Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek (Series Finale)

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 14 “Happy Ending” (B+)

Well, this is the end, and I was actually impressed that there wasn’t any particular fanfare or celebrity guest appearances to mark it. That and it had a normal running time, providing what I assume was the perfect sense of closure for longtime fans of the show. I suppose I’d probably be more invested had I started watching from the beginning of season one, as anyone I know who loves the show has told me I should have done, but I still grew to find some of the characters endearing and to root for a happy wedding for the couple in this closing installment. David is certainly a person who likes excess, and for it to be pouring rain on what should have been the greatest day of his life was a very bad start. Fortunately, Patrick really is wonderful and already had a massage planned for him weeks ahead of time because he knew David couldn’t handle stress well. It was entertaining to watch his reaction when David and Stevie excitedly nodded at each other and acknowledged the unexpected nature of the massage that Patrick really hadn’t realized he had ordered. Alexis wearing a white wedding dress was another faux pas that could have ruined it all, but the siblings had a sweet moment when she apologized for ruining his wedding and he told her that he was continually impressed by her. Moira wasn’t nearly as showy as she could have been while officiating, and even the contributions by Roland and Ray weren’t so terrible. Patrick singing during his vows was definitely a highlight. Johnny stopping the car for one last look at the town as they leave was appropriately nostalgic, with that parting shot of the Rose family’s faces on the billboard. I’ve enjoyed this season enough even if I still don’t see its absolute appeal, and feel better having been tuned in to at least this final run for this Emmy cycle. This episode may well win awards for both writing and directing, in addition to being supporting actor Dan Levy's submitted episode.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Annie Murphy as Alexis

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek (Penultimate Episode)

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 13 “Start Spreading the News” (B)

Everyone did seem to be moving quickly to this notion of relocating to New York, and I’m glad to see that it ended up playing out differently after the four members of the Rose family took some time to process what they wanted. Johnny was the most secure of all of them, ready to do whatever anyone else needed as he prepared for his return to success. Moira’s crazy demands being met by the producers meant her enthusiastic participation in the reboot of the show, and I like that her cheering committee immediately changed their message to support for her decision after decrying the likely failure of any such endeavor. At least her group did seem sad to see her go, with Ronnie showing some unexpected emotion at the confirmed news of her impending departure. Twyla casually shared the fact that she had won $46 million from the lottery with Alexis, but I suppose they’ve known each other for long enough that she had a good feeling that she wouldn’t spread the information too widely. Alexis going to New York on her own is probably a smart idea, and though she’ll be a tiny fish in a gigantic pond, it might be a good readjustment for her to faster-moving life. The biggest growth came from David, who realized how much Patrick cared about him that he decided to go “put in an offer” on the house he liked, whatever that may have meant. The friendship between David and Stevie is entertaining, with her conceding that they were both not good people and then Stevie getting irritated when David responded by asking if she had put on deodorant. One episode to go!

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 12 “The Pitch” (B)

This is one case where having watched this show from the beginning might have provided some helpful context since Moira is really the only one who constantly acts as if she’s still on top of the world when she’s barely getting any work aside from her latest movie. Johnny’s advice is usually limited to dated references, and he’s aware that he’s no longer in the prestigious situation he once was. Getting flown to New York on a private jet was a major deal, and both Stevie and Roland dressed for the part, matching Johnny’s typical getup. An initial technological stumble and the absence of Johnny’s former assistant made for a rough start, but they really rallied when they went back in there to pitch motels as a reinvention of the future. Roland earned himself an unexpectedly dramatic moment when he went back in for his briefcase and heard them all mocking Johnny being so out of touch with modern times. Trusting the employee who said she was going rogue with her own operation felt risky, but it was the best shot they had, and these characters are very much known to get ahead of themselves. Alexis looking for two-bedroom apartments to share with David and Patrick in New York was absolutely premature, and Moira cutting a cake with someone else’s name on it was just cringeworthy. Everyone seemed thrilled to welcome the hometown heroes back at the end of the episode, except for Patrick, who may be the only soon-to-be-member of the Rose family who isn’t eager to leave where he currently is.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 11 “The Bachelor Party” (B)

