Image Credit: Netflix
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, the Girls are back in town (and on tour). Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite
I’m not normally a fan of “if you like X, you’ll like Y” recommendations, because it makes me feel like an algorithm. Yet it feels appropriate to deploy it in the case of Girls5Eva, since this really is of a piece with the likes of 30 Rock andUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the latter of which being where creator/writer Meredith Scardino first worked with executive producers Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.
And this show also shares a very similar joke-heavy style, layering gags upon gags, while also finding an emotional core that works for the characters. Originally aired in the States on streaming service Peacock, it was summarily cancelled after two seasons, but now those two plus a brand new third season, are on Netflix, where they will hopefully enjoy a much wider audience and the acclaim they rightly deserve.
Because Girls5Eva is one of the funniest shows out there, a hidden gem among the crowded streaming world. The story of a late 1990s/early 2000s girl group who decide to reunite and try to recapture their (extremely fleeting) former success, it’s a hilarious and heartfelt story of ambition, desperation, parenting, diva behaviour and lesbianism.
The series is led by a supremely talented cast that includes singer/songwriter/actor Sarah Bareilles, comedy stalwarts Busy Phillips and Paula Pell (the latter a Saturday Night Live alumnus) and Hamilton original cast member and vocal superstar Renée Elise Goldsberry, who all bring something different to the table. Along with a superb writing staff, the cast are brilliantly matched (along with Ashley Park, who plays the deceased fifth member Ashley Gold). Around the core cast is a rotating troupe of comedy knockouts including Andrew Rannells, Dean Winters and Jeremiah Craft.
Tackling everything from creepy managers, the exploitative nature of the music (and general fame) industry, the madness of social media, strange European producers (allowing Scardino to have her old The Colbert Report boss, Stephen Colbert, pop in as a weird Swede), and much, much more.
For Season 3, the group is trying to capitalize on the (relative) success of their new album, heading out on tour without a clear idea of how to truly make that happen and, when we meet them, effectively parked in Fort Worth while they try to book other cities and venues.
You could technically start with the third season, but you won’t get the benefit of the various layers and accumulated history built into the show. Still, you will get inspired lines such as a British pop hunk being sold out by his therapist, who releases admissions including the fact that he has sex dreams about Slimer from Ghostbusters (a line that has lived rent free in my brain since I watched the episode).
And I urge you to give this one a shot, if only because I’d like more seasons of this inspired, ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining series.
Girls5Eva Season 3 is on Netflix now, which is also carrying the first two seasons. I’ve seen all six of the new episodes.