Humor Returns For Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3!

The Good: Very funny, Good performances, Moments of character
The Bad: Meandering and predictable plots, Imbalance in main cast over the course of the season
The Basics: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Three manages to develop the characters of the show while being very funny, making for the best season of the comedy yet.


When it comes to Netflix comedies, there have been few I have had more mixed feelings on than Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (reviewed here!) went in a far more dramatic direction than the first season would have indicated and I was not wowed by the addition of Amy Sedaris to the cast in the recurring role of Mimi Kanasis. Ultimately, Kimmy letting her narcissistic mother off seemed like a cheap resolution after the surprisingly deep psychological work Kimmy did throughout the rest of the season and ending the season at essentially the same place as the first (Jacqueline having left New York City in the first season was replaced with Titus having left New York City in the second, Titus being married as the big reveal at the climax of season one was replaced with Kimmy being revealed to be married at the end of season two) was utterly disappointing. So, when I sat down to watch Season Three of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I was, admittedly, a little less excited about it than I might be with other shows.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3 picks up the adventures of Kimmy Schmidt after she has been out of the bunker she was trapped in for fifteen years. Now living with wannabe actor Titus Andromedon in the basement of Lillian's apartment (tugboat), Kimmy has her GED and is working to un-entangle her life from that of the villainous Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne.

The thirteen-episode third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt includes the episodes:

"Kimmy Gets Divorced?!" which finds Kimmy getting her G.E.D. She is inspired by Lillian to apply to college and encouraged by Jacqueline to delay signing her divorce papers. When Titus returns from the cruise, he is hesitant to track down Mickey because of his failure to come back with a lot of money, so he appeals to his enemy to get a job on Sesame Street. Lillian, now running for District Council, dumps Bobby and Kimmy learns just how expensive college will be, which leads her to take an alternate tact in her divorce,

"Kimmy's Roommate Lemonades!" is a concept episode that mirrors Titus Andromedon's relationship collapsing with parody tracks from Beyonce's Lemonade. Kimmy takes a tour of a local college where she meets a philosophy student after she discovers from a job aptitude test that her ideal career is "crossing guard." When Jacqueline attempts to present funds from her boyfriend's foundation to clean up the neighborhood, she is blocked by Lillian. When Lillian and Jacqueline both realize that Kimmy is the only registered voter in the neighborhood, both women attempt to exert influence over Kimmy to get her vote. As Titus recognizes his relationship with Mikey is doomed because he is Mike's first relationship as a gay man, Mikey realizes he has been having an emotional affair on Titus and both Titus and Kimmy have to make big decisions,

"Kimmy Can't Help You!" in which Jacqueline has her first real chance to get Russ's family to change the name of the Washington Redskins. Working with Russ, she tries to stage a fight with him as Russ's father's 75th birthday party, but in the process Russ gets slowly run over by a car. While Jacqueline stays by Russ's side, Russ's family sees her as a public relations victory to their team name problem. Back at the apartment, Titus and Kimmy meet the woman who wants to marry the Reverend when she brings the divorce papers there,

"Kimmy Goes To College!" - Kimmy joins the app Task Rabbit to earn money to afford tuition. She ends up running errands at Columbia University, where she is reunited with Xanthippe. While Lillian represents East Dogmouth on the District Council by filibustering against Big Naturals grocery store that wants to move there, Titus advances his singing career by providing backing vocals on right-wing songs,

"Kimmy Steps On A Crack!" which opens with Kimmy being approached by the FBI to talk Gretchen out of a situation she has gotten into. Jacqueline, meanwhile, entertains her new in-laws. Lillian helps diagnose Titus with scurvy and the two head out into Dogmouth to try to find fresh fruit. Gretchen has tried to form her own cult and the FBI is after her for taking children (as "child husbands") hostage. And, she's armed to the teeth!

"Kimmy Is A Feminist!" finds Kimmy going to a college party. There, she realizes that the privileged students going to Columbia are incredibly immature. Meanwhile, Jacqueline is besieged by her new husband's brother, Duke. Duke attempts to seduce her but with Titus and Lillian's help, Jacqueline works to get everything she needs to take on the NFL over the Redskin name!

"Kimmy Learns About The Weather!" opens with Titus having nightmare flashbacks of his time on the cruise. Kimmy tries to talk with Titus about Perry, but gets caught up with watching weather reports instead. Kimmy gets furious at how the weatherman is instilling fear in New York, while Titus goes on a quest against Big Pharma to get residuals for a commercial his voice was used in. And Lillian accidentally starts a strike, which leads her and Artie Goodman to have a surprisingly frank conversation.

"Kimmy Does A Puzzle!" has Titus finally explaining what happened to him on the cruise ship. When the storm hits New York, Kimmy, Titus, Artie and Lillian hunker down in Kimmy's new fun bunker. In Kimmy's "funker," Titus begins to unpack his horrible experience on the cruise.

"Kimmy Goes To Church!" has Titus bringing Kimmy to church on Good Friday. While Kimmy embraces the positivity of the church, Titus makes a new enemy in the form of an old woman whom he believes to be a busybody who is out to ruin his attempts to get into the choir. While Titus tries to entrap his adversary, Jacqueline encounters Diedre again. With Lillian's help, though, Jacqueline is able to move past caring about what other people think about her.

"Kimmy Pulls Off A Heist!" finds Jacqueline ready to take on the football owner's meeting to change the name of the Washington Redskins. That puts her at odds with her new father-in-law and Duke. Meanwhile, Titus becomes obsessed with getting a key from the local gas station where he does all of his bathrooming. Seeing the protest against the Redskins, Jacqueline comes up with a way to appeal to the management team's greed to get the name changed.

"Kimmy Googles The Internet!" where the title explains the whole premise. When Perry and Kimmy attend a soiree at a professor's house, she learns about Google because her professor tells everyone she was a Mole Woman. Looking up her online presence, Kimmy freaks out and goes in search of Andrea to make things right. At the same time, Titus starts dating Ruben, but freaks out when he learns about Ruben's daughter Linda. He comes to realize he is not truly over Mikey.

"Kimmy And The Trolley Problem!" puts Kimmy in a moral dilemma when her philosophy professor suggests she could do more to be a good person. Feeling low about herself, she agrees to appear on Xanthipe's campus television show to talk about her experience in the bunker. Jacqueline starts to get to know Russ after he comes out of reconstructive surgery looking amazing. Artie and Lillian start to plan their first trip together when Artie wants to take her to Europe. Jacqueline takes a meeting with executives at Bravo to try to get exposure for a charity important to her.

and "Kimmy Bites An Onion!" ends the season with Kimmy trying to pass a chemistry test and taking a job as a crossing guard. As Jacqueline fights for Titus's rightful compensation for "Boobs In California," Lillian tries to find Artie a new heart.

The third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt remembers to bring back the funny while still maintaining the characters who have been established. Like the first season, the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has a lot of incredibly funny, laugh-out-loud hilarious lines. The non-sequitors are delivered expertly, while still maintaining the integrity of the show's characters.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is also delightfully daring by calling out the modern (faux-)feminist movement in "Kimmy Is A Feminist!" Graphically illustrating just how ridiculous the "we're empowered by doing everything men want us to do" argument is, "Kimmy Is A Feminist!" is fearless in its attack on the faux-left. . . while still being hilarious.

