The Series Fans Call "Perfect 30 Rock Replacement" Drops on Netflix

Summary

• In the early days of streaming platforms, many shows fly under the radar.
• One Tina Fey show on Peacock never found the audience it deserved.
• Netflix recognized the quality of the sitcom and picked it up for a third season.

Netflix has dropped three seasons of a series produced by comedy legends Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. No, it's not 30 Rock, or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – though both of those staples were produced by Fey and Carlock. Instead, it's a hilarious, music-filled sitcom that you've probably never heard of.

The Peacock Problem

There used to only be one streaming service – Netflix. Now it seems like there's a new service every year, and it takes a while to attract an audience. That means that some brilliant shows that premiered in the early days of streamers like Peacock and Paramount+ flew totally under the radar. Some shows, like Yellowstone, eventually picked up an audience after a year or two. Others premiered before the platforms had basically any subscribers, and never got the attention they deserved.

The Fey/Carlock series Girls5Eva is one such show, and it was canceled after only two seasons. Luckily, the execs over at Netflix recognized that the comedy was an undiscovered gem, so they bought the rights – and gifted us with a third season .

What's it About?

Girls5Eva is a smart and laugh-out-loud comedy about the reunion of a girl band from the 2000s. When one of their songs is sampled by a hot hip hop artist, the members of Girls5Eva – now in their 40s – decide to seize the moment and get the band back together.

Of course, the music industry has changed a lot since the early 2000s, and one of the funniest bits in the show is the running joke about how cringey the original Girls5Eva hits were. Most episodes include a section of one of their songs, each more problematic than the last. Songwriter Jeff Richmond really nailed the sound of the era with songs like Sweet and Low Daddy ('Wanna find myself a daddy to get me all my somethings / Put on my camo 'kini because we're going daddy hunting') and the hilariously dumb anthem Girls5Eva ('Gonna be famous 5ever / 'Cause 4eva's too short / So, what are you waiting five?')

Comedy With Heart

A lot of shows advertised as comedies these days are really just dramas with a handful of jokes (we love you, The Bear and Barry, but come on). Girls5Eva is a genuine old-school sitcom, with a ton of laughs every episode. Even at its most dramatic, it'll keep you snorting through your nose.

But that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of heart to this story. At the end of the day, Girls5Eva is a loving ode to female friendships. The characters grow and change together, whether they are Dawn (a relatively grounded mother) or Wickie (the one member of the band who managed to have a solo career, and whose ego has inflated accordingly).

Season Three (Spoilers!)

The third season of Girls5Eva sees the band about to embark on their first tour as headliners since they reunited.

Although there are only six episodes in the season, there's a lot of action happening here: Pell has divorced from her wife, and has decided to work her way through 'every time of lesbian' (with the help of a spreadsheet, of course). Dawn is counting down to the birth of her second child, and Summer is determined to find her independence after her own divorce.

All three seasons of Girls5Eva are now available on Netflix.