May 20, 2016 (2016-05-20) – November 10, 2017 (2017-11-10)
Lady Dynamite is an American comedy television series starring Maria Bamford, and is loosely based on her life. It was created by Pam Brady and Mitch Hurwitz, on Netflix.[1] The twelve-episode first season was released in its entirety on May 20, 2016. The series was renewed for a second season on July 27, 2016.[2][3] The second season premiered on November 10, 2017. On January 13, 2018, the series was canceled after two seasons.[4]
Premise
Stand-up comedian/actor Maria Bamford (portrayed by herself) moves back to Los Angeles after spending six months away in recovery for bipolar disorder and attempts to build up her life from scratch with the help of her agent Bruce Ben-Bacharach (Fred Melamed). Throughout the entire first season, flashbacks are employed to gain an insight on Maria's backstory and her relationships with her family and friends.
Cast
Main
Maria Bamford, star of the show.
Maria Bamford as Maria Bamford, a fictionalized version of herself
Bamford also provides the voice of Blueberry, Scott's dog
Fred Melamed as Bruce Ben-Bacharach, Maria's manager
What I hope people get from [the show] is that by losing everything, it's possible to become something better. At least in real life, I have a much more reasonably paced life than I ever had when I was slightly banana head. In losing some of my ambition, it made it so I can have relationships and a better life. That has been learned throughout the ages: You mean money and prestige doesn't make people happy? Nope.
The show came to be when Mitch Hurwitz approached Maria Bamford and asked her if she had an idea for a series, reportedly in 2013.[5] Part of the pitch was telling a story about a mental breakdown. The project was no more than talks for years. Later, Hurwitz attached Pam Brady to the project to write and direct. Bamford described this process as "extremely slow".[5]
The use of nonlinear narrative in the show was part of Bamford's pitch. It is used to portray the different mental states people can go through, and also how they overcome it. In that way, the show's flashbacks serve as "a reminder of that journey."[5] Bamford describes the show's narrative structure as "Bloodline, with me."
Bamford, who is a stand-up comedian, decided not to use stand-up comedy as a device in her show. When asked about her decision, she explained: "Even though that is a reasonable way of telling the story, I do have a self-conscious feeling of "I don't want to see the same thing over and over"".[5] This decision is depicted in the pilot episode of the series.
Writing
Maria Bamford was involved in the writing process, but she did not write any episode herself. In spite of the show being based on Bamford's real life, the writers had freedom to modify her experiences for creative purposes. For example, in the pilot episode, Maria puts a bench in front of her house in an effort to promote a sense of community in her neighborhood. This idea came from Bamford's real life.
Maria installs a "community" park bench in front of her place in order to get to know her neighbors better. She goes into some of her past including her time at a mental health institution and when she was a teenager. She befriends popular talent agent Karen Grisham, who wants to be besties with her but does not take her on as a client. Although reluctant to do stand-up work, Maria is convinced by her manager Bruce Ben-Bacharach to join a benefit event called Open Arms with Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath, but then learns it is more about carrying firearms in the open rather than embracing people. Patton Oswalt plays a cop who disapproves of Maria's park bench, but he breaks character to advise her not to do the cliche stand-up motif in sitcoms.
Maria is fired from the sitcom Baby on Board for speaking her mind, but Bruce convinces the director to continue to work the rest of the day. Maria agrees to have Karen be her agent. She goes on a date with a recovering meth addict.
Worried she may be an unwitting racist, Maria seeks out a support group and fights for a big change on the set of a sitcom pilot starring the Lucas Brothers and Mira Sorvino.
When Maria slips into a sultry voice at a party, a handsome stranger (Brandon Routh) falls under her spell—and brings out her worst people-pleaser tendencies.
After a long history of over-committing, Maria hires a "loaf coach" to help her master the art of doing nothing. But her timing couldn't be worse as she receives an audition for a Judd Apatow film.
Maria is mortified to learn she's trending on YouTube for being the face of a child soldier army. In a flashback, she faces a difficult choice: her meds or her career.
After Scott moves in with Maria, they have to deal with their idiosyncrasies, including a raccoon that Maria keeps feeding. One year in the future, Maria is back with Karen Grisham as her agent and pitches a new streaming series. In 1987 Duluth, sixteen-year-old Maria unwillingly goes with her father to a model train convention.
14
2
"Hypnopup"
Ryan McFaul
Theresa Mulligan Rosenthal
November 10, 2017 (2017-11-10)
In a panic over an unpaid bill, Maria drags Scott to a Debtors Anonymous meeting. But their money problems are just beginning.
The first season of Lady Dynamite has received widespread acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 94%, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Maria Bamford's Lady Dynamite is a vibrant, subversive, sweet, meta-fictional ride - but also a courageous, boundary-busting and ultimately deep portrayal of a troubled psyche."[7] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 85 out of 100, based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[8] The show has garnered attention because of its depiction of mental illness.[11][12][13][14][15]
The New York Times described the show as "[having] its own bizarre-sincere voice and its own dream logic" and "something else, in a good way: a journey to the center of Ms. Bamford's mind that dives through fantasy after loopy fantasy and emerges with something real."[16] About the show's style, The New York Times noted that "The show's creators, Pam Brady (South Park) and Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development), have constructed a multipurpose fun house; we jump about in time and flit from meta-show to memoir to hallucination."[16]
Variety described Bamford's performance saying that "the actress and comedian, whose presence has rarely been used as well as it is here, manages the neat trick of being both believably guileless and winningly sharp."[17]Variety also praised the show's guest stars, stating: "the entire show gains a great deal of energy from a varied array of game guest actors, including Mira Sorvino, Patton Oswalt, Ana Gasteyer, Brandon Routh, and Bridget Everett, all of whom appear delighted to be in Bamford's playfully serious orbit."
