Binge Watch: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
If you’ve finished the third season of “House of Cards” (what, it’s been available for seven whole days, plus 25 minutes on Feb. 11), and you want something to lighten your mood after 13 episodes of President Underwood’s manipulative sneer, Netflix has a palate cleanser ready to go with an original comedy series created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, both of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” fame.
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” stars Ellie Kemper (“The Office,” “Bridesmaids”) as a young woman who lived with an underground apocalypse cult for 15 years and sets out to live “a normal life” in New York City following her rescue.
The show was originally developed for NBC, which placed a 13 episode straight-to-series order in 2013. In November 2014, the show moved to Netflix, along with a two-season commitment.
Although NBC has been home to some of my favorite comedies, recent sitcoms like “30 Rock,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Community” have garnered critical acclaim without achieving the ratings of 80s and 90s juggernauts, like “Cheers,” “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” Instead of letting “UKS” try to find a footing among NBC’s dead-on-arrival comedy landscape of “Bad Judge” and “A to Z,” its offbeat characters and sardonic comedic sensibility (see “Breaking News” chyron below) might actually stand a chance with an online streaming service that caters to niche audiences (“Community” also found a second home with Yahoo! Screen after its network cancellation).
All 13 episodes of Season 1 begin streaming at midnight, so settle in with a can of beans in a Florida Marlins hat and your monogrammed purple backpack for a show that might not be for everyone, but based on some choice quotes from the trailer (highlights below), Kemper’s infectious smile and her flawless physical performance, I can already tell it's for me.
"I am one of the Indiana mole women."
"I’m having candy for dinner!"
"Dancing is about butts now!"
"You yell in your sleep, you bite my nails and we still don’t know why you’re afraid of Velcro.”
"Well, I wish I was your yellow hat!"
Are you binging "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"? Tell us what you think in the comments?
Images: "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" trailer