Finding the balance between humor, advancing the plots and advancing the characters while being true to them is a mark of good writing and the character work in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is quite good. To better understand the characters, it helps to know that in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the primary characters are:

Kimmy Schmidt - Now in possession of her G.E.D., she is determined to go to college. She contests the divorce with Reverend Wayne in order to get assets to fund her college tuition. She takes a job aptitude test to learn that her ideal career is that of a crossing guard and she begins to pursue a college degree with that as her goal. When she impresses the members of the crew team, she manages to get a full scholarship to Columbia University. She has to talk down her old bunkermate when Cyndi starts her own cult and the FBI is called in. She starts to develop a new romantic relationship, but rejects him when the philosophy major expresses a desire to get a divinity degree. She has a negative reaction to the infotainment version of weather reports in New York City and when she tries to survive the storm, she accidentally remakes the bunker experience with her friends. When she learns about Google, she becomes terrified that Perry knows her deepest secrets.

Titus Andromedon - Washing up on a beach, he returns home broke. He is furious with Mikey when he sees his boyfriend go into his home with another man. He sees in Mikey's desperation a mirror of his first failed relationship and sets Mikey free, even after rejecting a sexual harassment advance that would have landed him a good job on Sesame Street. He gets scurvy and has to eat fruits and vegetables for the first time in a very, very, very long time. He works to help Jacqueline fend of Duke by playing straight and interested in her. His voice is used for a bladder control commercial against his will. He gets told off by Kimmy when he acts self-centered during the funker experience. He starts to reject Reuben when he learns his new paramour has a daughter named Linda.

Jacqueline White (formerly Voorhees, now Snyder?) - She encourages Kimmy to use her divorce to get back at Reverend Wayne. Still dating the do-gooder Russ, she tries to improve Lillian's neighborhood and finds herself at odds with her friend. She starts working with Russ to get the Washington Redskins name changed, but accidentally gets Russ run over and marrying him when he is unconscious instead! She recovers Russ's grandmother's secret recipe for corn pudding and has to cook for the first time in years! She fends off Russ's brother, Duke, with Titus and Lillian's help, getting the keys to defeating her new in-laws in the process. She leads the fight from within to get the Redskins name changed, even though her family does not believe in her. When Russ is about to come out of the Smoosh Ward, she takes care of Mimi in preparation and freaks out.

Lillian Kaushtupper - Now running for District Council, she dumps Bobby because he is the son of the biggest neighborhood developer in the area. Determined to keep the neighborhood from gentrification, she is elected by convincing Kimmy to vote for her. Once elected, though, she finds her power on the District Council is exceptionally limited. She takes a stand against Big Naturals and ends up as their community support liaison. She actually finds herself relying on Big Naturals to get Titus healthy and she helps Jacqueline fend off Duke. When she mentioned the 2nd Avenue Subway to Artie, she is shocked when Goodman actually revives the long-dead project! She starts a real relationship with Artie later on and they both have to wrestle with their past relationships while developing their new relationship.

Russ - Recognizing that his father, the owner of the Washington Redskins, hates him but loves Jacqueline, he works with Jacqueline to change the team's name. When his brother is promoted to owner, Russ gets run over by a car and while he is in traction, his family convinces Jacqueline to marry him! He eventually comes out of the coma and traction and renews his relationship with his new wife. Unfortunately, looking traditionally good leads to some unfortunate personality changes for the man who was once a social justice lawyer.

Mikey - After having what he believed was an innocent friendship with another man, he is dumped by Titus. He starts to date after Titus pushes him away, but he does not seem nearly as happy as when he was with Titus.

and Artie Goodman - The owner of the massive Big Naturals grocery store chain, he calmly deals with Lillian's hatred for his development of East Dogmouth. Slowly, he convinces Lillian that he is a good guy who wants to help the people of her neighborhood. He has a heart problem that leads him to try to get the most out of life.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 3 is a lot of fun and it includes a fun crossover with Orange Is The New Black and a wonderful recurring role played by Peter Riegert. Riegert plays Artie very calmly and when he delivers some of the season's funniest lines, his deadpan is amazingly funny! As well, Tina Fey helped get many of her 30 Rock co-stars cameos in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The little guest roles are funny and seeing Scott Atsit and Judah Friedlander again is wonderful!

Ellie Kemper and Tituss Burgess are incredible in the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Burgess and Kemper have both great comic timing to land the jokes and surprisingly serious deliveries to accurately sell the dramatic moments. Ultimately, the third season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a good balance of humor and genuine character development.

For other works from the 2016 – 2017 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4
Sense8 - Season 2
Dear White People - Season 1
"Out Of Time" - Legends Of Tomorrow
"Oxygen" - Doctor Who
The Walking Dead - Season 7
Thirteen Reasons Why - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 3
Iron Fist - Season 1
Love - Season 2
Santa Clarita Diet - Season 1
A Series Of Unfortunate Events - Season 1
One Day At A Time - Season 1
Travelers - Season 1
The OA - Season 1
Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
"Invasion!" - Arrow
"Infantino Street" - The Flash
"Resist" - Supergirl
Luke Cage - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1

6/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Character Progression, With Less Humor: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Two Treads Surprisingly Dramatic.

The Good: Good character development, Moments of creativity, Tituss Burgess's performance
The Bad: Dramatic imbalance of both humor and characters, Some troubling plot and character conceits especially as the season progresses
The Basics: After an initial burst of humor consistent with the first season, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season Two treads toward the predictable and dramatic, undermining itself.


There are very few works that I review and then have a significant change of heart on later. What some people do not realize about reviewers is that most are attempting speed and accuracy when reviewing and, in order to stay current, early or timely reviews are always the most sought-after. When it comes to television reviews, there are very few reviewers, myself included, who usually view a television season or episode multiple times before reviewing it. As a result, there are, occasionally, works that I come to appreciate more over multiple viewings - if it is something that I enjoyed enough to ever put on again (life is too short for second chances, most reviewers will note!). One of the few works that I would probably have rated higher in retrospect now is the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (reviewed here!). After all, the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has become one of the most quoted shows of late around my home. My wife and I find reasons to quote it almost daily, which is saying something.

So, I decided not to rush my review of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2. The thirteen episode season has been out since April and I'm on my third viewing of it. My wife and I eagerly binge watched the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt the day it was released . . . and it took us another three months to come back to it. I was worried about reviewing the show right away, but the truth is, my first instinct with the second season was a pretty accurate one: the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is almost a completely different show than the first season. For sure, there are elements that are seeded into the first season, most notably Lillian's offhanded remarks about the neighborhood changing and gentrification, that play out in big ways in the second season. Viewers even learn what is up with Kimmy Schmidt and Velcro. But more than being zany and funny, with an incredible quotable quality, the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt goes for serious, moody, and more realistic the longer it goes on. The result is a season where the characters grow and develop in interesting ways, but their journeys are seldom funny.

Opening with Kimmy and her friends celebrating Christmas, which includes Jacqueline's friend Mimi and is crashed by Dong's wife Sonja, the show flashes back three months. Titus is stuck dealing with the woman he married almost twenty years ago when he was still Ronald Wilkerson, while Kimmy tries to help him. Jacqueline remains with her family in Sioux land, trying hard to return to her Native American roots, but annoying them instead. After Titus makes peace with his past, he makes the difficult decisions that come with cleaning out his closet. Kimmy helps Xanthippe move on from the townhouse after her father sells it and she is forced to move to Connecticutt.

As Jacqueline attempts to re-enter New York's social scene, Titus begins a serious relationship and Kimmy struggles to financially support herself without working for Jacqueline. When the Wi-Fi is set up in the neighborhood, Lillian becomes furious about the gentrification, but Titus and Kimmy use it to make money by renting their apartment out as a B and B. Kimmy becomes an Uber driver, which connects her with a therapist who encourages her to get closure by finding her mother.

The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a season very much out of balance. After Jacqueline starts pursuing the lawyer, she is written out of the show for three episodes. When Tina Fey arrives in the season, she dominates every scene she is in. The show becomes experimental as it goes more dramatic; Kimmy sees her "happy place" as an animated Disney-like place and one of Mikey's family members is a puppet. But a Titus becomes more serious by mentoring a young man and becomes part of a serious relationship, the show tends to become more predictable and less funny. Mikey coming out to his family, predictably, goes very well for him and the episode plays droll as Titus has to force his way into being the center of attention. Similarly, while the whole Dr. Dave concept is delightfully satirical, the pop psychology entertainment idea is not funny.

Lillian's fight against developing the neighborhood is also good character development, but it is not really funny. Instead, it's sad to watch the woman whose best memories are tied to the neighborhood as it was, try desperately to save it from hipsters and developers. Jacqueline's arc, when they get back to her, seems like pretty much where she began the season. She wanted to help her family and so the idea that she might become interested in an ethical person, instead of just reverting to wanting a rich guy to get back into society, seemed pretty obvious, as opposed to audacious.

In the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the primary characters are:

Kimmy Schmidt - Still hung up on Dong, from her G.E.D. class, despite him being married and overrun with silverfish in his apartment, she becomes terrified that Titus will simply abandon her. She tries to act as an intermediary between Titus and Vonda. She gets a new job working at a year-round Christmas store while Jacqueline is out West. After chasing Dong, she falls asleep while taking the G.E.D. and she has to stand up to Jacqueline when her friend is not financially able to keep her on as an employee. They reach a compromise, which allows Kimmy to use Jacqueline's stolen cop car to be an Uber driver. Through that job, she meets Andrea - a crazed drunk woman by night, generally professional therapist by day - and starts to deal with the feelings she repressed since being abducted. That leads her on a quest to find her mother and figure out who her true family is,

Titus Andromedon - Struggling with the consequences of abandoning Vonda, he is forced to face Kimmy's fears that he will abandon her. When Kimmy confronts him, he starts to exhibit traits of someone suffering from multiple personality disorder. After launching a one-man play featuring his geisha personality, which earns the ire of the Asian-American community, he goes on a date with Mikey and starts his first serious relationship of his adult life. He becomes more moody when he realizes that he is happy and reverts to form when Mikey confesses he is not a big talker. When Mikey comes out to his family, he hijacks the experience,

Jacqueline White (formerly Voorhees) - After trying to reclaim her identity as Jackie Lynn, she becomes a pain in the ass to her family. She returns to New York City where she attempts to win over the snobby mothers at her son's private school. She tries to compete with Deirdre and that leads her to overbid at an art auction. She attempts to create a charity to raise money for the Sioux, but has a rough time attracting patrons. To deal with her son, Buckley, she turns to medicating him. After trying the medication herself, she takes her son off it. She knocks out her own tooth and, soon after, she and Kimmy fall out over her inability to pay Kimmy. She literally walks in another woman's shoes in order to get her tooth fixed and, in the process of trying to raise money for the First People, she thwarts Deirdre and realizes just how loathesome most of her old society "friends" actually are. When the family that rightfully owns the painting she bought sues her for it, she works with Lillian to swindle the insurance company for its value before meeting a lawyer who she starts to pursue to get back into upper class society,

Lillian Kaushtupper - Titus and Kimmy's addled slumlord, she encourages Kimmy to explore moral relativism after she runs into her old lover, Robert. She becomes convinced a new gang has moved into the neighborhood and is heartbroken to learn that the neighborhood is getting high-speed internet and attracting hipsters. She advises Kimmy to give up on pursuing Dong, when she sees how much pursuing the married man hurts Kimmy. She locks herself to a bulldozer to protest, even as she advises on Titus on his sudden inkling to have children,

Gretchen - She joins a new cult, the Church Of Cosmotology, which leads Kimmy to kidknap her to save her. Kimmy realizes she has never had to think for herself after a terrible night out together and Kimmy convinces her to form her own cult,

Cindy - She returns to New York to meet her "therapist" only to discover that he is a television personality who uses victims of disasters for his shows,

and Mikey - After coming out to Titus last season, he randomly takes Titus's donated clothes out of a dumpster, which starts off a new relationship. He is a construction worker, who is not out with his co-workers and he goes out on a limb to hit on Titus. He has an awkward first date with Titus, but has a lot of love for the much more experienced man. On his first date with Titus, he is so nervous that he talks quite a bit, which is very different from how he usually is. After coming out to his family, he gets ill and that tests his relationship with Titus.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2 starts with a lot of potential with "Kimmy Goes Roller Skating!" but by the end of the teaser to the fourth episode, almost all of the elements are in place for the more serious elements that come to dominate the season.

Titus Andromedon has the most significant and consistent character arc of the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the role finally gives Tituss Burgess something to play that viewers have not seen from the actor before. In the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Burgess starts to explore his character falling in love and committing to a serious relationship, instead of playing to the parody elements of his character.

Tina Fey, Ellie Kemper, Carol Kane and Jane Krakowski each play their characters with consistency and well within the range they have exhibited in other projects. Amy Sedaris is especially distracting in her scenes as Mimi and every time she is on screen, the viewer is aware they are watching Sedaris, as opposed to the character she is supposed to be portraying.

The second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is not bad, but the genuine character development and moments of Tituss Burgess's exceptional performances are crammed between unfortunately canned plot conceits and dramatic moments that completely change the tone of the usually zany production.

For other works from the 2015 – 2016 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 1
Jessica Jones - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 2
House Of Cards - Season 4
Doctor Who - Season 9

4/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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It's Not GARBAGE! But Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 1 Is More Mediocre Than Spectacular.

The Good: Some funny lines, Generally decent performances, Interesting plot progression
The Bad: A TON of recycled ideas, Derivative performances, Concept overwhelms the characters
The Basics: In its first season, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt sells itself adequately, but leaves very little room for the future.


Whenever I sit down to review a television series, I work very hard to rate it solely on the work itself, not on how it compares to other works by the same creators. With the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I found that to be virtually impossible as the problems with the show are almost exclusively the result of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's prior work, 30 Rock (reviewed here!). But, the truth is, the problems with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt come from the fact that it utilizes its cast in a virtually identical way to 30 Rock and has a similar patter and progression as Fey's prior endeavor (it makes sense; she was writer, executive producer and star of 30 Rock).

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 1 is a thirteen episode season released on Netflix (and, given its awards nomination, NBC has got to be kicking itself for letting it go there!) and while I found it, ultimately, to be fairly average, my wife had a very different perspective. While I looked at Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt strictly from a funny and analytical perspective, my wife pointed out that the show is unique in that it provides a perspective not usually shown on television. Kimmy Schmidt is, essentially, a survivor and the fish-out-of-water quality she possesses is something that is not commonly shown on television. In that way, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt does a decent job of showing something new; but in many other ways (specifically, to fans of 30 Rock) it is a repetition of what Fey has put out before.

On the outskirts of Durnsville, Indiana, a subterranean bunker is raided by the F.B.I. Inside, they find four women and the cult leader who had imprisoned them in the bunker for the prior fifteen years. The survivors are thrown out into the world and with her (partial) middle school Kimmy Schmidt decides to remain in New York City to start her adult life. In short order, Kimmy finds a place to live and a job. She starts living in a basement apartment (barely a closet) with street performer Titus Andromedon and she starts working for the wealthy Jacqueline Voorhees. Determined to pretend to be normal, Kimmy tries to keep her history secret, but has to confide in Titus when her backpack (with her money) gets stolen out of the club they go to.

While trying to help Titus get a legitimate acting gig (by helping him get new headshots taken), Kimmy acts as a nanny for Jacqueline's son, Buckley, and works to keep her past history secret from Jacqueline's step-daughter, Xanthippe (who is suspicious of her). As Jacqueline's marriage falls apart, Kimmy tries to empower her and she begins taking G.E.D. classes, where she tries to inspire her fellow students.

In the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (which might well have the most infectious opening theme song ever!), the primary characters are:

Kimmy Schmidt - A naive young woman from Indiana, she ends up in New York City after her fellow cult prisoners are released from the bunker and interviewed on a national morning show. Armed with cash that was given to the survivors, she takes a closet apartment with Titus and tries to get him to follow his acting dreams. She takes a G.E.D. course and she meets two guys, including her fellow student Dong, are interested in her. She is optimistic, but uses outdated cultural references, which makes Xanthippe suspicious. When the cult leader, Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, goes on trial, Kimmy has to return to the bunker to find the evidence needed to get the conviction against him,

Titus Andromedon - An effeminate gay man who has worked as a street performer as an off-brand Iron Man. He supports Kimmy's secret and tries to trade in the suit to get new head shots. He immediately identifies Gretchen's fiance as a closeted gay man and he becomes morbidly fascinated with the court case as it picks up,

Jacqueline Voorhees - The socialite wife of a millionaire businessman, she neglects her children and is a parody of the not-suffering New York City housewife. When her husband is caught cheating on her (but not with the woman she thought!), she considers divorce and is talked into it by Kimmy (compound interest!). She has a secret Native American past that she has kept from everyone,

Lillian Kaushtupper - Titus and Kimmy's drug-addled slumlord. She accompanies Titus to a funeral for someone Titus did not actually know (when he tries to hide that he has money from her),

Gretchen - Another one of the women imprisoned in the doomsday bunker by "Reverend" Wayne, she is given a number of benefits after the women are released, including the crush she had before she was imprisoned. Despite him being gay, Gretchen is eager to live her dreams and is worried when Kimmy does not immediately come back to Indiana for Wayne's trial,

and Xanthippe - Jacqueline's stepdaughter, she is an angsty teen who has a very different persona with her friends than at home (she actually is a pretty decent student and does not take drugs like her friends). She is suspicious of Kimmy and Kimmy becomes suspicious of her when she realizes some of Xanthippe's excuses are from one of the books Kimmy had in the bunker with her!

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is funny, but very average. The best performances of the season come exclusively from lead Ellie Kemper. Kemper's Kimmy Schmidt is almost exclusively played as enthusiastic and wide-eyed excited and Kemper nails it in every scene. She perfectly embodies a woman stepping out into a world that she does not know at all.

That is not to say that Jane Krakowski (Jacqueline) and Tituss Burgess (Titus) are bad, but they're playing what they've already done before. Krakowski is, yet again, playing an ego-centric dimwit which she played on both Ally McBeal (reviewed here!) and 30 Rock. She's hit the niche before and mastered it. She shows us nothing new in the first season on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Tina Fey has typecast her. In a similar way, while Tituss Burgess has a fun role in the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Titus is virtually identical in performance requirements to D'Fwan (Burgess's character on 30 Rock). Titus and D'Fwan would be a huge acting challenge for a masculine heterosexual who can't sing; Burgess is playing an effeminate, openly gay, theater performer . . . two out of the three of those are the function of simple casting (Burgess is not particularly effeminate or over-the-top in his performances like his character!). In other words, Burgess is playing the same part as he did in his television breakout role.

I cannot think of a show I have watched as much before reviewing as the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I've watched all thirteen episodes four times now and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt manages to hold up over multiple viewings. It is a fun collection of lines and the protagonist is generally enjoyable to watch. But Tina Fey's guest performance at the end of the season is solid schtick and the writing feels like jokes that just wouldn't have fit - from the context - on 30 Rock. Is it fun to hear Fey's jokes about pop-culture elements from the turn-of-the-Millennium? Sure. I'm still waiting for the Austin Powers reference and the fact that it didn't come in the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt gives us something to look forward to in the second season. Strangely, after watching the first season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt so many times, it's really the only thing . . .

For other works from the 2014 – 2015 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2
The Flash - Season 1
Orange Is The New Black - Season 3
Sense8 - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 1
Agent Carter - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 1
The Newsroom - Season 3
House Of Cards - Season 3
Doctor Who - Season 8
True Blood - Season 7
The Walking Dead - Season 5

5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Go Is Not A Completely Dumb Teen Movie!

The Good: Surprisingly well put together, Decent acting, Lines of dialog
The Bad: Annoying, idiotic characters, Low opinion of youth culture
The Basics: If you want to watch young people use drugs, hang out, get into pointless chases and otherwise use bad judgment, Go is the perfect film for you.


"Teensploitation" is a word that has recently made it into the dictionary. It refers to any film or work that exploits young people as a crucial element of selling the movie, television show or lip gloss. Basically, it is the name for the whole genre of movies that tries to explore what being a young person is. It's a weird word and I am surprised it made it into the dictionary; it seems like more of a fad than a word with any real staying power. Nevertheless, there it is and I thought of the word as I sat down to watch the DVD of Go.

I honestly did not have high expectations for this movie. When I watch it again, which I will, I am bound to watch it with higher expectations than I had the first time around. Go is the teensploitation version of Pulp Fiction.

Told in three parts, in roughly chronological order, this is the story of three groups of people and their adventures over the course of a single night and how they all come together. It is the story of Ronna, who is about to be evicted from her apartment, so she goes along with a plan to score some ecstasy for some strangers and discovers that she can make a killing selling chewable aspirin and diet pills to posers at a rave. It is the story of Simon, a drug dealer who takes off for Las Vegas for a night and ends up on the run after putting his hands on a stripper. It is the story of Adam and Zack, a pair of gay actors who have ended up at the mercy of a police officer named Burke, who uses the two to set up Simon and instead end up setting up Ronna.

The three stories come together when Ronna is almost killed at the rave, Simon heads back to Todd's (his supplier) house to find Todd selling him out and Adam and Zack discovering they are cheating on one another with the same man. All with hilarious consequences.

Okay, the consequences are not hilarious. In fact, it is troubling how downright stupid just about every character in this movie is. Even the goody-goody Claire uses drugs, so it's hard to find real empathy in any of these characters. They are all weak-willed or flat out stupid and John August (the writer) and Doug Liman (the director) have a very low opinion of youth and their level of judgment. Claire, who seems intelligent and morally-upstanding at the beginning, allows herself to be used as collateral to Todd, uses speed, and ultimately uses her wits to arrange the almost moronic - though funny - resolution of the dilemma of Simon.

Simon is a flat-out idiot and it is problematic that so much time is spent on his character. He is not interesting to watch, yet a third of the film - at least - is his story. Simon is a loser drug dealer and it is hard to feel any empathy for his buffoonishness. Even worse, on the trip to Vegas, he is accompanied by Tiny (in a baffling element, Breckin Meyer, who played Tiny is one of the top-billed credited actors of this movie!) and Singh who are such worthless, pointless characters that they are dispatched at the earliest possible moment.

Indeed, throughout the Simon section of the movie, it is Taye Diggs' character Marcus that steals the scenes. He is interesting, reasonably intelligent and it is a shame that he was not worked into the script better. In fact, he is such a cool character, one wonders why he is hanging around such losers as Simon and Tiny. As well, seeing more of Marcus and his reactions to the hicks he runs into in Vegas would have given the movie Go a bit more depth and genuine character.

Finally, the Adam and Zack portion of the movie is interesting, but not enough to resolve the film. In fact, after their altercations with Burke and their hunt for Jimmy, their mutual lover, they disappear and the movie becomes about tying it all together. That is done by using Claire and Todd, but it is done without giving the pair a full section of their own (as Ronna, Simon and Adam and Zack are given).

What makes the film even remotely viewable is the dialog and the acting. The dialog is often funny. In fact, listening to the posers Ronna sells fake drugs to is funny as are Ronna's exploiting others the way she is exploited when she goes to get the drugs from Todd. There is a lot that is funny and the lines are well delivered.

The cast is pretty impressive. Sarah Polley does a good job of getting the viewers into the world with her strange, almost bland performance of Ronna. Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf are energetic as Zack and Adam. Katie Holmes, cute as ever, plays Claire with an interesting combination of coyness, intelligence and reason, which fails only in the writing of the character. And Timothy Olyphant portrays Todd with a wonderful mix of menace and style that makes the drug supplier one of the more interesting and watchable characters in the piece.

The film, however, is stolen by two actors: Taye Diggs and William Fichtner. Diggs plays Marcus as cool and levelheaded. He uses his limited time on screen to create a sage character that is interesting and slick. He plays the role with a looseness that is cool and he emanates an air of style. He brings a real sense of professionalism and character to the middle portion of the movie.

It is ironic, then, that in a teensploitation movie, the notable actor would be William Fichtner, who was in his forties when the movie was made. Fichtner plays Burke and he makes the role into something that is uncomfortably sleazy. Fichtner makes Burke a potential menace to Adam and Zack with leering and a wonderful control of eye movements and body language. He is a master and when his character's motives are revealed, the build-up that Fichtner has created using his tone, body language and movement, the result is one of the funniest in the work.

But, in the end, Go is probably not worth your time. Why? None of the characters are good. I am a person who loves characters who live in shades of gray or are outright evil. The problem here is there is no reference point, they are all gray and they create a piece that is more murky than interesting. None of the characters are completely likable and as a result, much of the movie hinges on individual lines and fails to come together as a piece worth repeated viewings.

The plus side? If you are into teensploitation, this gives you pretty much everything you might want, assuming you figure all teens use drugs and are incapable of ever using good judgment. And the DVD has a surprising number of extras for such a mediocre movie.

For other works with William Fitchner, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Date Night
The Dark Knight
Invasion
Ultraviolet
Mr. And Mrs. Smith
Crash

6.5/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2005 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Middling Season, 30 Rock Season 6 Might Be The Least Memorable Collection Of Episodes.

The Good: Moments of humor, The characters do progress
The Bad: Nothing distinctive the whole season, Some plot elements seem very much for the convenience of the actors, Another “Queen Of Jordan” episode?!
The Basics: In its sixth season, 30 Rock shows its cracks and while it moves the characters forward, there is very little humor that the prior seasons did not already present.


One of the ways that I can tell that a show is on the downward slide is when it was a show that had memorable lines that I would quote and I no longer find myself quoting it. After seasons where I found myself humming “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” to the point my wife could not stand me or I would listen to her delightfully respond “I want to go to there!” whenever I would ask her if she wanted to go to a buffet, 30 Rock has become a listless shadow of what it once was. The fundamental problem I have with 30 Rock Season 6 is that the writing simply is not there; I can openly acknowledge that some of what the show is doing is what one hopes a show will do by its sixth season, which is to advance the characters.

Unfortunately, season six of 30 Rock blends the movement forward on Liz Lemon’s character front with particularly hackneyed plotlines for the other characters. One of the most obvious ways I find this to be true is that novelty bits usually overshadow the character elements for the main characters, for example, Denise Richards appearing as herself as an idiot when Tracy opens the season by taking a pro-idiot stance against NBC. Denise Richards completely steals the thunder from those scenes and the mini-arc becomes far less about Tracy Jordan (who has completely regressed from his respectable EGOT-winning persona of the early fifth season) than it does about basking in how brilliantly Denise Richards plays moronic.

In a similar vein, the capture of Avery Jessup, Jack’s wife, by the North Koreans seems more like a cheap plot excuse because Elizabeth Banks was off shooting movies most of the season than an organic story development. Avery’s disappearance gets muddied up by the appearance of Avery’s mother, played by Mary Steenburgen, which becomes a convoluted romance for Jack. Similarly, to give Kenneth any purpose at all, he is given a nemesis for the season in the form of Hazel, who takes over as head page when Kenneth moves to Standards and Practices temporarily.

And for as wacky as the plots sound, they are not backed up with significant humor and 30 Rock Season 6 sinks some. It falls even farther when, late in the season, 30 Rock is preempted by another witless episode of Queen Of Jordan the “reality” show featuring Tracy’s wife. It was no surprise when the producers admitted shooting the Queen Of Jordan episode was a costcutting measure. Were it not for my emotional investment in the show already and the declaration that season seven will be the final season of 30 Rock, Season 6 would probably have been enough for me to give up on the show.

In its sixth season, 30 Rock finds Liz in a relationship with Criss, who runs a hot dog truck. Jenna moonlights on a talent show where she is a mean judge, specializing in brutal critiques of children who appear on the show. Tracy goes on a rampage when Liz insults idiots, mounting a pro-idiot protest of NBC. Kelsey Grammar returns to work a scam with Jenna and Kenneth that involves making it look like Pete died in an act of autoerotic asphyxiation. As Jack works to get Avery back from North Korea, he finds himself desperately attracted to Avery’s mother, a problem which continues to grow the longer Avery is incarcerated.

On Leap Day, the cast tries to get into the spirit of using the extra day they are granted, while mirroring a movie about Leap Day. Jack goes up against Hank Hooper’s granddaughter again and Kenneth joins Standards and Practices. Kenneth fights with the new page, Hazel, who Liz tries to mentor. Jenna fights to get the role of Avery in a television movie based upon her abduction, which is part of Jack’s strategy to get Avery back.

The sixth season of 30 Rock finds the actors working well within their established roles. None of the performance change beyond where the actors have played the characters before. 30 Rock Season Six is notable on the acting front for how it became more dependent upon guest stars. Criss is played by James Marsden, but there are several one-shot guest stars also more familiar from films than television. In this season, Jim Carrey, Andie McDowell, John Cullum, Mary Steenburgen, and Elizabeth Banks all pop up.

Ultimately, the sixth season of 30 Rock is more average than audacious, putting it well-below the prior seasons.

For other shows from the 2011 – 2012 television season, please check out:
The Big Bang Theory - Season 5
Happy Endings - Season 2
New Girl - Season 1
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
Weeds - Season 7

5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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30 Rock Season 5 Is An Odd Mix Of Reinvention And Familiarity!

The Good: Some truly great lines, Very funny, Decent acting, Good DVD bonus features.
The Bad: Plots and character elements tend to be more familiar than audacious.
The Basics: 30 Rock has a somewhat tumultuous fifth season that works hard to restore the characters to pretty much who we know them to be.


I have been told that I am overly hard on 30 Rock. It has taken me quite a while to get in the fifth season DVD set of 30 Rock, but once I managed to get it in, I truly did rocket through the entire season. In its fifth season, 30 Rock struck me as a very odd conundrum. Characters that I liked before, I no longer care about (most notably Kenneth) and some of the funniest performers on the show seemed bored with the work themselves (Tracy Morgan seems “done” with Tracy Jordan for portions of the season and in the later arc where Jordan is off “in Africa,” I discovered I did not miss his presence). Conversely, I found myself quoting and sharing more lines from the fifth season of 30 Rock than I had shared from most of the prior seasons.

The result is that on DVD, the fifth season of 30 Rock is worthwhile and possibly more interesting to those who have had it with some of the prior seasons. 30 Rock sees both a continuation and a rebirth of the show, though the serialized elements ultimately work very hard to restore more familiar patterns for the characters, than actually allow them to grow. So, for example, it does not take long to restore Kenneth to the NBC Page Program or for Liz Lemon to find herself single, though Jack helps her get through some serious psychological issues that have been holding her relationships back.

In its fifth season, the fictionalized version of NBC on 30 Rock is in the process of being bought out by the family-friendly KableTown. This sets off a series of personal and professional crises for most of the members of the show T.G.S. With Tracy Jordan. In the fifth season of 30 Rock, the main arcs include: Liz and the pilot Carol having a relationship, Jack negotiating his new relationship with Avery whom he has gotten pregnant, Kenneth working his way back into the NBC Page Program, and Tracy Jordan discovering life with actual critical acclaim when his film Hard To Watch makes him an Indie movie star.

The problem is, too many of the plot arcs get resolved easily and leave the characters essentially lost. For example, Kenneth makes it back into the NBC Page Program and after that is a virtual nonentity for the remainder of the season. In fact, between Kenneth acting as a sidekick to Jenna when she grifts the local Carvel and him acting as a sidekick to Liz Lemon to try to find Tracy at the end of the season, it is virtually impossible to recall anything Kenneth does in the fifth season of 30 Rock. He references Hill People attacks and that’s a joke that has been done to death on the show by now.

In a similar fashion, Liz Lemon’s relationship with Carol predictably deteriorates. This seems far more a function of plot than actual character. In addition to having a great sense of compatibility, while Liz is dating Carol, Jack helps her discover the root causes of some of her most severe dysfunctions, most significantly, the root cause of her distaste for sexuality. So, when the relationship collapses, it feels much more like the function of having brought on a guest star for whom television is not where he wants to be (in this case, Matt Damon) and the need to get Liz back to a single status. As a viewer who actually cares about the characters, this becomes incredibly disheartening to watch.

In a similar way, Jack’s relationship with Avery has remarkably few consequences for the character. Jack has one issue with negotiating with the nanny, but the presence of Liddy in his life does not really impact him otherwise. Some of Jack’s most time-consuming issues actually come up after Liddy is born and Jack and Avery are married, like the pre-taped Disaster Relief Special and the massive contrivance he orchestrates to get Liz to have a one night stand! So, the characters in 30 Rock Season 5 tend to be changing back to the familiar, far more than growing this season.

Many of the secondary characters in the fifth season of 30 Rock feel truly secondary. The only memorable contribution Cerie has in the entire season is mentioning to Liz how she gets rid of creepy men at nightclubs! “Toofer” might get a first and last name, but his peak is early as part of a conflict Jack Donaghy has with a Congresswoman who is fighting the KableTown merger. Even Frank is given astonishingly little.

That said, 30 Rock Season 5 uses Scott Adsit pretty well. As Pete Hornberger, the beleaguered producer on T.G.S, Adsit is able to portray a much more quiet zany quality than Tracy Morgan’s Tracy Jordan. Adsit plays Pete as earnest and gets away with some of the creepiest lines of the series in season five simply through the remarkably way he presents them.

But not all of the attempts that 30 Rock makes in its fifth season actually work. Sure, the live episode (and the DVD features both the East and West Coast versions of the episode that originally aired live on NBC) is clever and fun, but after Tracy Jordan disappears, his wife Angie gets her own reality television show. A whole episode of 30 Rock is mired in presenting the Queen Of Jordan reality show and it just falls flat.

On DVD, 30 Rock season five is loaded with a decent number of bonus features. In addition to the West Coast Version of “Live Show,” the fifth season DVD set of 30 Rock has decent commentary tracks, deleted scenes, a featurette on the making of “Live Show,” a standalone version of Jenna’s obituary song and the animated Jack Donaghy spots. These add up to enough value to make it worth picking up the boxed set, as opposed to just waiting for these 22 episodes to hit regular rounds in syndication.

For other seasons of 30 Rock, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4

7/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the television shows I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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No DVD Bonus Features, Still Ally McBeal Season Two Is The Peak Of The Series!

The Good: Funny, Clever, Excellent character development, Good cases, Compact packaging.
The Bad: No DVD bonus features.
The Basics: A perfect season of television, Ally McBeal Season Two on DVD lacks flash, but succeeds with character.


Some seasons of television are so good that when they are released on DVD, we pick them up and celebrate regardless of the fact that the DVD presentation is sadly lackluster. When Ally McBeal “The Complete Series” (reviewed here!) was released in time for Christmas a few years back, many people who know me were surprised by how I did not ultimately recommend the massive boxed set. The reason for that was simple: the show had two great seasons, a season that was good, and a shaky first year and a completely abysmal final season. The show self-destructed, imploded and did other similar clichés of collapse. But, with Ally McBeal Season Two which was released separately on DVD recently, David E. Kelley Productions has a real winner, even if the DVD presentation is nothing at all extraordinary.

Ally McBeal has been slow in arriving on DVD for a simple reason: the music. The show frequently featured Vonda Shepard performing cover versions of classic songs and while the series got clearances for the production of the episodes, they did not always get them for the video rights and securing them at a reasonable price, along with clearances from musical artists who appeared on the show, like Barry White and Al Green, have taken quite a bit of time and finagling. The result, though, is that Ally McBeal Season Two has arrived on DVD with all of its original music intact, where it belongs, with nothing added or removed. Unfortunately, there are also no bonus features for fans of the show to get excited about. At least the set does not take up much space on the shelf and does not cost all that much.

