Emmy Episodes: Schitt’s Creek

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the fourth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 5, Episode 1 “The Crowening” (B)

A friend told me I was crazy to start watching the fifth season of this show without having seen any of the first four, but I was pretty shocked to see this show earn three major Emmy nominations for the first time this far into its run and don’t have time to go back and watch all that. Fortunately, this premiere didn’t feel too hard to get into, though I’m sure there are some moderately important plot points I’ve missed over the fifty-one episodes that came before this one. In addition to being the first of the six submitted episodes for Best Comedy Series, it’s also the chosen half-hour for star Catherine O’Hara. After ironically just missing out on an Oscar nomination for her turn in the awards-centric film “For Your Consideration” back in 2006, O’Hara earned her second Emmy acting bid, after a mention for the TV movie “Temple Grandin,” this year for her over-the-top performance as Moira, who here was starring in an absurd Bosnian film that the director was horrified he had to be associated with while she was going overboard with her own notes and performance tweaks. It’s possible she’s a character who takes some getting used to, as this episode didn’t win me over, and we got to see how her onscreen husband, played by Eugene Levy, had trouble not keeping busy while she was away. I recognized another few faces, including Chris Elliott from “Everybody Loves Raymond” as Roland, and I was so thrilled to see Emily Hampshire from “12 Monkeys,” though this doesn’t offer her nearly the same showcase as that series. I do like both of the adult kids, played by Levy’s real-life son and co-creator Daniel, and Annie Murphy, and I’m ready to marathon through the other five episodes chosen to win over Emmy voters.