This was not a particularly exciting bachelor party, though Stevie did have her work cut out for her trying to find a happy medium between David’s seven-page list of lavish demands and Patrick’s one request for an activity he really wanted to do. She obviously wanted to amuse herself with the shirt she had custom made for David that didn’t have an arrow on it but just said “I’m stupid,” and I enjoyed that both he and Moira confused the escape room concept with the movie “Panic Room.” No one except for Patrick was remotely into it, until Alexis’ history of dating men from exotic places combined with a lot of people yelling at her made her the definitive MVP of the group, enabling them to escape after desperate pleas from both Johnny and Moira to be let out just a few minutes into their timed hour. The cat’s out of the bag with Johnny’s big endeavor, and it’s a relief that, despite Roland’s unbearable stupidity and his phone being taken away from almost an hour, the meeting appears to be on and hopes are high. David giving some real advice to Alexis about what she should do was sweet, and it’s nice to see them bond seriously and make some progress instead of teasing each other every once in a while. I’m starting to see the appeal of some of the enduring humor on this show, like regional airline Larry Air (or is it Leriere?) once again being featured with Moira having to read all the terrible rhyming one-liners.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 10 “Sunrise, Sunset” (B)

It’s clear that calling David a groomzilla would be a colossal understatement, and I assume that Patrick wasn’t present at the tasting because he wanted to leave it to the partner that he knew would care much more than he did. He would probably have realized that Johnny wasn’t too thrilled about the price tag of the extraordinary lavish menu he had selected, but his absence meant that Johnny could only look to Stevie for sympathy as he failed repeatedly to communicate just how over his budget it really was. His enthusiasm for the tenderloin didn’t help since that also prevented him from saying what he really wanted to. It’s nice that, after so much sarcasm and lack of interest from Stevie, she was the one who, after having read his book, suggested that they buy a whole bunch of motels so that they could actually make this enterprise profitable. It’s no surprise that Moira wouldn’t have put together that she was killed off her show in a series of truly humiliating ways, and that it took Alexis drowning in misery and binge-watching the terrible series to open her eyes to it. There were two very notable guest stars both known for plenty of roles, Saul Rubinek from “Hunters” and “Warehouse 13” and Victor Garber from “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Alias.” Both actors, who appeared on the Emmy ballot but didn't get nominated, were a bit over-the-top in their performances here, but it was nice to see familiar faces. Moira’s story of victory wasn’t quite as satisfying given that it didn’t end up happening, but at least she seemed pleased with how it went.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 9 “Rebound” (B)

I guess Ted really is out of the picture, and Alexis just needs to be with someone as much as possible. I recognized the actor playing Artie, Henry Czerny, from past TV roles of his including “Falling Skies” and “Supergirl,” and he seemed harmless enough even though, as David put it, there were plenty of red flags. I like that Johnny tried to get involved and to ask him what he did for work, not comforted by his complete evasion of the question and his assurances that he did have a place to live. Alexis wasn’t pleased to learn that her father had spoken to Artie after he accidentally revealed details he couldn’t otherwise have known, but I think her father is probably the member of her family she can most relate to, though that’s not saying much. I like that Patrick didn’t let David off the hook for noting his lack of progress when it was specifically because he hadn’t yet done what he had needed to, and that he framed hiring Jocelyn as a potential way to give him more time to do the wedding-related tasks he had agreed to do. David was a helicopter boss to his new trainee, and even if she had arranged for her friends to come in and buy stuff, that still counts as a new source of revenue and expanded clientele base. Deciding after an insanely profitable day that it just wasn’t for her had them both floored, and I appreciated Patrick’s surprise most since David was never going to be convinced of her fitness. Moira had her car-egging coming given how she thought that saying that she never wanted to end up living in her town wouldn’t have offended its residents, but that kind of self-involved behavior is typical for the dramatic actress.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 8 “The Presidential Suite” (B)

