Our 2021 Annual Report continues with a look at one of the year’s most underrated comedy shows. As December rolls along, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here.
One word sums up Girls5eva best: commitment. In every aspect of the show — which premiered on NBC’s Peacock streaming service in May of 2021 — there is unwavering commitment to an energetic tenacity.
This is reflected in its narrative: Four women who enjoyed a few minutes of fame in the early 2000s as a girl group find themselves remotely popular again after a rapper samples their one-hit-wonder, inspiring them to revive the group for a performance at New York City’s Jingle Ball. It’s also evident in the linguistic trappings of the plot, with its hysterically absurd jokes and killer of-the-era jams written by a team of comedy and music masterminds.
That commitment is primarily demonstrated by its outstanding quartet of leads — Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, and Busy Phillipps — who portray these characters with so much enthusiasm, courage, and heart that it seems these are the parts they were born to play. Indeed, Girls5eva is one of the best comedies of the year (it landed at No. 3 on our Top 25 Shows of 2021 list), and much of that is due to the cast’s stellar performances.
Created by Meredith Scardino (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saturday Night Live), the show tends to live in the same absurdist world as producers Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s other comedy classic, 30 Rock. But rather than strictly represent the entertainment landscape with a satirical, irreverent edge, Scardino and co. imbue a sense of wholesome determination and earnestness into these characters (enough that a second season has already been confirmed).
