It was a good day for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Earlier this morning, the Tina Fey and Robert Carlock show received a premiere date (April 15).
And then during its panel, Netflix announced the show has been picked up for a third season.
The first season of the show was more tailored to NBC, its original home, but its forthcoming sophomore season won’t be tethered to that.
“The biggest difference this year is you get more show. Without [the time] restriction, [each episode is] averaging around 27 minutes,” said creator and executive producer Tina Fey.
But Fey still wants the show to be able to be watched by and with your 12- or 13-year-old.
There were a few hints for the season to come. We’ll get to see Titus’ one-man show in episode 3, Lillian (Carol Kane) meets Robert Durst, while Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski) journeys to become a “fully-formed human being this season,” according to the actress.
After years of disappointing execs with 30 Rock‘s rating performance, it’s clear Fey is as happy as the titular character.
“It’s very freeing to not live by fear,” said Fey, who will return to the show as an actress this year.
Even with her freedom, it’s clear that Fey isn’t going to stray too far from the network model, with the actors and Fey admitting that the tone doesn’t feel too different from what you’d see on traditional formats.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns April 15.
Comedy is king at Netflix, with many comedy specials already in the archives, and several more on the more.
Comedians Patton Oswalt, Hannibal Buress and John Mulaney talked about the state of comedy and how helpful Netflix is to a comic’s career.
“It’s a commercial for your tour,” said Buress. “It shows what you do, drives the tour, gets more people out.”
Patton mentioned that if you get someone who sees your special, and then sees you live and you’ve done a whole new hour, you have a “fan for life.”
“It’s like an album that you can grab any time,” said Mulaney. “That’s huge.”
Oswalt believes Netflix has learned from the mistakes of other networks and their comedy specials. Mulaney brought up discussing his special with Netflix’s marketing execs, describing it as “something you don’t always get.”
But it all comes down to the accessibility that comes from having their material on such a huge outlet.
Following the explosive finale of Narcos’ first season, critics questioned its future. Spoilers follow.
“Cocaine continues. Killing Escobar did very little to slow that down,” said executive producer Eric Newman. “Right now I’m really focused on season 2. At some point we’ll all get together and talk about what’s next for the show.”
Marvel’s Jessica Jones received good news today, and Netflix’s first Marvel show Daredevil closed out the festivities, with a focus on the two big new additions to the show: The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Elektra (Elodie Yung).
Elektra is known for her iconic and ahem, skimpy red outfit, and when asked about if we can expect to see it in season 2.
“There’s definitely a costume,” said star Yung.
“We had a tremendous number of really thoughtful conversations of how to present this character,” said executive producer Doug Petrie.
It’s clear they want something tactical, relying on Elodie’s martial-artist training and expertise to inform the decision. But there will be some flair.
“She’s not just about protection, she’s a little bit of a stylist,” Petrie said.
“At some point, yes we promise. We want to make them as organic as possible,” said executive producer Marco Ramirez.
Having reconciled his inner demons in season one, Frank Castle (the Punisher) shows up and stirs the pot, forcing the character to reevaluate everything.
There are already rumors swirling of a Punisher stand-alone series, but the producers were unable to say anything on the topic.
But they did provide the vague theme of season 2, which answers the question: “What is it to be a hero?”
We’ll start getting the answers when the next batch of Daredevil comes March 18.
[All images courtesy of Netflix]
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