This show seems to do drama pretty well, even if it comes in infrequent spurts and somewhat unexpectedly. Ted didn’t tell Alexis that he was coming home for the long weekend, but he still showed up and wanted to do more than just have sex the whole time. I was glad that Alexis understood, even before he came, that he needed to stay and take the job that was offered while she could never go there to be with him. Even with all that insight, she managed to forget that the reason he was an entire day late was because he drank milk, and therefore the heavily dairy meal that she had Twyla prepare was probably not the best choice. Though much of the tanning plotline was predictable, I liked seeing Patrick angry for once, upset that David had forced him to go without giving him any crucial advice that would have prevented him from looking like a carrot. It seems that, much as she’s holding on to her title of maid of honor, Stevie is never all that helpful since she probably could have seen this coming. Moira pressuring Johnny to let them stay in the presidential suite rather than their usual room was certainly creative, and it wasn’t at all surprising to see Roland and Jocelyn show up there after they had agreed that they weren’t going to stay there. Doing the right thing knowing the money they had put out to buy the motel was the only and obvious result.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 7 “Moira Rosé” (B)

One of my favorite things on television is when characters who don’t typically interact spend time together. It often starts out awkwardly, as it definitely did between Johnny and Patrick when they were sharing pizza and watching the baseball game, but ultimately it usually produces good, and at the very least entertaining, results. I’ve always liked Patrick because he’s by far the most self-aware person on this show, and he could tell that Johnny wanted to talk to him about something related to David even though big baseball moments kept interrupting. Moira and David also had a chance to have some fun together, starting out with a productive attitude toward the wines they were trying, quickly realizing that none of them were good. That magical combination that they later found likely didn’t exist at all because of just how drunk they were, but Herb didn’t seem interested in doing business with them anymore at that point. There was definitely something off about the class that Alexis was trying to get everyone to take, which ended up being something far more worrisome than the hilarious spin class episode of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Alexis isn’t always so quick on the uptake, but here she managed to ask very pointed questions that led her to realize right away that this was absolutely a cult. Ronnie and Twyla both seemed to get attached to certain material elements of the cult, but Alexis made it just in time to rip up the forms that were asking for their social security numbers.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 6 “The Wingman” (B)

The buzz really is increasing for Moira’s movie, and she actually presented herself decently during the television interview, even showing up her daughter by commenting how no one could hear what she was saying since she wasn’t wearing a microphone. Even though her mother is inarguably a handful, Alexis is doing a decent job of turning what’s evidently a terrible movie into a potential success. Her brief conversations with Ted haven’t exactly been substantive, and she’s sort of laughed off the lack of sophistication and luxury that defines his current existence up to this point. He was correct to point out that she would absolutely hate it there, but I think him coming up with the idea felt like him saying he didn’t want her there even though it was an easy out since she was considering the same end result given the trajectory of her career. I enjoyed how both Patrick and David responded to Jake commenting on Patrick’s lips and David introducing Patrick as his boyfriend, and them running into Stevie at his place was confrontational and entertaining. Johnny had a chance to loosen up for a bit in his lackluster attempt to get Bob to forget about his relationship and give Ronnie a break from hosting him, and all that ended up happening was riling up another bar patron and unintentionally setting Roland up for multiple quips about his unsuccessful romantic past. It’s good to see him in action for a change, embracing more of his life-learned wisdom.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 5 “The Premiere” (B)

I liked this episode a bit more than the others I’ve seen so far this season. One of the reasons for that was that Patrick, who usually appears more normal and self-aware than any of the Rose family members (or any character on this show, for that matter), was considerably looser and crazier following his dental procedure. I sort of wish we had been able to see him yelling wrong directions at the Uber driver, but it was sufficiently entertaining to hear him loudly whisper that he had a secret, which of course was that he was hungry. Mentioning kids multiple times definitely threw David for a loop, but Patrick seemed quite casual and carefree in his insistence that he wasn’t trying to pressure David to do anything he didn’t want to do. We’ve already seen that Alexis isn’t the most attentive marketer for her mother, and her main weakness is that she doesn’t consider her mother’s capabilities and impulses. Suggesting a premiere in town was actually a good idea, but Moira didn’t come around to it until she saw the enthusiasm of her friends and the positive ornithologist review. Having crows attack those in attendance, however, was definitely not part of the plan. Stevie expecting Johnny to pressure her to come back only made her want to do it more, and though she probably won’t learn much from the book even he admits is outdated, it’s obvious that she has a good head for this and can at least be helpful with the kind of things he really isn’t attuned to, like reading post-it notes and opening files.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 4 “Maid of Honour” (B-)

I’m not sure I’ve seen characters on this show experience growth all that often, but that definitely happened in this half-hour. David and Alexis share many traits, and an inability to hear what people say to them is chief among them. David probably would have asked Alexis to be his maid of honour (Canadian spelling) if she was going to be at his wedding, but he also knows that comes with a lot of opinions he doesn’t necessarily want. Stevie wasn’t particularly into the job, but Alexis was right to realize that she could use some sense of purpose. She wasn’t great at relinquishing that control, both with her absurd notion of being a flower girl and her very suggestive selection of what she wanted Stevie to pick. Everything surrounding Moira’s new movie trailer was cringe-worthy, and her lack of self-awareness would be bad enough if she didn’t push so many times to make sure that even those trying to hold their tongues had to say something. I’m a fan of movie trailers, but I don’t think I could watch one that many times in that short a period. Johnny and Roland have a new property on their hands that’s sure to bring surprises with it, and finding a bag of money and a gun wasn’t a great start. It seems Roland is pretty dependably unreliable, revealing that he hadn’t read through the contract because it was twenty-five pages long and saying exactly the things he wasn’t supposed to during their confrontation with their first official tenant.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 3 “The Job Interview” (B-)

There don’t seem to be many boundaries that exist in the Rose family. David was immediately horrified to have walked in on Alexis about to have cybersex with Ted, Johnny was perfectly oblivious, and Moira had suggestions for her daughter about how to do it. Ted having to bench-press tortoises because there’s no gym was a bit absurd, but not as much as Alexis buying a turtle that she named Ted so that she could feel closer to him before losing him almost right away much to Twyla’s great concern. David is definitely competitive, and being asked for help in picking out an outfit for Stevie to wear to her interview led to him trying and failing miserably to one-up her. He was particularly bad at listing his own weaknesses after agreeing strongly with Stevie’s much better examples, and he did indeed exemplify the absolute wrong approach to how to deal with an upset customer. That airline does sound miserable, and I don’t think Stevie’s going anywhere all that fast. Her sticking around would have been helpful for Johnny to get the loan since her name was on the motel, but his hapless partner Roland appears to have come through with an unexpected move. It’s troubling that he didn’t realize that some of the things he and Johnny said to the loan officer were clearly made up to bolster their image, but he’s in now and it may be just the opportunity Johnny and Moira need to get into a new and potentially lucrative property.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 2 “The Incident” (B-)

This episode was very predictable, and it’s possible I would have found it funnier if I felt more attached to all these characters. David wetting the bed had him very riled up, and he quickly pointed out that he wouldn’t be nearly as forgiving if the tables were turned, which made Patrick supporting him all the more difficult. It was obvious from the first moment that Moira announced that she was going to be doing a social media takeover that she would end up sharing that secret with the world by accident. She didn’t even pretend to turn anything off when she put down her phone, and therefore the news that she had live-streamed the whole conversation wasn’t at all surprising. At least Patrick insisted that Alexis take the post down since she had still left it up, and he brought out his mouth guard and “nose thing” to make David feel better about his own shortcomings. Moira at least seems to be slightly more self-aware than Roland, who brought Johnny and Stevie to what we thought was a showing without having any clue that it was actually a funeral for one of the co-owners. Johnny managed to turn the situation into a much more positive encounter, thanks in part to Betty’s belief that they were there to investigate her dead husband’s gambling debts rather than just to inquire about buying the property. That deal might work out, but Stevie doesn’t seem to see a future in this industry for herself, something that Johnny isn’t likely to accept.

