Another Period

I'm really enjoying this. It's dark champagne. It doesn't deserve comparison, but this is Julia Davis Lite, which works. It's reminiscent of Hunderby (a comedic satire of Jane Austen). Having a little of this with American nuance is exactly where I want to see things headed in Broadcast Comedy. If you like dark and irreverent British comedy, watch this.

Another Period is filled with fantastic guest stars to play against a very talented ensemble cast. It has consistent and funny writing, which I think will hold up to time. That's not easy with comedy. It's daring, satirical and driven by two very talented and funny women, whose comedy style is right up my alley. They are unforgiving, smart and fearless. I love that.

I really love the cast for this, most of them are returning from the less well known web series "burning love" which was a spoof of the bachelorette type shows, also very good if you like shows like this. This one so far is not quite as spot on with its critique of reality TV but promises even more surreal wackiness, more in the vein of NTSF:SD:SUV or Children's Hospital, much of which the cast are also involved in. So its no surprise that this is already batshit crazy and full of eccentricities, i basically just watch everything they make recently because its bound to be hilarious. I wish June Diane Raphael played the part of the bitchy older girl, and the crazy blond one is a crackup but other than that the supporting cast are definitely a show stealer. David Wain is once again killing it as a foppish not-so closet homosexual.

My favorite line so far is "your new name is chair". The persistent and creative abuse of their servants makes for delightful comedy. Indubitably.

Also, cocaine wine. Nuff said.

"Another Period" takes place in Newport in the early 1900s, centering around the obscenely rich Bellacourt family, in particular the sisters Lillian and Beatrice who desperately want to become famous - it is basically a reality TV show set in a time in which being famous was much more difficult. Shot in mockumentary style, the series makes fun of both contemporary reality TV stars as well as the realities of early 20th century and the way these are usually portrayed in dramas.

While the show centers around Beatrice and Lillian, there is an ensemble cast consisting of both the self-centered Bellacourts and their subjugated servants, who have, in large parts, painfully internalized their subservient status. The characters are all funny in their own way, and the actors do a great job. Standing out for me are Paget Brewster as the morphine-addled mother Dodo and Michael Ian Black as the butler Mr. Peepers who are just so hilarious.

The characters are mostly terrible - which makes it so funny. It is just so much fun seeing those terrible people being stupid and tripping over their own feet. The humour is generally pitch-black and often reveals the terrible social conditions of women, the poor, and colored people of the time. The jokes deal with subject matters like rape, misogyny, racism, abuse. If you're a fan of black humour you will find this series hilarious, if not the show is probably not for you.

"Another Period" is a strange reality show-like creation for The Comedy Channel. And, while I really enjoy it, I think it's a hard sell for its audience...which surprises me since normally developing a large audience is a must for television shows. The only way it would make sense is that someone in charge there loves the show and doesn't mind that it isn't all that popular. Considering they also make "Drunk History", this would make sense.

As for the show, it's a faux reality show that follows the most worthless mega-rich family of the Edwardian era...the Bellacourts. They are the embodiment of everything rotten in the worst of the worst wealthy plutocrats. Every vice, every possible instance of selfishness and every chance the show can take to expose them for the worthless human beings they are...that's pretty much the show. And, it does this with a nice attention to historical details...something that history lovers, like myself, can appreciate. Well worth seeing and there is certainly nothing like it.

FYI--The show is EXTREMELY adult at times. Many crude moments...too many for the kids.

I was expecting this to be Drunken History, which to me is a one- joke show. (We get it. You're drunk.) No offense to Drunken History fans.

Instead, it's apparently a spoof on Downton Abbey, featuring the upstairs and downstairs characters, except that they're in Newport, RI, which is where Downton Abbey's Lady Cora comes from. Throw in a little 30 Rock (or lately The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) wacky, over-the- top characterizations, and Arrested Development in pacing and being completely skewed, and there you go!

It actually pulled some real and totally unexpected gut-busting laughs from me. Since it takes place in 1902, they're unapologetic in being completely, crassly, politically incorrect. Women are certainly not safe from the satire, depicted as Lillian and Beatrice. But they take shots at everything, without remorse. One of their first victims in the pilot is the deaf and blind Helen Keller, for instance. They then meander through appalling (and hilarious) pot shots at race, which at that time in our history included "the Irish." (I think you need to have a slightly sick sense of humor, actually.)

In addition, you have the pleasure of watching actors from The Office and Madmen, Jack Black, and any number of other familiar faces coming and going. It isn't a Tina Fey production, but it kind of has that feel to it, which is a high complement. I'm sure she somehow inspired it.

I think it's great!