Netflix has saved and released a brand new season of Girls5Eva. This is a brilliantly silly comedy following a fictional 90's girl group that you need to watch.
In a rare case of Netflix saving a show from cancellation, they gave one of my favourite series a second chance at life, with both a streaming home and a bunch of new episodes, I promise that I had nothing to do with it, unless Netflix have been getting my letters.
If you just want the headline Girls5Eva season three is now out (in its entirety) on the streaming service and you need to watch it. Something of a spiritual successor to a pair of my favourite shows, 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I like to imagine them taking part in the same universe. There have been actors popping up in multiple, but the biggest crossover is the writing. Meredith Scardino is in charge here but she is reunited with the dream team of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock who serve as Producers and it has the same crazily high laughs per minute as both.
We follow the titular girl group Girls5Eva (because they are longer than forever) who now a four-piece and a couple of decades wiser, are on the comeback trail. They are comprised of songwriter Dawn (real-life star singer Sara Bareilles), egotistical Wicky (Renée Elise Goldsberry), down-to-earth dentist Gloria (Paula Pell) and chaotic 'hot one' Summer (Busy Phillipps). Their struggle to find their place in the infamously ruthless music industry takes them on all kinds of misadventures.
To describe the show as a parody would be unfair for two reasons. Firstly, because it would be a disservice to some of the excellent character development, but also because the show so often goes beyond parody to full-on ridiculousness. A bit like the movie Bottoms it's great to be able to see female characters get a chance to be silly once for once.
There are constant cutaway gags to failed song releases or short-lived TV shows the girls hosted that are so stupid they're brilliant. When Wicky defends her solo album Afternights from allegations that the lead single was rushed, we then cut to a live performance where the lyrics to the third verse are "In progress, third verse, in progress."
The show boasts a massive 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time of writing) and if you don't watch, you might regret it 5Eva.
