Replace the white noise with eerie silence and this is, more or less, the premise of “Last Man on Earth,” which begins in the aftermath of a viral plague that’s brought the human race to the brink of extinction. But they smile through it anyway, survivors both. “You can die at any time!”) “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” cannily acknowledges that we’re cogs in a merciless universe, and then transforms this bleak notion into the comic existentialism of another old adage, “keep on keepin’ on.” The series premiere ends with Kimmy and Titus performing “Circle of Life” in Times Square, nearly drowned out by sirens, jackhammers, car horns, and murmuring tourists, the buzz of a city that pays them no mind. The result is delirious post-modern screwball with a deep vein of grief, never less than joyous and yet always aware, as Kimmy says near the end of the first episode, that “life beats you up.” (“Titus, age doesn’t matter,” Kimmy reassures him to this end. Her roommate, Titus (Tituss Burgess), a gay black man with dreams of stardom, stumbles again and again into the indignities of showbiz, but dusts himself off to create a triumphantly campy music video for his song, “Pinot Noir.” Jane Krakowski appears as Kimmy’s employer, Jacqueline Voorhees, turning up the volume on her vain, status-obsessed “30 Rock” character, Jenna Maroney Carol Kane rummages through every register of her gravelly/squeaky voice to play the hardened eccentricities of Kimmy’s landlord, Lillian. The former, anchored by Kemper’s goofball charm, motors along with the same exaggerated inflection as peak “30 Rock”-I dare you not to binge on all 13 episodes at once-following not only Kimmy’s re-entry into society but also a supporting cast of lovable losers. Bright, zippy, absolutely hilarious depictions of loneliness, human frailty, and abject failure, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Last Man on Earth” are the perfect comedies for this anxious age. Repurposing stories all too familiar from young adult literature and the nightly news, both series find silver linings in every cloud, and yet retain the bracing conviction that laughter is our sole weapon against an impossibly cruel world. Like Phil ( Will Forte) and Carol (Kristen Schaal), the protagonists of FOX’s inventive, post-apocalyptic “Last Man on Earth,” Kimmy embodies the old adage that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. Margaret Brown on the Politics of Telling Stories in 'Descendant'įrom 'Reality Bites' to 'Fatal Attraction,' Keep Track of All the Upcoming Film-to-TV Adaptations After 'The Patient,' Let's Give Steve Carell an Award Already
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |