Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
For seven glorious seasons, 30 Rock was a treasure trove of in-jokes, call-backs and clever quips for fans of irreverent comedy. Critically acclaimed with inexplicably tepid viewing figures throughout its run, its continued survival at NBC was nothing short of a miracle, and one that its cult following was grateful for. With Tina Fey and Robert Carlock at the helm and talents like Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, and Tracy Morgan on board—not to mention a pretty stellar writing team comprised of industry stalwarts and graduates of the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York—30 Rock was fast-paced, clever, and downright hilarious. When it ended in 2013, it left behind a void one imagined would be pretty hard if not impossible to fill—that is, until Fey returned with the Netflix Original series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in 2015.
The new series cast Bridesmaids and The Office star Ellie Kemper in the lead role and introduced the hilarious and extremely musical Tituss Burgess as Kimmy’s roommate, Titus Andromedon. Jane Krakowski was invited back, much to the delight of 30 Rock fans, this time as socialite Jacqueline Voorhees—a character similar to Jenna Maroney in all the right ways. Legendary comedian Carol Kane rounded out the main cast, creating a core of intuitive comedians capable of bringing Fey and Carlock’s brand of hysterical absurdity to life. Unsurprisingly, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was an immediate hit with critics and Netflix subscribers alike—and I’d argue possibly more of a hit than 30 Rock ever had the chance to be.
While 30 Rock was beholden to the restrictions of primetime TV on a major network, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has the blissful freedom to experiment, to go a bit more all-out in its defiance of conventional comedy—and the risks it’s taken have paid off bigtime. On Netflix, camp and niche humor are not only welcome, they’re expected, understood, and appreciated the way broadcast TV never really manages to do. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has all of the above in spades, and the freedom it’s been given to explore these qualities has allowed it to flourish into one of the smartest, funniest shows around.
30 Rock was also hyper-topical and jammed more jokes in a minute than you’d think humanly possible, but Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt takes that approach and ups the ante by making the jokes the entire show. The characters border on caricature, such is their ridiculousness, but they’re saved from becoming two-dimensional by the natural charm displayed by Kemper, Burgess, et al. Individually, they give their roles a humanity that keeps them partially grounded and relatable despite their rather unconventional lives. Nevertheless, there are rarely more than a few lines of dialogue without a pun or quip, many so cleverly written that you don’t notice them until subsequent viewings.
While the show does face a few considerable challenges—namely, determining how far a show that relies on a lack of measured character growth can ultimately go—Fey and Co. seem aware of its limitations and willfully ignores them, much to its credit. By refusing to get too caught up in the trappings of some of its traditional comedy contemporaries, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is free to explore more playful territory and just have fun. It’s a feeling that resonates throughout all three seasons but is particularly evident in Season 3, where Titus “Lemonades” after he suspects his boyfriend Mikey is cheating on him, Maya Rudolph stars as Dionne Warwick starring in a cruise ship production of Mahogany, and Jacqueline has a Ghost-inspired scene with her fiance’s dead grandmother, “Mamaw”, as she makes their family recipe for some kind of corn pudding cake.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a show that has gone seamlessly from strength to strength throughout its first three seasons, and its magic lies in its honest observations of the more ridiculous parts of the world around us. It dares viewers to think quick, be smart, and keep up with its frenetic pacing and train of thought and in return, it rewards us with one of the most genuinely funny shows out there right now. What more can we ask for?
Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.