In the second season of Ally McBeal, Ally continues therapy and trying controversial cases as an associate at Cage & Fish law firm in Boston. Working alongside the love of her life, Billy, becomes somewhat easier when the firm is distracted by the arrival of new lawyers Nelle Porter and Ling Woo. Interoffice romance flies as Nelle and Cage hit it off and Richard Fish and Ling find themselves interested in one another. The office heats up when Billy finds himself jealous of Ally’s relationship with Dr. Butters after she goes through a string of bad dates. This threatens to tear apart Billy’s marriage to Georgia and the friendship Ally and Georgia had developed.

The trials this season tend to focus on the personal, as opposed to corporate or criminal law. So, for example, Cage takes a case involving a restaurant that serves horsemeat to its clients without their express knowledge and Ally tries to mediate between a priest and his choirgirl mistress. The cases range from the bizarre – a man who chopped off his dead wife’s hand to keep with him after the fact – to the absurd – a sexual harassment case that comes from “day at the beach” casual Fridays and almost every one mirrors the current events in the relationships of people at the firm of Cage & Fish. As cases are won and lost by the firm, tensions mount outside the courtroom from the behaviors of the lawyers which are less than professional more often than not.

In its second season, Ally McBeal makes the successful transition from often-maudlin soap opera to genuine comedy. It is a comedy where the humor comes organically from the character dysfunctions and the verbal banter between the characters at the office and especially in the courtroom. The absurd characters who work at Cage & Fish are mirrored by equally strange clients who often have personality ticks of their own and make the cases interesting as well as overtly humorous. But beyond that, Ally McBeal succeeds in its second season because it is not mired in dated material (though there is a preoccupation with sexual harassment that was common in the 1990s and more than one Bill Clinton joke) and because the characters actually progress.

As a result, the second season actually feels different from the first and viewers are not trapped either in the constant melodrama of Ally’s romantic attraction to the unattainable Billy or the simple preoccupation with c.g. special effects for Ally’s flights of fantasy. This was the season where the show seemed to finally get that virtually every character at Cage & Fish was more interesting than the title character. So, just as for many, the highlight of Frasier (reviewed here!) was arguably the Niles and Daphne relationship, in the second season of Ally McBeal, Cage, Fish, Nelle, Elaine and even Ling begin to rule and Billy and Georgia only pick up episodes as the season progresses and the writers seem to realize they have largely been left behind.

As with all great television, Ally McBeal is primarily character-driven. So, while each episode sees a new court case and a parade of guest characters who come through the firm, the heart of the show is with the emotional struggles of the characters. In this season, the primary characters are:

Ally McBeal – An associate lawyer at Cage & Fish, she has realized that things with Billy are likely never to be more than friendly and has begun dating a lot of people. After a string of bad dates and inappropriate attractions (like to a minor who the firm is representing), Ally finds herself attracted to Dr. Butters. Things with Butters go very well until Billy becomes jealous and Ally and Billy have a near-miss on an affair, which forces Ally to continue looking for a partner again,

Billy Thomas – Working alongside his wife, Georgia, and Ally has become less traumatic as the three have become friends and have a repartee which has developed. But seeing Ally with Butters stirs up his old feelings for her and threatens his marriage, prompting him to make a decision on what direction he wants his life and marriage to take,

Georgia Thomas – Begins to feel like a tool for becoming Ally’s friend when Ally betrays her by kissing Billy. Still, she is professional most of the time and sides with Ally in instantly hating Nelle when she appears,

Richard Fish – Eager to make more money than ever, he hires Nelle and later Ling in an attempt to boost profits. Callous and generally happy to play the field, he finds himself drawn to Ling and eager to pursue a relationship with her,

Renee – Ally’s roommate, she often acts as a prosecutor in cases Cage & Fish are representing. She becomes flirtatious with Butters, much to Ally’s annoyance,

Elaine Vassal – The firm’s legal assistant, her hopes for love with a magazine writer/editor named George are dashed when he appears attracted to Ally. She adapts by developing the “face bra” to prevent face sagging and she struggles to market it most of the season,

Nelle Porter – A blonde rainmaker whose presence immediately threatens most of the women at Cage & Fish, she is strong, efficient, legally brilliant and emotionally cold. When John Cage finds himself “drawn to her,” she begins to reciprocate in the most unlikely pairing imaginable,

Ling Woo – Nelle’s best friend, she leaves her promotional jobs to practice law again at Cage & Fish. She is put off by Cage, but finds herself attracted to Fish, despite his weird advances. She, too, is legally brilliant, but largely unliked at the office,

Vonda – She plays music at the club in the downstairs of the building Cage & Fish’s offices are in,

And John Cage – the heart of Cage & Fish, he is a brilliant lawyer, but is very eccentric. As a result, he stutters, is easily flustered and takes up such hobbies as raising a frog for competitive leaping. He is deeply emotive, but often alone. He is Ally’s most trusted confidant outside Renee and is invaluable to her as he shares her lack of touch with reality. As he approaches thirty-five, he finds himself attracted to Nelle and is surprised when she seems to reciprocate his feelings.

In the second season, Ally McBeal does not rely on gimmicks like guest stars who are highlighted or crossovers with The Practice to drive ratings up or bring attention to the show. As a result, this becomes a wonderful character study of some very lovable, very weird lawyers plying their craft and keeping equally eccentric people out of jail.

On DVD, there are no bonus features, so this boxed set offers viewers nothing they wouldn’t get from the syndicated versions of the episodes. But, at least they can watch the episodes unedited, in full, anytime they want. It is rare that the programming is so good to warrant a perfect rating for a DVD collection based on the original programming content alone, but Ally McBeal Season two works. It stands up, even years later and watching it on DVD reminded me why I watched the show and how much I missed it when it was good.

For other works featuring Greg Germann, please check out my reviews of:
Bolt
Quarantine

10/10

For other television reviews, be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the shows I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Opening A Series With Mixed Promise: Ally McBeal Arrives On DVD With "Complete First Season!"

The Good: Moments of humor, Level of dialogue, Moments of acting
The Bad: Some terrible performances/plots, Lack of DVD bonus features, Takes a while to get going.
The Basics: A decent program, Ally McBeal's first season arrives on DVD with no bonus features, making it a tough sell for the repetitive and melodramatic nature of the stories.


Many, many people have been waiting for David E. Kelley productions like Picket Fences, Boston Public, and The Practice to make their way to DVD. Indeed, one of the most anticipated releases of 2009 was Kelley's Ally McBeal which has finally hit DVD as both "The Complete Series" (reviewed here!) and individual seasons. Concurrent with the "Complete Series" release was Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season, a six-disc set featuring all 22 episodes of the first season of the show. For those who have not seen the series, Ally McBeal employs a rich collection of music, usually covered by singer Vonda Shepard and getting the legal clearances (affordably) for the DVD releases has been a real hassle.

