Girls5eva (2021– ) User Reviews (71)

terrifically fun with hilarious songs

[cherold · 8/10 · 3 October 2021]

Girls5Eva starts with a brilliantly idiotic 90s song in which a one-hit-wonder-to-be sings about their inevitable life long success as nonsensically as possible. The series then jumps to the present, when the 4 still-alive but generally forgotten bandmates get a brief moment of attention and decide to ride it all the way to the top.

This is very much in the Tina Fey comedy vein. One negative review described it as more "30 Rock" "Kimmy Schmidt" humor as though that was a negative. I agree with the comparisons but not with the negativity.

The songs are amazing. Some are pitch perfect take offs of the demeaning drivel middle-aged men write for teen girls, like the wonderfully creepy Dream Girlfriend, and as the band tries new material we get fantastic numbers like "I'm Afraid," which goes from relatable fears to weirdly specific and insane ones.

The cast is terrific and the jokes are insane yet support a story of growth and striving.

Highly recommended.

Tina Fey

[yecart-65819 · 8/10 · 5 May 2022]

Tina Fey is a hit maker. You can see her signature on fast smart comedic writing. This is a cute show that is highly entertaining. One of those you have to watch a few times to catch every joke. Still wish Titus Andramadon would show up here.

What R U W8ting 5?

[owen-watts · 7/10 · 28 September 2021]

A cluttered, ropey but remarkably likeable slice of nostalgic millennial foolishness from Meredith Scardino - strongly reminiscent of Kimmy Schmidt but lacking the consistency of that show. It's held together by a strong central cast, some incredibly sharp observations on contemporary (and early 00s) pop culture and a bottomless well of surreal asides and over the top scenarios. Good solid silly fun with some real heart mixed in there too. Thoroughly deserves its much wider audience and continuation on Netflix.

Extremely Funny for the right audience!

[bibiundtinaever · 10/10 · 27 October 2023]

This show is extremely funny but only to the right audience.

If you liked kimmy Schmidt (or anything by tina fey), this is definetly for you.

If you love love love hamilton, you will love this.

If you liked the Crazy Ex Girlfriend Songs, this is perfect for you.

If you like shows you can watch over and over and still find new hidden jokes, references and callbacks, this is definitely for you.

This show has a high addiction factor. I constantly watch it again and again!

Although i've recommend it a lot, not many would agree with me, but only because it is just for a very niche audience.

So, any negative commenters just don't get the jokes and humor of it all. You have to experience it for yourself!

Get your 30-rock / Kimmy Schmidt fix here!

[jc1201 · 9/10 · 29 June 2022]

Clearly this show has the same writer's room as it's got that hyper-rapid insane jokes-per-minute thing that those two shows share and that makes future re-watches rewarding because you're pretty much guaranteed to have missed at least half of them.

Also - the girls are all super talented (especially Dawn), the songs are catchy as hell - there's not much to not like. I can guarantee the bad reviews here are from the folks don't like the fire hose of over-the-top surrealist pop-culture jokes being fired at you.

Renée Elise Goldsberry is doing a perfect "Jenna from 30-rock" impression in a lot of ways. It's sometimes jarring to be looking elsewhere and hear her voice and think "Jenna!" then turn around and see Renee. Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, big thumbs up from me!

Finally, a reason to stream Peacock!

[asc85 · 7/10 · 26 May 2021]

I wasn't sure how much I would like this one because this had many of the same producers and writers from "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," and I couldn't make it past the first 10 minutes of the first episode of that one. But "Girls5eva," the reunion of a Spice Girls-type group from the 90's, is much better, and much funnier. The four main players - Sarah Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, and Renee Elise Goldsberry - all do a great job. Goldsberry is probably the MVP of this group, because she's very funny, and she can actually sing in real life. Bareilles is in real life the most successful singer, but she's mostly the "straight-man" here among this group, and leaves the funny lines to others. Philipps is very funny, buy my favorite is probably Paula Pell. Her casting in the show itself is funny, because she plays someone who has aged so poorly compared to her counterparts that in the flashback scenes, her character is the only one who's played by a different, younger-looking actress!

Best show released in 2021

[mayamarsonia · 10/10 · 30 November 2023]

This show was a blessing to TV during and post pandemic. It's so silly. There is a girl group of 5 singers (Girls 5 Eva) who had a hit in the late 90s but their album tanked in 2001 because they released a song about "flying planes in our hearts" on September 10th. Now 4 of them are in their 40s and one of them died (or did she find out in season 2) and is now a bench, but is still very present in the group. Their hit from 1999 got sampled by lil stinker and they took this as a sign to reunite and be a girl group again.

This is a Tina Fey comedy, so if you love joke joke joke, this is the show for you. Creator Meredith Scardino is also super funny.

The cast features many accomplished Broadway performers: Ashley Park, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sara Bareilles, Erika Henningsen, and Andrew Rannells. So sufficed to say the songs are amazing they are composed by Richard Simmons with lyrics by some of the funniest writers in the business.

They also write full length songs using the end credits so be sure to watch the end credits of the show to hear even longer versions of the funniest songs to make tv. They also release an album. The one thing I'm mad about is Season 1 episode 3 had 3 potentially album worthy songs, even though the instrumentals are played in the background at times, I would like to hear Alf Musik's full songs. New York Lonely Boy resonates with New Yorkers but I also loved the invisible woman song and the sidepeices song. Mostly the invisible visible woman song.

Pretty Good!

[nabi21 · 7/10 · 6 May 2021]

This series was may more entertaining than I thought it would have been. I laughed out loud several times throughout, which doesn't happen often. The actors have great chemistry, no awkwardness whatsoever. Give this show a shot!

Wickedly funny

[mplscox · 9/10 · 6 May 2021]

I had been looking forward to this release, and it did not disappoint. These four women are extremely funny while Goldsberry often steals any scene she is in.

Mediocre Laught

[dashingmusic · 6/10 · 6 May 2021]

Some mediocre giggling moments and exaggerated over acting but enough effort to keep watching. Sara B surprisingly natural and pleasant to watch though.

Fire

[Trupiaar · 10/10 · 23 March 2024]

Glad I had not previously written a review for this. Season 3 comes out of the gate with heavy laughs right off the bat! I absolutely loved the Fort Worth storyline, I've lived it, totally real. Scardino is a killer writer.

This show is one of the rare gems in the tv sea right now, constant laughs every episode, wholesome but not boring, the songs are fun, and each actress, I cannot state enough, really bringing the laughs.

If you liked 30 Rock or similar stuff, you should definitely give this one a chance, it's top notch comedy. Kind of sad I cannot go to a real life Girls5Eva concert lol..

Overreacted but has potential

[montgirl · 7/10 · 24 May 2021]

I wish Busy Phillips would tone it down cuz her character could be authentic and hilarious. This show has spice girls potential. Don't blow it!!! Get some better writers and tone it down.

Great concept poorly executed

[smithnumber · 4/10 · 19 May 2021]

It really kills me when they come up with a great idea like this - 90s girl band fades into obscurity only to have a second chance when a current artist samples one of their old hits - and proceed to run it into the ground under the weight of character cliches and poor writing.

I think it's really high time that someone decided that middled-aged women can be written as something other than botoxed airheads, sassy divas or Melissa McCarthy clones. Indeed, the most successful character is Sara Bareilles as Dawn because she actually comes across as someone who is just normal. Renée Elise Goldsberry has an underdeveloped role as the fallen diva, but you can see her intelligence and depth shining through, hopefully to be snapped up for a dramatic role in the near future. Paula Pell is good and very natural but obviously given the Melissa McCarthy template. Busy Philips is so bad in this it's just straight out embarrassing.

Also, can we ease off with all the references to bodily functions in female heavy comedies? It was funny the first 10,000 times and now it just seems lazy and contrived. It's been 10 years since Bridesmaids and it's not funny anymore.

Still, there is an uneasy charm to this show and I'm hoping it will find its groove in the next season, but I think it's most likely doomed. Girl/boy bands are also a uniquely British thing and I couldn't help but wonder how this would have been treated by an English production house.

Such a great comedy

[brumsy · 10/10 · 20 June 2022]

It's made me laugh. It's spoofing early boy/girl groups of the 90s. A much simpler time. It gives that feeling or nostalgia. These harsh reviews need to lighten up.

Very funny and nostalgic

[bobetjo · 8/10 · 4 February 2023]

Girls5Eva takes the trope of the nineties girls bands, most obviously Spice Girls, and turns it into a great where-are-they-now comedy. Several times I just laughed aloud in every epidode.

The theme is that the girls were, at best, a B level group with one hit record and an exploitative manager. The flashbacks show them at their supposedly prime. Roll on the years and none have been subsequent entertainment successes. Their previous careers forgotten until a popular rapper samples their hit and the group decide, some reluctantly, to make a comeback. However one of the group is dead and the decisions they made as ill informed youngsters now haunts their attempts.

Every character shadows the music industry stereotypes. I just laughed at the sight jokes and also the nostalgia.

Super energy , Very Funny and witty , Love the music !

[theonlymanilovetucke-829-42778 · 15 May 2021]

Keep it coming !

Very full of life ,comedy and song !

PERFECT S KEEP UP THE GREAT WRITING AND Acting.

Paula Pell is a comedy Queen

[teganb1609 · 7/10 · 23 March 2024]

I absolutely love Sara Bareilles (literally my favourite singer/songwriter of all time) and she is great in this (or anything she's in). But Paula Pell is the true star of this show with her comedic timing. Those great one liners and brilliant comedic delivery - she's absolutely hilarious.

I just love hearing Sara Bareilles sing in every episode and she really is a great actress! She is the very definition of a triple threat!! Busy Philips is good in this too and Renée Elise Goldsberry's voice is just insane. It's not wonder she has done so well for herself on Broadway!!

This is a light and funny show with some great music (and a few annoying earworms).

The Quality Is On the Screen

[spuddcw2000-1 · 9/10 · 15 December 2021]

I love this show. Its about a girl group that had one hit twenty years ago and decide to reunite. It doesn't go where you think it is going to go...at least it hasn't through the first nine shows. The journey takes place in a familiar yet alternate universe of influencers, tastemakers, and superficiality that borders on the ridiculous at time. For example, one of the girls in the band signs a 1,000 year contract that has her as a judge on a show called; "American Warrior Singer"...which combines American Ninja Warrior and American Idol, a slot on the Judge Dred House where TV talent show judges all live in a mansion and have pranks played on them...and....the studio owns the rights to her corpse. If I have one complaint is that there is too much comedy in the shows; I'd like to see more meat myself. But some of the jokes just kill me. One of the girls has a piano (that she has given a person's name) that is made of clear acrylic and takes up most of an apartment. She proudly says that it was made by the same people who make the "Realtor of the year awards". Another joke is where one of the girls admits that she works at the Van Nuys airport shooting geese on the runway and she gets "paid by the goose." I lost it when I heard that. What else...Meredith Scardino and Tina Fey are two of the executive producers...there are guest stars in nearly every episode from Wanda Sykes to Jimmy Fallon to Stephen Colbert to Vanessa Williams.... The cast is clearly very talented with Sara Barelles (I gave up trying to spell her name right), Busy Phillips, Paula Pell, and Rene Elise Goldsberry (you may know her as Angelica Schulyer from the original Hamilton cast). Something else I really like (geek wise) is that the Peacock platform allows for a full run of credits to where the graphic designer has her name in the same sized font as Tina Fey and Vanessa Williams. They didn't have to do that. I am hoping for a second season. High marks all around.

From I Love Lucy to the present

[A_Different_Drummer · 7/10 · 9 May 2021]

If you map the comedy arc from the 1950s to the present, you will see that what started as single and powerful single punch lines delivered with gravitas and a laugh track ... has evolved into a machine-gun delivery of as many jokes that the actors can deliver within the confines of our time/space continuum. And no laugh track. (I left out the Seinfeld/CornerGas comedy of nothingness -- will save for another review). There is chemistry among the leads. Goldsberry is a standout. Only a few of the machine-gunned jokes find their target. However, in the time of COVID, that is better than none at all.

Love it!!

[alinelunardy · 10/10 · 10 May 2022]

I don't know why all the hate for this show I mean it's hilarious and it's totally Fey's style! I hope they will make more seasons and more episodes! Renee Elise is sooo funny! Love her character so much. Love the others too even tho busy's character seems a little too forced to be a stupid/aloof blonde. But overall the show totally deserves all the Emmy nominations and win!

Typical Tina Fey Show

[ailyontokyo · 7/10 · 31 March 2024]

It's a typical Tina Fey Show :) to the point that you could recognise in the first 15 mn even withought seeing the production team. So like it or hate it !

Very light and easy going but thought through scenario, non stop stupid jokes, each charactor being so "cliché" of its role (like the silly one, the jelouse self centered one, the most normal one, and the hardcore one), it's about 120% fun and fictional comedy. You can forget your problems of the real world.

And the songs are very hilarious !

I was happy to see the friendly face of Busy Philipps, who played the almost same character in Cougar Town.

Great! And Perfect if 90s Kid//00s Teen

[anilakygt · 10/10 · 6 May 2021]

Great show in general but if you were a 90s kid and 00s teens like myself, its even a better, PERFECT show for nostalgia purposes. Not meant to be taken seriously, its just a FUN watch. Period.

Love the concept, but the show just misses

[tlharrison-59546 · 5/10 · 8 August 2021]

I was really excited to watch this but it just fell flat for me. I wouldn't have paid for Peacock to finish this but I did eventually get around to finishing it since I upgraded Peacock for the Olympics. This show has some funny moments and scenes every now and again but for the most part it is boring. The theme song gets so irritating after the first or second time you hear it. I always adored Busy Phillips but after hearing her in an interview a few years back, I just can't like her characters as much anymore. Though she probably was the best pick for her role. Paula Pell is easily the best part of the show. The background music in the show is very 30 Rock-ish, which often serves as a reminder that this show is not nearly as funny as 30 Rock. You can feel Tina Fey's presence in this and I would have loved to see her play Dawn.

Funny !!

[jennfinn · 9/10 · 24 August 2021]

I was bored so I figured I'd give Girls5Eva a try and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm a big fan of 30 Rock but I couldn't get through the first episode of Kimmy Schmidt so I wasn't sure about this show. Paula Pell is always funny, I don't like Busy Philipps as a person but she was really good in Cougar Town. In this however she would be a lot more funny if she toned down the dumb blonde shtick. Sara Bareilles is a beautiful singer, I had no clue she could act & she's delightful as Dawn. I absolutely loved Hamilton and the biggest surprise in Girls5Eva was Renee Elise Goldsberry. I had no idea Angelica could be so damn funny.

***EDIT

Sorry but I couldn't let this slide without commenting on it. I read a review of Girls5Eva and the person commented that boy/girl bands were "uniquely British". That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen someone write in a review. One Direction, Take That, and The Spice Girls are the only British boy/girl bands I can think of at the moment. Here's a few US girl/boy bands off the top of my head :

*NSYNC New Edition Backstreet Boys Bell Biv Devoe Boys 2 Men. All 4 One NKOTB. Destiny's Child B2K. 5th Harmony 98 Degrees. TLC 3LW.

Kimmy Schmidt for Adults

[thefendiprint · 8/10 · 8 May 2021]

I watched the whole season and it was a very entertaining, hilarious ride that actually made me laugh out loud quite a lot. It's obvious that this is made by the Kimmy Schmidt creator (which I also loved) so if you enjoy that type of humor, this will be up your alley. The cast did amazing, but Renee Elise Goldsberry and Busy Phillips really stole the show. I hope this gets a second season!