--- title: "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" year: 2015 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt" fi1m_score: 76 critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-09-17T03:08:29.266029+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T03:08:46.797276+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015) Created by Tina Fey, Robert Carlock · MPA TV-14 · Comedy **Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 81 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* The only sitcom heroine whose backstory is a true-crime documentary and whose wardrobe is a box of highlighter pens > Tina Fey and Robert Carlock take a kidnapping and build a sitcom on it, and for two seasons the jokes arrive faster than the doubts. Ellie Kemper and Tituss Burgess carry it; the last two seasons give them less to carry. ## Synopsis Indiana, 2015. Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) is one of four women dug out of an underground bunker in Durnsville, where the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne has kept them for fifteen years, insisting the world outside has ended. Christened the Indiana Mole Women by the news, they are flown to New York to be interviewed by Matt Lauer, and Kimmy, twenty-nine and dressed like a schoolgirl, decides not to go home. She rents a basement room from landlady Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), shares it with Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), an unemployed actor with a costume for every occasion, and takes a job minding the children of Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski), a trophy wife on the Upper East Side who has never met anyone this cheerful. ## Review Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) has spent fifteen years in an underground bunker in Indiana, told by the preacher who put her there that the world had ended. It had not. She is dug out, put on breakfast television, and decides on the spot to stay in New York rather than go home to be pitied. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, who made [*30 Rock*](https://film.one/tv/30-rock), have built a sitcom on that, and the odd thing is how rarely it feels like a bad idea. It is quick, kind and funny for two seasons, less sure of itself for two more, and we recommend it to anyone who liked *30 Rock* and can forgive a programme for not knowing when to stop. The pace is the first thing you notice. The writers, Fey and Carlock among them, put a joke in nearly every line and a second one in the background, and the editors, Ken Eluto and Meg Reticker among the ten credited, cut so that a punchline is gone before you have finished with the one before it. A gag about Kimmy’s fifteen-year-old slang sits next to a cutaway to the bunker, which sits next to a shop sign you have to freeze to read. Plenty of it misses. Enough lands that we found ourselves going back for lines we had talked over, which a sitcom does not often make us do. Kemper plays Kimmy’s cheerfulness as a decision rather than a temperament, and that is what stops the premise curdling. She is twenty-nine, in yellow trousers and light-up trainers, and Kemper lets you catch her checking each new room for the way out. John Inwood lights it all flat and bright, in the colours of a packet of felt-tip pens, so New York looks like the city a child would draw. Teresa Mastropierro’s sets do the same job: a basement flat with the bath next to the cooker, and a white flat on the Upper East Side where nothing has been sat on. That flat belongs to Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski), who hires Kimmy to mind her children and treats her as a project. Krakowski is doing a close relative of the part she played for Fey before, and she is still good at it, though the show hands her one storyline in the first season that we will not describe and that never stops being a mistake. Carol Kane is Lillian Kaushtupper, the landlady, a Brooklyn holdout who mutters about gentrification; Kane plays her half a beat behind everyone else and gets a laugh every time she catches up. The other lead is Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon, the actor Kimmy shares the basement with. Titus has renamed himself, owns a costume for any occasion and has decided to be magnificent because the alternative is going home to Mississippi. Burgess sings, sulks and films a music video called *Peeno Noir* in the flat, and he is why the show has two leads: he is as damaged as Kimmy and has picked a louder disguise. We laughed at the bunker for twenty minutes. Then Kimmy explained, as a handy tip, how she got through it: you can stand anything for ten seconds, and then you start on the next ten. Kemper says it brightly, to a stranger, as if recommending a brand of toothpaste, and we did not laugh for a while after that. The show keeps doing this, sliding the awful thing under a joke and letting you find it, and in the first two seasons it does it with real control. The control goes. By the third season the writers have run out of things for Kimmy not to know and start writing episodes about the news instead, which is a thinner show. Her romance with a classmate at her adult-education class is a placeholder. The fourth season, twelve episodes rather than thirteen, plays like a programme that has said its goodbyes and been asked to stay for one more drink. And the 15 certificate is earned: the jokes about what the Reverend did get cruder as the seasons go on, and not everyone who liked the yellow trousers will want to hear them. Next to *30 Rock* it is warmer, and its best episodes are not quite as good. Watch the first two seasons two episodes at a time; any more and the jokes blur into a single high-pitched noise, which is roughly what Titus would say about Kimmy. *Fi1m score 76, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like