Why I Already Love “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”

Netflix is doing it right (that includes tapping Tina Fey, and women)

Netflix just dropped the trailer for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and it’s everything a trailer should be — sets up backstory, character, and a central conflict that makes you want to see more. This is a classic fish-out-of-water story with unbelievable comedic potential, especially in the hands of 30 Rock’s Tina Fey & Robert Carlock (you obviously know about Fey, but Carlock was showrunner on 30 Rock and in addition to also writing for Friends was a former SNL writer who wrote the “Delicious Dish” Schweddy Balls sketch). This trailer has the joke-packed rhythm of 30 Rock with the sunshiney feel of Kenneth packaged in the truly delightful Ellie Kemper. I dare you to resist the charm and sweetness of this trailer:

This is one of the best fish-out-of-water concepts I can remember seeing — wide-eyed girl from a doomsday cult underground for 15 years is rescued and plopped in New York to figure out life in the big city (it makes me think of Coming To America and that Brendan Fraser movie about a family stuck in a bomb shelter — aha, Blast From The Past — with a dash of a much-hipper Pleasantville and a much girlier Hot Tub Time Machine).

I mentioned Kenneth above but even before listing all those movies — all centered around the coming-of-age experience of men and boys — I couldn’t help but think of how happy I was that this comedy will be centered around a female character. Imagining this concept — a GREAT concept — in the hands of say, Chuck Lorre or Lee Aronsohn feels predictable and one shade away from another inexplicable Jay Baruchel vehicle. In the hands of the über-sharp Fey and Carlock, Kimmy Schmidt is clearly packed with sly gender-skewing humor like Kimmy’s awesome comeback to street harrassment and Jane Krakowski’s sendup of a privileged spoiled mom. (And notice the chyron on the fake news report of the rescue at the very beginning — Hed: “WHITE WOMEN FOUND” Subhed: “Hispanic woman also found.” God is in the details.)

The trailer for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt reminded me of The Mindy Project more than anything in its bright colors, romcom topnotes and the clueless optimism of its main character. Ironically, when I first watched The Mindy Project it reminded me of the then-recently-dearly-departed 30 Rock for its barbed pop-culture takedowns and sheer joke density. Kimmy Schmidt clearly has both and there is extra room for trenchant hilarity and tart observation because television comedy is still much more likely to be centered on the male experience. (And yes, we’re in a Golden Age of Television For Strong And Powerful Ladies, I know, but for every Leslie Knope there’s a Sheldon or Leonard from The Big Bang Theory and a Mulaney from Mulaney.)

Also, can I say how fantastic it is to see the reliably-supporting Ellie Kemper in a starring vehicle? Erin on The Office was charming but one-note and Kimmy Schmidt looks like it will really unleash her across the board. Perhaps symbolic of that is her natural red hair, freed from the drab dye job imposed by The Office. Again, God is in the details.

And wow are there lots of details about women still to be mined. (As my mind wanders, I can’t help but wonder what four women did every month for fifteen years when their periods came around. Probably at the same time, given how cycles sync.) A Jay Baruchel project would never offer reason to think about that. That will probably never be a plot point in Kimmy Schmidt, but the point is that it could be. Because where there are different stories, there are different possibilities. And oh hi, women, there’s still lots of room for yours.

And can we talk for a second about how smart Netflix is to get that? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pick up anything from Tina Fey, but they’ve also bet on Chelsea Handler (that is to say, they’ve bet on Chelsea Handler doing whatever next-gen Chelsea Handler is going to be rather than nervously expecting her to hew to type). Obviously their pioneering of Orange Is The New Black was huge for woman-centered stories in TV and they’ve gotten their own memo (so did Amazon, which surely heeded OITNB in order to greenlight Transparent). Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos has said he wants to launch 20 scripted series per year. He will be very, very smart if he keeps making bets on stories like Kimmy Schmidt’s.

And betting on women! One more thing I’d bet we can expect from Kimmy Schmidt: amazing cameos. Early watchers of NYC comedy recognized a whole bunch of UCB players in the mix on 30 Rock, plus SNL stalwarts from over the years. This was not a coincidence, this was Tina Fey essentially creating a new comedy farm team and tapping her trusted network for talent. (By the way, on the UCB farm-team side, Amy Poehler is an inextricable part — Amy as a UCB founder brought in all her SNL cohorts including Tina, whom I recall seeing frequently at ASSSCAT shows in the early 00's along with the then-mostly-unknown Jack McBrayer, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel, Rob Riggle, and also where I once met a then-unknown Ellie Kemper, with much redder hair.) I’m going to generalize here about women and networks, but, well, women tend to have awesome networks — often including fantastic women who are maybe more unsung than their male counterparts (cf. comments here from Jamie Denbo). Think about how Shonda Rhimes shows use the same players again and again, or how a given Jill Soloway project will inevitably include Michaela Watkins. Women-driven projects are a talent bonanza waiting to happen — and I, for one, can’t wait for it to happen.

I mentioned Lee Aronsohn above. Do you need reminding who Lee Aronsohn is? He’s the co-creator of Two And A Half Men who complained that TV had hit “peak vagina.” Kimmy Schmidt shows just how welcome more vagina will be to the male-centered TV experience. I say bring it all — vagina, vulva, labia, cervix, uterus, clitoris and then some. God is in the details.

Rachel Sklar is a writer, entrepreneur and TV aficionado living in New York. She’s excited for more vagina.

“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” debuts on Netflix on Friday, March 6, 2015.