By Ashlynn Shumer
@Mitzpeh
For Mitzpeh
The 72nd Emmy awards aired on Sep. 20, and by the end of the night, there was a clear front-runner. Schitt’s Creek, the hit comedy series, swept all seven comedy awards, including Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress. The show’s cast left with a total of nine awards, making it the most awarded comedy in a single year.
Schitt’s Creek first debuted on CBC in 2015. According to Netflix, the show spanned six seasons and 80 episodes, with the series finale premiering earlier this year. The show follows the Roses, a wealthy Jewish family that is forced to move from their upper-class neighborhood to a small run-down town named Schitt’s Creek. The comedy stars Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose and Dan Levy as David Rose, a father-son duo that co-wrote the show together, as well as Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose, and Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose.
The concept of the series was inspired by reality TV. In an interview with Out Magazine in 2015, the younger Levy explained, “I had been watching some reality TV at the time and was concentrating on what would happen if one of these wealthy families would lose everything. Would the Kardashians still be the Kardashians without their money?” Inspired by this idea, he began to write this story.
While Schitts Creek first aired in 2015, the series did not gain its following until after it was added onto Netflix following its third season. Since their incredible performance at the Emmys, their audience has grown exponentially, including students at this university.
“I watched the first few episodes and didn’t like it. It seemed like a predictable comedy about a privileged family losing their fortune,” said freshman business major Lauren Glass. “But after it swept the Emmys, I gave it another try. I’m glad I did because the characters evolved and became extremely relatable.”
So, what makes this show so special?
“Every episode makes me smile,” said freshman education major Alyssa Leventhal. “Even though the characters are outrageous and over-the-top, somehow you manage to see them as human. The show deals with very real issues and the underlying narrative is serious. You really want to hate the Roses but you just can’t.”
After their win for Best Comedy Series, the father-son pair went up together to accept the award. The elder Levy took the opportunity to praise his son, saying, “I also want to thank once again this young man who took our fish-out-of-water story about the Rose family and transformed it into a celebration of inclusivity, a castigation of homophobia and a declaration of the power of love.”
At its core, this show is just that: a story of togetherness, family, love, and acceptance. It’s hard to find a show that can make you laugh until you cry and leaves you with a heartwarming feeling long after an episode has ended. Schitt’s Creek has found a way to do this in every episode, and that is exactly what makes this show so dang good.
