Will rave reviews for ‘Somebody Somewhere’ have Emmy voters singing its praises?
Fresh off the heels of a spectacular sophomore outing, “Somebody Somewhere” was renewed for a third season by HBO. This surprisingly fast decision has become rare after the company’s massive cost cutting era and during the ongoing writer’s strike, but luckily HBO knows what a revolutionary show they have on their hands – especially after Season 2 tied the prestigious 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating that Season 1 secured.
During the renewal announcement, Executive Vice President of HBO and Max Comedy Programming, Amy Gravitt, said, “Nothing makes us smile quite like [the honest and impactful ‘Somebody Somewhere’, which never fails to remind us that life is made up of the small moments, that family can be chosen, and that dreams don’t have deadlines.” It’s this kind of passion for the show that will fuel its Emmy chances and potentially earn the show a Best Comedy Series nomination.
Bridget Everett stars in the semi-autobiographical series as Sam, a middle-aged Kansan who returns home after the death of one of her sisters and forges a new life for herself by becoming an integral part of the “outsider” community that lives there. The beauty of the show lies in its subtleties, both in regards to the poignancy of the plot and the emotional resonance of the performances. Coleman Spilde (The Daily Beast) captured this sentiment in his review, citing the show’s “stunning empathy” as what makes it “one of the decade’s finest, thanks to its delightful ensemble cast and a knack for fleshing out life’s minutiae, with gravity and irreverence in equal measure.”
Spilde also describes the unique nature of the show by comparing it to “Barry” and “Succession,” the awards favorite programs that preceded “Somebody Somewhere” on Sunday nights. He calls it, “a comedy without the dark humor of ‘Barry’ and a drama without the cutthroat narcissism of ‘Succession’” and adds, “it’s hard to put it into a box at all.” This originality somehow comes from a show that is just about people. There’s no other-worldly premise, no gimmick, or earth-shattering plot twists, yet “Somebody Somewhere,” is still one of a kind. There’s no other show on television where audiences can see a character so intensely dealing with grief in one scene and singing a lewd and explicit song about female anatomy in the next.
SEE Are we underestimating Bridget Everett (‘Somebody Somewhere’) at the Emmys?
“Somebody Somewhere” shines a light on real life. People are complicated and messy – up one minute and down the next. There are days where we stay inside with our besties drinking martinis and there are days where we are confronted with mortality, infidelity, and dishonesty. The comedy puts a magnifying glass on this see-saw of life in a way that not only screams realism, but uses that realism to become a part of you, making the experience of living life less lonely. It accomplishes all of this with the cast’s authenticity, the writer’s unabashed honesty, and the premise’s overall monotony. And in this golden age of television, a show that is fully incomparable to anything else is exceedingly rare and deserves to be recognized at the Emmys.
“Somebody Somewhere” sits in 15th place in Gold Derby’s odds right now, but the nature of the returning limited ballot might just make passion picks shine – and there’s no show more worthy of having its supporters rally behind it.
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