Binge Watch Guide is a blog series to lead you through the many available series for streaming.
Time Commitment: Low
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a new show released by Netflix in March 2015. There’s only one season up so far and it has 13 episodes that are 30 minutes long. You can easily watch this in a few days or over a weekend.
Most Interesting Character: Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper)
After being rescued from living in an underground bunker for 15 years, Kimmy takes on the outside world of New York City with only a middle school education and a Jansport backpack. Kimmy’s lack of knowledge of present-day culture causes her to say a ton of fun quotes like, “Hashbrown no filter,” along with a bunch of other antics in the city.
But She’s not just funny, Kimmy’s constantly positive as well. She helps other characters by telling them like, “if you can survive the next 10 seconds, you can survive this.” Kimmy makes you laugh and leaves you feeling happier at the same time.
The Good:
Tina Fey produces this show, so it has much of the quick-witted comedy lines that she’s used to build her career. The jokes are varied, from playing on the stereotypes of the characters to involving social issues, and even staying somewhat uplifiting at times. And we can’t forget what should have won Song of the Year at The Grammys: Peeno Noir.
The Bad:
Although the characters are well written for their stereotypes, many of them are one-sided and don’t show much depth beyond their initial impressions. I was most disappointed with Jane Krakowski’s character Jacqueline Voorhees, a rich trophy wife with a ditsy disposition.
Jacqueline’s character is only seen as this woman looking for money and longing for her rich husband to come home. She’s also written just like Jenna Maroney from 30 Rock, which is also played by Krakowski.Even though she delivers some of the funniest jokes in the series, I wish Jacqueline could have had more depth.
The Takeaway:
Because of its length and its charming and uplifting elements, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a great show to watch during midterm season while everyone is spending more time hitting the books than watching Netflix.
If you liked this, consider watching this too:
If you loved Tina Fey’s writing, 30 Rock could almost be this show’s extended edition. Also consider any SNL from the early 2000s when Fey served as the lead writer for similar jokes.
If you enjoyed the female character lead, I’m pretty sure New Girl’s Jessica Day would be Kimmy Schmidt’s spirit animal. If you liked Kimmy as a character, you’ll probably love New Girl.
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