it, and the praise clusters almost entirely on Ellie Kemper. Reviewers describe her as perfectly cast as the cheerful survivor at the centre, and several single out how she carries the show’s grim premise without letting it sour the comedy. The other recurring point of agreement is the writing: dense, rapid-fire jokes and visual gags in the manner of 30 Rock, with a tone that mixes darkness and optimism in a way critics find distinct from the usual network sitcom. The reservations are few and sit with one dissenter. Variety judges the series a conventional property that peaks early and does not suit the platform it was made for, though it too admires Kemper. Elsewhere the spread is narrow: five of the six reviews are positive, and the mildest of them still credit the ensemble and the pace. Nobody argues the show fails; the only argument is over how far it rises above a familiar formula. ### Reviews we read (6) - **The AV Club**, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya (A): The pilot is a surprise hit that challenges the victim narrative around Kimmy while delivering sharp, 30 Rock-style humor and endearing character work. It balances dark premise with optimism and strong performances, especially from Ellie Kemper. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-kimmy-goes-outside-1798182987) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (90/100, inferred): The gleefully absurd new Netflix sitcom is already really good, with each episode improving and Ellie Kemper delivering a virtuoso performance as the upbeat survivor determined to live fully. The show's positivity and Kemper's infectious energy stand out. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-tv-review-779591/) - **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The series is terrific and a strong match of performer and role with Ellie Kemper as the resilient, optimistic Kimmy. It stands out for its oddball tone, dense jokes, cultural commentary, and mix of darkness and cheer that sets it apart from typical network fare. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/03/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-tv-review-terrific.html) - **Variety**, Brian Lowry (50/100, inferred): The series has smart writing in its fish-out-of-water premise but feels like a conventional property that peaks early and does not fully suit Netflix's premium positioning. Ellie Kemper is perfectly cast as the cheerful title character. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/tv/reviews/tv-review-unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-1201433919/) - **Collider**, Adam Chitwood (★★★★): The critic calls the series the closest thing yet to 30 Rock, praising its offbeat humor, rapid-fire jokes, and visual gags while noting it fully embraces its weirdness from the start. They single out Ellie Kemper’s nuanced lead performance for balancing comedy with genuine emotion and handling the character’s trauma with compassion. [Read](https://collider.com/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Daniel Kurland (4/5): The show is a daring, whimsical hit with a secretly dark edge and instant appeal, thanks to its inventive premise and Kemper’s perfect lead performance. It reinvents the 30 Rock formula with bingeable energy, strong ensemble work, and themes of reinvention. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/what-to-watch-on-netflix-the-unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt/) ## Details - **Created by:** Tina Fey, Robert Carlock - **Creator:** Tina Fey, Robert Carlock - **Director:** Tristram Shapeero, Michael Engler, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Claire Scanlon, Jeff Richmond, Ken Whittingham, Don Scardino, Maggie Carey, Todd Holland, Robert Carlock, Linda Mendoza, Jaffar Mahmood, Rhys Thomas, Steve Buscemi, John Riggi, Claire Cowperthwaite, Gail Mancuso, Nicole Holofcener, Jude Weng, Shawn Levy - **Writer:** Sam Means, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Dan Rubin, Meredith Scardino, Allison Silverman, Leila Strachan, Azie Mira Dungey, Jack Burditt, Lauren Gurganous, Dylan Morgan, Emily Altman, Grace Edwards, Nick Bernardone, Josh Siegal, Bridger Winegar, Max Werner, Lon Zimmet, Matt Whitaker, Evan Waite - **Cinematography:** John Inwood - **Editor:** Ken Eluto, Elizabeth Merrick, Meg Reticker, Kyle Gilman, Jesse Gordon, Craig Cobb, Alex Minnick, Micah Gardner, Katie Abel, Ellen Tam - **Production design:** Teresa Mastropierro - **Producer:** Jerry Kupfer, Dara Schnapper, Sam Means - **Cast:** Ellie Kemper as Kimmy Schmidt; Tituss Burgess as Titus Andromedon; Jane Krakowski as Jacqueline Voorhees / White; Carol Kane as Lillian Kaushtupper; Andy Ridings as Charles; Matt Lauer as Matt Lauer; James Coker as Jayson; McKinley Belcher III as Bryce - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-14 - **Release (the US):** 6 March 2015 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *30 Rock* (2006), Fi1m 86: Fey and Carlock’s first go at this pace, with fewer feelings and sharper aim — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/30-rock.md) - *Fleabag* (2016), Fi1m 90: Another woman joking her way around something she cannot look at directly — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/fleabag.md) - *Schitt's Creek* (2015), Fi1m 82: Rich people humbled, small town, and a sitcom that turns kind without going soft — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/schitts-creek.md) - *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* (1970), Fi1m 88: The original single woman with a new city and a terrible flat — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-mary-tyler-moore-show.md) - *Girls5eva* (2021): From the same writers’ room, with the songs turned up and the trauma down --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt