Big Mistakes

Netflix

The Netflix show landscape hasn’t been all that great since One Piece season 2 (I did somewhat enjoy Something Very Bad is Going to Happen), but now it has landed a new comedy from a Schitt’s Creek alumnus that is reviewing spectacularly. That would be Big Mistakes, which has just hit Netflix as of this week and landed at No. 2 on Netflix’s top 10 list, behind only the popular Trust Me: The False Prophet documentary.

Big Mistakes currently has a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score from almost two dozen critics, up there with some of the service’s best. The show was co-created by Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy (who also created that show with his father) and Rachel Sennott of HBO’s I Love LA, which was just picked up for a second season (she also created that show).

In the show, “two directionless siblings are blackmailed into the world of organized crime.” Levy plays one of the siblings, and the other — not Sennott — is played by Taylor Ortega, who may be unknown to many. Laurie Metcalf, Jack Innanen, Boran Kuzum and Abby Quinn also star.

Levy’s Schitt’s Creek ran for 80 episodes and is considered one of TV’s all-time best comedies. Recently, there was some talk about a potential Schitt’s Creek reunion project, but the death of Catherine O’Hara, who played Moira Rose, scrapped those plans.

Big Mistakes consists of eight 30-minute episodes and is not listed as a miniseries, so presumably the idea is to return for more. Netflix comedies are rarely one-offs, so this makes sense, and Levy sticking around to keep making a Netflix hit seems like a good career move.

We’ll see how it performs, but a second-place debut behind something very popular is a great start. Comedies also seem to have a greater chance than most to see renewal on Netflix, given that they’re generally a lot cheaper, so this seems more likely than not. Here’s what some critics are saying about it:

• AV Club: “You might think the minds behind Schitt’s Creek and Bottoms would make for strange bedfellows, but Levy and Sennott’s sensibilities combine for a compelling blend of dark family comedy, crime caper, and character study."
• Vulture: “Even when it’s not being sweet, or when Nicky and Morgan are sincerely terrified about what’s happening to them... [the] trappings around them are so heightened and silly that Big Mistakes can’t help but come across as mostly a fun time.”

Check out Big Mistakes this weekend, if you’re so inclined. Who hasn’t binged an entire Netflix series over four hours, after all?

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