'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' : Why You Need to Watch Netflix's Newest Comedy

Published on March 5, 2015 02:05 PM

What’s another weekend eaten up by a Netflix binge? Your laundry can wait.

The streaming service’s newest offering, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, is a comedy created by 30 Rock‘s Tina Fey and Robert Carlock – and it’s about to become your new favorite thing.

Kimmy Schmidt was first given a straight-to-series order by NBC, and we have to wonder why they would have sold the show to Netflix when it is actual solid gold. However, their loss is our binge-watching gain. Here are some reasons you need to tune in.

It’s Time for Ellie Kemper to Have a Starring Role

Kemper (The Office) is perfect in the title role as a woman from an underground doomsday cult who gets rescued and decides to move to New York to start a new life in the most cynical city she could have chosen. Kemper has certainly found her niche as an actress – she does quirky innocence well. However, her portrayal is not saccharine or one-note.

Charmingly overwhelmed by everything from the big (Times Square) to the small (her own bedroom with its own door), Kimmy is naïve but not stupid. Her wide-eyed innocence coupled with an “unbreakable” will to survive make her a heroine you can root for when the perils and pitfalls part and parcel of any big city eventually come knocking at her door.

Jane Krakowski Is Incredible All the Time, Always

We mean this in the most loving way possible: Krakowski‘s Jacqueline Voorhees is nearly indistinguishable from her role as Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock. So wealthy that she’s totally disengaged from reality, Jacqueline hires Kimmy as a nanny to her two stepchildren. Of course, like Jenna, her flashiness is rooted in an inherent insecurity that keeps her from being totally unable to relate to the viewer and to Kimmy. Here’s hoping Krakowski finally gets that Emmy she so richly deserves!

It’s Cleverly Funny

The show is hilarious, obviously, but it’s clever, too – it doesn’t take potshots at Kimmy, whereas another show might have written her as a simple, know-nothing hick from Indiana. She’s not a stereotype, but a fully realized person who just happens to get really excited in candy stores. She understands things – she knows that “dancing is about butts now!” Kimmy Schmidt is full of characters, caricatures even, but we’re laughing with them and not at them.

If you’re a fan of 30 Rock, the jokes and beats in Kimmy Schmidt are almost soothing in their familiarity. However, Netflix can get away with a little more than NBC can. Just that little bit edgier, Fey’s latest and greatest offering is exactly what we need as we gleefully await her total world domination.

Unbreakably Kimmy Schmidt premieres Friday at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix.