Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-2019) * 1/2 (A Netflix original series)

Starring:  Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane, Jane Krakowski, Jon Hamm

I read a review of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt which uses "hysterical" in the headline and spends the first paragraph clarifying how funny is a subjective term and what one person finds funny, another may not.   This isn't exactly a rousing approval of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so the review may be more telling than we realize. 

I found Kimmy Schmidt's humor off-putting.   It rapidly fires one gag after another at you.    It is so busy trying to be FUNNY, that it forgot to be funny. 

The Kimmy Schmidt (Kemper) of the title is a survivor of an Indiana underground cult freed after fifteen years of captivity.   Her captor, mad preacher Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Hamm), convinced gullible Kimmy and three other women that the outside world was destroyed and they were the only survivors left on the planet.   After a publicity spree, including a visit to NBC's Today Show, Kimmy decides not to return to Indiana, but instead strike out on her own in New York City.   She answers an ad for a roommate from Titus (Burgess), an aspiring, flamboyant actor who couldn't land a role in The Lion King despite twenty auditions.   Kimmy also lucks into a job as a nanny for Jacqueline (Krakowski), an aloof, wealthy wife of a businessman who hasn't been home in two months. 

All the while, Kimmy wears a smile of a naive, gentle soul who doesn't know enough to be crushed and beaten down by life in the Big Apple yet.   She moves forward with determination and pluck into situations which would cower a lesser person.   In some ways, her innocence may be an advantage.
She might be from Indiana, mind you, but she's not from Indiana, if you know what I mean.
There is surely an amusing comedy series to be made from this setup, but Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt doesn't allow for quiet observation or allowing the comedy any time to grow from such an absurd plot.   It is in too much of a rush to tickle your funny bone, as if the writers were being paid by the laugh, and throws any subtleties right out the window.

Truth in reviewing:  I only watched two plus episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt before bailing on it.   Even in the time of COVID-19, my more abundant than usual leisure time is better spent on other shows.