Emmy Catch-Up: Schitt’s Creek (Season Premiere)

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. This year, I’m getting a jump start to check out the entire season of some of most high-profile shows I didn’t watch when they originally aired.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6, Episode 1 “Smoke Signals” (B)

I only first encountered this show last year after hearing a lot about it, sampling the six submitted episodes when it broke through at the Emmys for its fifth season. I don’t have a particular problem with it, but I have yet to see the hilarity that I hear all my friends and fellow critics raving about all the time. I did see the proposal in season five, and now it appears that David is trying to move forward with planning the wedding with minimal input from his oh-so-understanding fiancé. He doesn’t seem to have any reasonable expectations about what a venue could cost, and it was pretty horrific when, once they finally decided they wanted to try to make it work, they truly understood why the date they were looking at was so deeply discounted. Alexis is just as clueless, in this case not just about her flight being listed with the day first and month second but also about what flying in economy is like since she has wildly unrealistic expectations. I like that Stevie was with them with her stage makeup accidentally not removed, and I’ve always had a soft spot for her because I’m a big fan of actress Emily Hampshire’s work in “12 Monkeys.” Moira doesn’t seem to have moved on too much since returning from the role she was filming in the season five premiere, and just as she was about to throw in the towel, she’s newly invested in finally breaking through in show business. I’m going to do my best to find this show endearing, and hopefully I’ll have only positive thoughts about it by the series finale.

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 14 “Life is a Cabaret” (B-)

This finale, the sixth submitted episode for this show in the Best Comedy Series category, was a bit of a mess in my mind, but it still had some entertainment value. Obviously, not watching all of the episodes in the season can make for an occasionally confusing experience. I wasn’t sure exactly what some of the plotlines were that were referenced here, mainly what was happening with Alexis going away and with this big performance. Most notably, David of course did a poor job preparing for the big announcement of his engagement and instead ended up spilling the beans right away in a manner that caused the news to spread to literally everyone before he could tell them, even his father who was told by Roland when he was the last one who hadn’t yet heard. I was surprised to see Patrick performing in "Cabaret" since we’ve mostly just seen him as the more buttoned-up member of the couple, hardly a theatrical player. I’m also not sure where Stevie was and why, since she wasn’t featured all that much this season, but that was quite a musical number for the very talented Emily Hampshire, who I’m always happy to see get a tremendous showcase. I’d say this episode was the weakest of the selections for this show, but I feel like I have a good picture of what seems to be a fairly average comedy series. I wouldn’t vote for it to win, but its inclusion in the lineup doesn’t bother me too much. If season six gets nominated next year, I’ll be happy to screen another six half-hours.

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 13 “The Hike” (B)

I’ve been wondering since I first started watching this show when Patrick and David would get engaged, especially since most of the episodes I’ve seen deal with various tests in their relationship. David was doing plenty of complaining as they took what really didn’t seem like a particularly long hike to their picnic, and then of course Patrick had to go ahead and get injured. He seemed very touched that David knew how to take care of him, and he was able to choreograph it perfectly so that he could get down on one knee to propose as David was distracted by taking out the ring. I’m happy for them, and I’ve only recently just started to get to know them. As if Alexis wasn’t frantic enough about this trip that she was going to go on with Ted, the tarot card reading from Twyla with images of boats capsizing just made her more crazed. It’s also evident that she doesn’t listen at all, since this wasn’t a vacation but rather a work trip that she happened to be going on with him. Johnny’s health scare turned out to not be such a big deal, though Roland didn’t help matters at all by consistently referencing a friend of his who ended up dying from what he thought was nothing. It was a relief to discover that he was fine and that he was most at risk of boring the doctor to death with stories that were far too long and uninteresting.

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 11 “Meet the Parents” (B-)

David doesn’t tend to think through most of the plans he hatches, and inviting Patrick’s parents to a surprise party for him without realizing that he hadn’t actually come out to them was an unfortunate miscalculation. His family members did seem to think that he was planning a spur-of-the-moment surprise without any advance preparation when he wisely waited to loop them in until just hours before so that they wouldn’t spill the beans. Johnny didn’t really do anything wrong by warmly greeting them, though I’m not sure why he needed to include the fact that he wasn’t initially that their personal relationship was going to last. Patrick is far more perceptive than every member of the Rose family, and he had no trouble deducing that his parents already knew about their relationship. It was nice to learn that they were dumbfounded only that he hadn’t been comfortable coming out to them earlier, not that he was gay. Moira obviously has a very eccentric past, but for some reason she’s not into the conventions, which seem to be exactly the kind of self-indulgent setting that would be good for her, and certainly something that Alexis would enjoy marketing since she too likes being the center of attention. Having famed Canadian actress Linda Thorson from “The Avengers” appear as another star at the convention was a clever bit of casting, though that whole plotline didn’t strike me as all that enticing. I like Catherine O’Hara, but Moira is far from this show’s best character.

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 6 “Rock On!” (B-)

I’m jumping ahead a bit to this show’s third submitted series episode, which is also the selection for star Eugene Levy. That surprises me a bit since he was considerably less featured in this installment than in the season premiere when Moira was away, and I don’t think he’s likely to win over any Emmy voters who are new viewers of the show. Walking in on Stevie while she was taking a scandalous photo to send to her long-distance boyfriend right after he made her and Roland watch the very dated sexual harassment customer service video was certainly awkward, but it wasn’t really that funny. I’ve liked Levy for a while, enjoying him particularly in “A Mighty Wind” and “For Your Consideration,” in which he appeared opposite his frequent collaborator on-screen wife here, Catherine O’Hara, and I don’t think this is the showcase that’s going to win him his first acting Emmy (he has two writing prizes already). I wasn’t too enticed either by Moira’s trip to the casino which resulted in Jocelyn getting a very short haircut, but that’s probably because I don’t know the backstory about her character. David encouraging Patrick to go on a date with the guy who gave him his number was a misstep from the start, but at least it was nice that, despite her selfishness, Alexis was there to comfort him and help him through it as he was relieved to see Patrick return without having been able to go through with it.

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 2 “Love Letters” (B)

Watching the second of the six submitted episodes for this show’s Best Comedy Series nomination, I found it to be decently entertaining if still not worthy of that top-tier mention in my mind. Moira’s return brought with it a sleep-deprived state of mania which resulted in her finding a stack of love letters, allegedly from someone in her husband’s past, only to be told near the end of the episode that she was actually the one who had written them many years earlier. It was sweet that he had taken them out because he missed her, though he obviously regrets that now. I enjoyed just how poorly David and Stevie handled themselves when they were held by a robber who clearly had no weapon and how they, in Patrick’s words, basically upsold him by giving him wine, cheese, and other things that they’d be hopeless to get paid back for since he was just a “lucky customer.” It’s clear that, for as self-involved and unaware of his surroundings David is, his sister is just as clueless, as evidenced by her regifting of a locket given to her by Ted. I thought I recognized him, and realized as soon as I saw the actor’s name in the credits that Dustin Milligan, who starred in the CW reboot of “90210,” played a fantastic part as the hapless Sergeant Hugo Friedkin on the short-lived, underrated “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” I’m glad that he and Emily Hampshire have regular gigs on this show, but I hope that fans watch them in their superb sci-fi roles too.

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.