Now that it has hit DVD, I find myself considering Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season with a sense of indifference I was not sure I had ever felt for the series. In fact, it wasn't until I went back to the reviews I wrote for my college newspaper when Ally McBeal premiered in 1997 that I recalled I had not always been a devoted fan of the series. Truth-be-told, Ally McBeal has a very rocky first season and as a result, it is very easy to dismiss it. David E. Kelley created the melodramatic legal soap opera, gave actress Calista Flockhart her shot and even that team could not guarantee a winner.

The thing is, Ally McBeal is a legal dramady (or dramedy, the correct spelling has not actually been canonized yet) and some of it is entirely hit-or-miss. The show deserves a lot of credit for assembling a weird, eclectic cast of characters and putting them in situations that are personally difficult and professionally awkward, but sometimes the intent does not mean success with the execution. As a result, many of the dramatic moments in Ally McBeal The Complete First Season feel like melodrama or are spoiled by moments of comedy. And some of the moments that could be most comedically valuable, viewers will find are actually traumatically sad on the field of human drama (in other words, they are funny until the moment one thinks about them, then they become horrified they laughed at them).

For those unfamiliar with it, the idea behind Ally McBeal is a rare legal comedy, much like David E. Kelley's Boston Legal (reviewed here!). Written with a strong female protagonist (the title character), Ally McBeal is the story of a lawyer who gets fired from one firm, hired to the craziest firm in Boston and struggles while there to keep her hands off the love of her life.

In the first season of Ally McBeal, Ally is fired from her law firm when she alleges sexual harassment against one of the partners there (he grabs her butt). On her way out, she runs into her Harvard Law classmate Richard Fish, who is an unscrupulous man who is only into law for the money. Fish offers Ally a position at his firm, Cage & Fish, where Ally runs into the love of her life, Billy, and his wife, Georgia. As Ally reels from the idea of working alongside her true love, John Cage returns from a business trip the subject of a lawsuit which Ally must represent him on.

As Ally struggles to keep her hands off Billy, she begins trying cases at Cage & Fish that make her known around the Boston legal community. She starts dating, even finding a doctor she likes quite a bit before becoming even more trouble for Billy and Georgia. While she tries to not be a homewrecker (in the process getting into kickboxing with Georgia), she takes on therapy from an unconventional therapist who challenges her to find a theme song for her life and struggles with hallucinations. Cage & Fish see a lot of money come into the firm from cases like two people who want to swap hearts but cannot legally do so, a case involving three people who want to be legally considered married and a sexual harassment case from one of their own!

The cases tend to be more social and civil in subject (The Practice was concerned with the criminal cases at the same time on competing ABC) and many of the cases either mirror relationship issues between Ally or other principle characters or set characters at one another. For example, Renee - Ally's roommate and best friend - goes up against John Cage a couple of time and Ally and Renee square off in "Happy Birthday, Baby." But cases like the one in "Forbidden Fruits," which mirror the Ally/Billy/Georgia love triangle, are the more common ones.

The primary characters in the first season of Ally McBeal - which is arguably character-driven - are:

Ally McBeal - A twenty-eight (she turns twenty-nine in one of the later episodes of the season) year-old lawyer, she is ethical and somewhat flighty, but essentially a good person. As a child, she and Billy smelled each other's butts (like dogs do) and fell in love with him. Hired at Cage & Fish, she puts up with absurdities from her co-workers and begins hallucinating (a dancing baby being one of her most common hallucinations) and she tries such things as telling a dirty joke on stage to upstage Renee. She lives with Renee and tries dating Dr. Butters, but discovers her heart is very much tied to Billy,

Billy - A competent lawyer who is married to Georgia, he is torn between his affection for Ally and his love for his wife. In fact, when he sees Ally kiss another man, he becomes jealous based more on his memories than his current desires. He is an articulate litigator who wants bigger cases than he often has a chance for at the firm,

Georgia - Billy's wife, she is catty and direct in not appreciating Ally's position at Cage & Fish. She asks Ally to leave and is stymied when Ally stays with the firm and often confesses problems to him. She wants to start a family with Billy and advance in Cage & Fish. She gets into a physical fight with Ally after both start kickboxing,

Renee - Ally's roommate, she worries Ally might be coming unhinged. Knowing Ally is hallucinating, she tries to help her friend. Attracted to Dr. Butters, she is sexually aggressive and even flirts with John Cage a time or two. She sings downstairs at the club sometimes while hanging out with her friends from Cage & Fish,

Elaine - The firm's secretary, she dresses provocatively and Ally feels somewhat threatened by her. She gets depressed around the holidays and when her outfits lead her to be viewed in a less-professional manner, she sues the firm for sexual harassment,

Richard Fish - One of the two senior partners at the firm, he is unscrupulous and out for money only. He has an on-again, off-again relationship with Judge Whipper Cone, whom he loves for her waddle (the fleshy part of the throat). He speaks quickly and tries to move things along with curt, unfeeling, apologies ("Bygones") and he tends to be quite base with trying to meet his needs,

And John Cage - The other senior partner, he enters the series in disgrace, stuttering through accusations of sexual misconduct. He is a basketcase who is also legally brilliant and actually wants to help people. He begins smile therapy (smiling even through things that frustrate him in order to try to feel better), stutters frequently and is drawn to Ally. When it becomes clear that Ally will not reciprocate his feelings, he becomes her good friend and confidant. As the season progresses, he becomes more confident and actually tries to talk with Ally about her feelings for Billy. He is the heart and soul of Cage & Fish.

Ally McBeal is problematic because in the first season, the initial character aspects are more often repeated than developed beyond. As a result, Ally and Billy have a terribly melodramatic relationship and Georgia's part in the weird triangle is more often repetitive and simple than an actual challenge to either of them. As well, both Ally and Billy are played by performers (Calista Flockhart and Gil Bellows, respectively) who have often lacking sexual chemistry on screen. While the directors try hard, Bellows is frequently stiff (not in the idea way for a romantic story, either) and Flockhart seems to have a particularly difficult time of establishing the character. While other dramadies mix the comedy and drama well, Ally McBeal mixes it poorly. Flockhart is partially to blame for this in that her idea of acting dramatically at many points in this first season consists of her staring blankly and wide-eyed forward like a deer in the headlights (still not sure what the emotion is supposed to be most of the time . . .).

On the flip side, Peter MacNichol is absolutely brilliant as John Cage. MacNichol is completely convincing in his stuttering and frustrated body language. He has an amazing sense of comic timing (his part in "Boy To The World," where Fish is arguing to have a relative who hated shorter people eulogized at the family church where he despised the short people, is hilarious) and he times every joke perfectly. As well, he is convincingly brilliant and his closings are frequently stirring and absolutely worth watching multiple times.

On DVD, Ally McBeal The Complete First Season comes with no bonus features. There is nothing extra for the fans in this set and it is a tough sell on this set as opposed to watching it in syndication.

The first season of Ally McBeal belabors the Billy/Ally relationship and while the cases are funny, the show is a more mediocre than extraordinary first season. The show has some (rightful) distinction in this first season for the frankness of the sexual dialogue and it is a rare comedy that used CG special effects. But in the end, it is hardly enough to recommend it. This is thoroughly average and all of the essential points are repeated in subsequent (better) seasons.

For other courtrooms on television, check out my reviews of:
“Tribunal”
“Measure Of A Man”
“Court-Martial”

5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the television programs and episodes I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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