, so you’re bound to find something to laugh about even if the scattershot style of comedy promises that not everything lands for every viewer. But let’s be clear on two things. One, this is the unquestionable spiritual successor to 30 Rock, and, two, NBC wouldn’t have had a clue what to do with this oddball series. So let’s raise our glasses of pinot noir to Netflix for letting Kimmy’s freak flag fly. Exhibit A: that autotuned ear worm of a theme song.
Ellie Kemper’s effervescent turn as the titular Kimmy might ground the series with her misguided optimism (those light-up sneaks kill me), but it’s Tituss Burgess’s Titus Andromedon who emerges as the shining star. Whether lampooning the entertainment industry, gay culture, or life in the Big Apple, Burgess tiptoes to the line of caricature but wisely pulls back when required. With its heart on its weirdo sleeve, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt proved to us that original ideas are still out there, even in 2015. They just might be held captive in a subterranean fall out shelter is all.
Until tomorrow, friends! Any guesses on #18?
