This series first premiered in 2015. It ran for four seasons. For each season, it was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmys. It was the second comedy series from Netflix to be nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series after
Orange is the New Black. It never won, but its creators, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock have won the top prize three times before for their previous series
30 Rock. The series joined the likes of comedies such as
Orange is the New Black, which is about prison inmates, some convicted of murder, and
Nurse Jackie, which is about a drug-addicted, hospital worker. The series joined them in that it too has a rather dark premise. The series is about a young woman who is kidnapped and held hostage underground for the sexual gratification of a cult-like predator. The series treated this dark premise with a wackiness and an over-the-top style of humor that makes it all palatable. The show, however, came under criticism for its racial depictions and other stereotypes, including some depictions and jokes against Asian men.
Ellie Kemper (
The Office) stars as Kimmy Schmidt, the young woman from Indiana who gets kidnapped and held hostage underground with a bunch of other women. When she's rescued, she and the other hostages are labeled the "Mole Women." In order to avoid the media coverage, she moves to New York City to start over and start a new life. She ends up moving into a crappy apartment with a black, gay roommate and a curmudgeon landlady. She goes to work for a gold-digging socialite whom she ends up befriending. The show follows her as she tries to figure out who she is in the wake of what happened to her, while also trying to help others as best she can. All the while, she maintains an upbeat and positive attitude that can't be shaken.
Tituss Burgess co-stars as Titus Andromedon, the black, gay roommate who is loud and over-the-top. He's an aspiring Broadway star. He sings and acts. His singing is amazing but his acting isn't that great. He's vain, narcissistic, selfish, dismissive and in general a rude person. A lot of it is a supreme overreaction to the way he was treated and the homophobia he faced from his family and hometown. He manages to meet and fall in love with a guido named Mikey Politano, played by Mike Carlsen. Mikey is a bit of an idiot but he's very loveable, and watching Titus tie himself in knots to be with Mikey but also to be a better person for Mikey is Titus' arc.
Jane Krakowski (
30 Rock and
Ally McBeal) also stars as Jacqueline White, a New York socialite. She's a bit of a snob. Like Kimmy and Titus, she came from humble means. She moved to Manhattan, also to start over and start anew, and she did. She married a wealthy man and basically became a kept woman. After her marriage fell apart, she too has to find out a path for herself, re-imagine her relationships and possibly find a career for herself, as well as not be such a snotty person.
Carol Kane (
Gotham and
Taxi) also co-stars as Lillian Kaushtupper, the curmudgeon landlady. She runs a crappy apartment building. It's rundown, dirty and has a lot of problems, but she doesn't want things to change. Others come along wanting to improve the area or neighborhood and basically gentrify the place, but she refuses to let it happen. She's also critical of the younger generation, specifically the millennials. She says things that would make millennials squirm, things that are racist, sexist and bigoted in a lot of ways. She's absolutely adorable though.
The fourth season is the final season. It's twelve episodes that were split in half. Netflix normally releases all the episodes of a season all at once. The fourth season though had its first six episodes released in May of least year, presumably to be eligible for last year's Emmys. The final six episodes were released at the end of January to be eligible for this year's Emmys. Hopefully, it will be nominated again because the humor and the jokes are still hilarious and layered and nonstop. The comedic energy in this series is still extremely high where we're bombarded with jokes. There's never a slow or dull moment.
The final episode wraps up some of the storylines that began this season. It seems to be that the writers knew that this was going to be the end, but there is a rather abruptness to that end. Even going into the final episode, it feels like the series could have continued with one more season. There are some issues that still feel somewhat unresolved, but the show comes up with a positive conclusion that basically jumps over those unresolved issues. There are several scenes or beats that feel like they were skipped or ignored in order to race to a happy ending, but it's still funny and enjoyable. I appreciated the silliness and the gags that propelled it. I laughed more at this series than most comedies.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 30 mins.
Available on Netflix.
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